Focus: What is the real reason for Telemachus' and Odysseus' journeys?
1. Warming up with three good things
2. Taking a step back to explore the final step of the hero's journey in The Odyssey: The real reason for the quest
3. Enjoying our final Socratic Seminar on The Odyssey: Books 20-24
4. Wrapping up with kudos, epiphanies, and lingering questions
HW:
1. For TOMORROW: Bring The Odyssey to class with you for a practice Q3.
2. For WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY: Keep working on your college essay draft.
3. For FRIDAY: Complete your final poetry response (packet to be given out on Tuesday). Also, bring your laptop and The Odyssey to class.
Thanks for the scribing, Kai!
ReplyDeleteO=Odysseus
Did O get the closure he needed?
-Even though he gave in to his vices, he was still in his house and back as king
-More of a superficial closure, he still got his revenge on the suitors and everything, but he lacked the spiritual closure
-His action towards the suitors weren’t exactly socially acceptable, he ended up not being able to fit in again after coming back from war
-His actions were more influenced by Athena, so his closure was more for the gods rather than himself
Is O just kind of a toy for the god’s amusement?
-Athena has literally put thoughts into most people’s heads, therefore how much of the book is actually O’s story
Is O’s punishment from the gods because of his god like ability to lie and deceive?
-Athena specifically stirs things up, and she will guide O but he won’t actually fight his battles for him
Is O’s killing justified
-Killing people is a lot more normal in the time that the story was written
-Death is quite literally the end all be all, so by making O come home and eliminate a built up problem, meaning that he has come home and actually completed his mission
-By killing the suitors, O has taken control of his own life and fought his own battles rather than fought for someone else
-How much of that is really for Athena though
-”Lord of the Lies” this could have helped make O more successful
-Because O came home and still tried killing everyone, he didn’t change at all through his own journey; he was still working off his own pride
Is Athena arrogant, and is that arrogance trickling down to O, therefore destroying his own ark?
-O’s pride is not from the gods, it is more something that happens on impulse (the more beastly side of him) and it is far from actually being godlike
-Pg. 445 describes him as a lot more beastly
-There are a lot of traits that are shared between godly and beastly mannerisms (Poseidon is really vengeful, and it’s both a good and bad thing)
-In current day a god is a “perfect figure” whereas back then the gods had human traits but they were gods so you listened to them.
-The perception of the gods reflects where people were living
-Due to O’s loyalty, he is portrayed as a hero. Being described as a dog (a loyal animal) goes into how loyal he actually is
-O is described as both an Eagle and a lion (godly animals), so there is a decent amount of nobility in which O is fighting with
-Right before killing all but one of the suitors, he is described as a musician/poet, therefore a lot more noble that people originally thought
How does O’s dog relate to O coming home
-The dog got the satisfaction of seeing what he was waiting for and was able to die happy, which relates to O coming back home to his family which is all the closure he could need.