Reactions to The Odyssey: Books V-XII

After reading books V-XII in The Odyssey, I feel like the story is a lot more exciting and has a lot more action.  There were, however, quite a few confusing parts to this chunk of reading.  Also, there were a lot of interesting things I found out about this week.

The fifth book was all about how Ulysses was being detained by Calypso, on the island where she lived.  Mercury was told to force Calypso to let Ulysses go, which she did, and he ended up on the island where the Phaecians lived.  Books VI-VIII was all about his encounter with the Phaecians.  He meets their king and queen, and is treated very kindly.  While they are entertaining Ulysses, however, Euryalus offends him greatly, and Ulysses gets the most angry I have ever seen him in the story so far.  Later, King Alcinous asks to here his story, who he is and why he got so sad when hearing the bard sing of the return of the Acheans from Troy.  In books IX-XII, Odysseus tells of his journey, and everything he encountered up until coming to Calypso.  This part of the reading is a flashback in a way.

One thing that I found confusing was that Ulysses talks about how Jove was trying to destroy his ships and didn't want him coming home.  He usually talks about Neptune doing this, but why would Jove also do this?  Jove had even said earlier that he thinks highly of Ulysses and that it was time for him to come home.  Also, it was confusing how rosy-fingered dawn is referred to as a real goddess when Calypso was talking about goddesses that were in love with mortals.  Before then I thought that rosy-fingered dawn was just a more interesting way to say that it was morning.  Another confusing part was how Elpenor died of a broken neck, which really doesn't make any sense.  I didn't think people died of broken necks.

There were so many interesting parts to these books.  First, it was interesting to me how mad Ulysses got when Euryalus called him unskilled in sports.  Ulysses was so angry, so he threw a huge disc farther than any of he Phaecians had ever thrown one, and told the men of his athletic abilities.  He was trying to prove his skill in sports, but it seemed that he had gotten too mad about it.  Also, it was interesting to read about Ulysses' encounter with the king of the winds, and how his men didn't trust him enough, and opened up the sack that held in all of the bad winds.  They thought he might have treasures in there that he was keeping all to himself.  It seems like they would trust him more.  Also, I loved hearing about the Cyclops.  It was hilarious when Ulysses told Polyphemus his name was Noman, and then when the other cyclops asked him if any man was trying to kill him, Polyphemus shouted, "Noman is killing me by fraud, Noman is killing me by force!"  Ulysses was so clever when he came up with that name so that none of the Cyclops would think anyone was doing anything to the Polyphemus.  It made me so angry when Ulysses told the Cyclops his real name, because it was a huge mistake, and started the hate that Neptune had for Ulysses.  Also, it was interesting and surprising that Ulysess and his crew stayed on the island where Circe lived for a whole year!  That seems like a long time to me.  Finally, it was very weird and creepy when Ulysses was surrounded by the ghosts in Hades, and they are all trying to get to the blood.

This weeks reading was very lengthy and hard to finish, but also very exciting.  The active reading is getting easier, and I'm continuing to enjoy the story of Ulysses.

Reactions to Books II-IV of the Odyssey and Heroes in Art

When reading books II-IV in The Odyssey, I found that I enjoyed it a lot more than the first book.  The second book seemed to be all about Telemachus denouncing the suitors and telling the people of Ithaca about his journey, the suitors arguing with him, and he and Minerva preparing to leave.  It was interesting to hear what the suitors had to say about how Telemachus' mother was tormenting them and was the one at fault.  I found it surprising how rude and cruel Eurymachus was to Halitherses the prophet, saying that it was a pity that he wasn't dead.  I especially enjoyed the third and fourth books, and I found it very interesting to hear what Nestor and Menelaus had to say to Telemachus.  One thing that confused me was that when Nestor was telling Telemachus about how Aegisthus and Agamemnon's wife had succeeded in killing Agamemnon, Nestor called Aegisthus "false Aegisthus."  I don't know what that was supposed to mean.  When Telemachus came to Lacedaemon and spoke with Menelaus, Menelaus also talked to him about Aegisthus and Agamemnon, which really helped me to understand this particular story a lot better.  I think it was important that it helped explain the story because Homer has continued to use this story to compare it to the tale of Ulysses.  Next, when I read about the plans that the suitors were making to kill Telemachus, it made me feel very angry at the suitors.  I don't see how these people can be so evil.  I was also annoyed at Noemon, who was the one who let the suitors know about Telemachus being gone, even though he didn't mean to.  Noemon sort of wrecked Telemachus' plans by doing what he did, and he worried Penelope.  As I read on, I was very glad to hear that Penelope was comforted by Minerva.  So far, I am liking this story a lot more than I thought I would, and I am interested to read on.

After looking at the pictures of heroes in art, I realized that even though the four pictures represented very different types of heroes, they were all still heroes.  I also realized that they all shared some of the same qualities.  The picture of fire fighters showed that these that men were very brave.  Fire fighters save people from fires, so they have to be extremely courageous and persevering.  They also seem to be pretty confident in what they do.  Soldiers, another one of the pictures, are heroes as well.  The American soldiers in the photo fought for our freedom, and had to be strong, brave, and confident in what they were doing.  These soldiers would've also had to persevere, and probably had to encourage men at times to continue to fight.  The photo of batman was a more obvious picture of a hero because when I think of heroes, immediately I think of made up superheroes, like superman and batman.  Batman is very strong and brave, which are both characteristics of a hero.  Finally, the last picture showed a statue of Hercules with a lion.  Hercules was a hero because he was strong and brave, and killed the Nemean lion.  He was confident, and ran straight towards the lion, with the belief he could kill it, and he was able to.  All of these different heroes fought to help others in some way.  Even though the word "hero" might not be the first word that comes to mind when seeing some of these pictures, all of the people in the pictures are heroes.

Reactions to the First Book of The Odyssey

When reading "Book I" in The Odyssey, there were some things I found interesting, some things confusing, and some surprising.  One of the things that I found most interesting about what I read was when Jove said that "there is no more capable man on earth, nor more liberal in his offerings to the immortal gods that live in heaven," when talking about Ulysses.  I didn't know Ulysses was thought so highly of by the gods, especially Jove, the king of the gods.  Also, I found it very interesting that Telemachus knew that Mentes was actually Minerva.  I'm not sure how he would figure that out so soon.  Another thing I found interesting was how Neptune decided to torment Ulysses and stop him from coming home because of the fact that Ulysses blinded his son.  I am not sure why Neptune didn't just kill him if he was that angry at him.  Some parts of what I read were confusing, including the part where Telemachus sets a seat away from the suitors, so he can talk to Mentes without the suitors annoying her, and so "he might ask her more freely about his father."  I'm not sure why it says that he wanted to be able to ask her questions about his father when he didn't know why she was there yet, or even that it was Minerva he was talking to.  Another confusing part was when it said Minerva "flew away like a bird" right after talking to Telemachus.  It wouldn't make sense for her to do this if she was disguised as a man, and didn't want her identity revealed to everyone.  One more thing that confused me was the part where Telemachus says that "Ulysses is dead."  It might be that he is so tired of wondering when and if his father will come back that he has resorted to assuming he is dead, but what threw me off is that he says "now that Ulysses is dead," while talking to the suitors.  As for what I found surprising, one thing would be when Telemachus says that his mother "tells me I am son to Ulysses" like he doesn't believe it.  Also, it wasn't just interesting, but also surprising to me how Telemachus knew that Mentes was Minerva.  Even though he doesn't actually say anything about it, and it only says that "in his heart he knew it had been the goddess," I thought that that would be something he figured out after awhile.

When I read this book, I read it actively.  I'm glad I did, because doing so really helped me to better understand the material.  By highlighting words and phrases that I didn't get, and making notes on things, I better understood what was going on, and it helped me to think more about the text.  Also, when I highlighted main ideas and important parts, it made referring back to parts of the text a lot easier, because the main parts of each paragraph were a lot easier to find.  So far, I am enjoying this story, and I can't wait to see how it progresses.