Simone Weil · Philosophy
Weil’s great essay reads Homer’s <em>Iliad</em> as the truest book about war ever written, because its real subject is <em>force</em> - the power that turns a human being into a thing - and because it looks at force with an unflinching, pitying justice that spares neither victor nor vanquished.
You learned that Weil read the Iliad as the poem of force - the power that turns people into things - and praised Homer for showing that force enslaves victor and vanquished alike, and for the rare moments of grace that punctuate the horror. Explain her definition of force and why she thought the poem so truthful.
Leads to Homer.
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