Analysis of Helen

Author’s Note: I wrote this to analyze the short story, “The Hysterical History of The Trojan War- Parody.” I will compare the character of Helen to the character, Karen from the movie, Mean Girls.

In the Trojan Horse parody, the character, Helen is a ditzy girl, who is considered to be extremely beautiful.  Helen is very popular in this parody and is wanted by many guys. She ran away from her husband and with Paris, and for no reason but because she felt like it. Helens character type is a common character type in movies, books and more. In movies, there is always the mean or ignorant pretty popular girl, who is only wanted and cherished for her extreme beauty. Helen’s character is similar to that of the character, Karen Smith in Mean Girls. Karen is a total “blonde” in the movie, talking with her is almost like talking with a 5 year old. But because she is so beautiful she is considered popular and has many friends.

In the parody the author tried to emphasize the pretty girl type of person Helen was, by making her a ditz, and a snotty popular girl. Helen’s character and Karen are two very similar characters. For example Helen made a stupid, not very thought out decision to run away with Paris and leave her husband behind, who thought that Paris had kidnapped her, and not ran away with Paris. Karen is similar to Helen, because of the fact that they both don’t think about their actions and what they say or do before they act upon their thoughts. Both these characters are considered to be beautiful and they both get whatever boys they want, but they are also very ditzy and ignorant.  They both use their looks and popularity to get them through life.