The Beggar and the Faithful Dog

Class Notes on THE BEGGAR and ARGOS, THE DOG

Why would Homer include the story of Argos in The Odyssey?

The dog meant something in the past of Odysseus.

Odysseus’s state is being compared to a dog.

The dog's condition is a symbol of the decay of Ithaca during Odysseus’ absence.

What does this reveal about Odysseus?

He is a softy. He is kind and compassionate but he is capable of controlling his feelings.
Is there any irony?

The dog is the only creature who recognized Odysseus.

We find the dog on a garbage heap waiting to die.

The dog is a symbol of what the suitors want to do with Odysseus and Telemachus.

Reread Eumaeus’ description of the dog. This is ironic because Eumaeus says that the owner of the dog is dead, not realizing that Odysseus, the owner, is standing there listening to him.

Personification: Giving human characteristics to an inanimate object.
Example:
Misery has him (Argos) in its leash.
 Eumaeus’ whole passage is an analogy between the state of Ithaca and the sad state of Argos, the dog.

Create your own personification!
Love held me in his embrace!
The trees danced in the wind.
The machine gun barked in reply.
The Ferrari purred under the gloved hand of its owner.

What do you think about Eumaeus’ statement about servants?

Do you think that slavery demeans humans and the very act of enslavement robs people of their humanity and deprives them of the highest qualities which distinguish us as humans?

Just because one is enslaved does not mean that one is not capable of the highest intellectual achievement.

The quality of a society can be seen by how it treats its weakest, most vulnerable members – children, babies, the old, the poor and the animals.

Return of the Hero

Odysseus Returns to Ithaca

Now, Odysseus concludes his tale of his ceaseless wanderings. This is the end of the flashback and we are now in "real time". The Phaeacians are so moved by his story - and he is after all one of the greatest of the Greek heroes - that they build for him a magic ship that will speed him home quickly. Odysseus lands on the beach of Ithaca after sailing home from Phaeacia on the magic ship. Disguised as a beggar, he makes his way to the hut of Eumaeus, his faithful old swineherd who doesn’t recognize him. But, despite Eumaeus poverty, he behaves as a gracious host and offers Odysseus his humble meal which Odysseus gratefully accepts. While they are eating, they hear the sound of dogs snuffling and the footsteps of a man approaching. It is Telemachus, Odysseus’ son who is returning from his year’s journey searching for his father.

Irony: Both father and son return to Ithaca after long absences on the same day.

Irony: The son who is searching for his father, doesn’t find him until he returns home.

Telemachus does not recognize his father, of course, for he hasn’t seen his father since he, Telemachus, was a baby. But Odysseus quickly sees the resemblance and when Eumaeus calls him by name, he realizes that this young man is his son.

Telemachus also acts like the gracious host to the impoverished looking beggar sitting in Eumaeus’s hut, never realizing that it is his own father.

Vocabulary:
Lithe: limber, flexible
Candor: honesty, frankness

Telemachus tells the old beggar (Odysseus) that he will try to help him as much as he can but the suitors are treacherous and wish to kill him (Telemachus). Telemachus sends Eumaeus to Penelope to tell her that her son has arrived home. The two men are left alone.

Athena cannot bear the suspense any longer and working her magic, makes Odysseus look younger, handsomer, taller, more massive and well, more like a movie star. Telemachus is shocked and afraid by the sudden transformation and thinks that Odysseus must be a god and begs him not to hurt him, but Odysseus tells him that “I am the father that your boyhood lacked.” When Telemachus still doesn’t believe him, Odysseus says that he is the only Odysseus who will ever come. Finally believing him, Telemachus embraces his father. Unleashing twenty long years of loneliness, Odysseus begins to sob as he throws his arms around his longed for son. The men sob like hawks whose nestlings have been killed by farmers.

Homeric Simile: “Salt tears rose from the wells of longing in both men, / And cries burst from both as keen and fluttering / as those of the great taloned hawk, / whose nestlings farmers take before they fly. // So helplessly they cried, pouring out tears, / and might have gone on weeping till sundown.

THE BEGGAR AND THE FAITHFUL DOG

When Odysseus and Eumaeus go to the Palace, they discover an old dog, Argos, lying on a huge dung pile, left there by the slaves to die. Odysseus recognizes the old dog as his beloved puppy whom he raised and hunted with before he left for the Trojan War. Now the dog is well over twenty years old, but the old dog remembers his master, and flattening his ears, and weakly wagging his tail he uses the last of his strength to crawl to his master and welcome him home. Odysseus wipes a tear away and struggles to control his emotions.

Eumaeus comments that Argos’ master trained him as a great hunting dog but left and is now dead in a far off place. When the dog was young the youth would take him out for hunts and he was the best hunting dog of all the pack, but now that he is old, he is forgotten and neglected by the slaves. Eumaeus says that when a person goes into slavery half of her/his humanity is taken away.

Happy that he has lived long enough to see his master return home, Argos closes his eyes in eternal sleep.

Literary Terms:
Personification: “Now misery has him in leash.”
Personification: Giving human characteristics to inanimate objects.

Can misery hold anything in a leash? No. But the image is powerful and conveys with great and multi-layered strength the tragedy and suffering of the dog who is in a leash not held by his beloved master, but by the cruel hand of misery.

Irony: Eumaeus does not realize that he is talking to Odysseus about the young Odysseus and his dog.

Irony: It is ironic that the only creature in Ithaca who immediately recognizes Odysseus is his old hunting dog.

Would Argos be treated this way if Odysseus had been there for the past twenty years?

What does this say about the state of the kingdom that an animal is neglected in this way?

What can one infer about a society by how it treats its animals and other weak, vulnerable members?

Book 19: Penelope, the Beggar and the Nurse

Maudlin: mawkish and overly sentimental.

Odysseus, transformed by Athena to look like an old beggar, makes his way to the palace where he finds his home in complete disarray, filled with drunken, rude suitors who are bankrupting his wife and son out of their inheritance. The suitors, thinking he is just some old beggar, are abusive to him and call him names and throw stools at him. Penelope apologizes for their rude behavior but tells him that she cannot control them. When Odysseus, disguised as an old beggar tells her that he has news of her husband, she eagerly tells him to meet with her late that night to tell her all.

The Island of Helios

Notes for THE ODYSSEY: THE ISLAND OF HELIOS

The reading log should include:
At least three vocabulary words + their definitions
Plus a brief summary of the plot
Plus any thing pertaining to theme; to character; to figurative language: metaphor, simile, personification, imagery, idioms, etc.
The following books should be included in this week's read log:
The Lotus Eaters
Calypso
The Cyclops
Circe
The Land of the Dead
Circe
The Sirens
Scylla
Charybdis
The Isle of Helios

When we finish THE ODYSSEY, the rest of the reading logs over Odysseus's return to Ithaca will be due.

Page 684:
The Isle of Helios:
The Isle of Helios is still in flashback. Odysseus is in the court of Alcinous telling the king and his people what happened to him and his men while they were on the island of the Sun God.
Vocabulary:
Gales: very rough gusts of wind; not quite hurricane level but very intense
Insidious: treacherous; more dangerous than apparent

You remember that Teireisias told Odysseus not to eat the cows and sheep of the god Helios. Odysseus warns his men not to eat these beeves and kines or they will be destroyed by the angry Helios for (once again) breaking the bonds that tie the host and guests.
The sheep and cattle are magical because they are never born and they never die.
Odysseus and his men land on the island due to bad weather. The men have barley (a type of grain) on board which they eat until eventually, after about a month, they run out. The men then try to fish and hunt but with no luck

But notice that the men are starving. Despite their best efforts at hunting and fishing, they catch nothing and are suffering the slow and agonizing death of starvation. The gods do nothing to help them. The gods could, if they wanted, send them rain and help them with their fishing and hunting, but they don’t; the gods ignore the starving men's pleas.

Odysseus is faring no better than his men. Mindful of Circes' warning, he stays away from Helios' sheep and cows. Odysseus is for the most part - when his arrogance doesn't get the best of him - a dutiful Greek who honors the gods and their laws, and although he is starving too along with the men, he goes off, away from his men to pray to these intractable, unfair gods. But starvation is exhausting, and while praying for deliverance from this suffering, he falls asleep. While he is sleeping the men mutiny; they ignore his orders. Their need for food overcomes their will and they kill Helios' sheep and the cows.
The theme of this particular story is pretty complex. (The theme is stated in a form of a sentence: it must have a subject, and should state what happens as a consequence of a character flaw or an action.)
The theme is a moral or the point of the story.
According to Greek philosophy, destiny is determined by the gods and cannot be changed.
Those who disobey the gods will be destroyed or punished.
Those who obey the gods will be spared.
Those who are tested by the gods and who are loyal to the gods will prevail.
The laws are pretty explicit and because the men disobeyed the gods' laws - even though the rules are unfair and the men are starving - the men must be punished. They must die.
After killing the cows and sheep and eating them, the men board the ship to sail home. But Helios, who sees all and hears all on earth, complains to Zeus about Odysseus's men. The men must forfeit their lives for killing the animals.
So Zeus sends lightning to strike the boat, setting it on fire and drowning all the men, except for Odysseus, whose life is spared as Circe and Teireisias foretold. Odysseus swims to the island of Calypso, which takes us back to the beginning of the story where we first meet Odysseus sitting on Calypso’s beach crying from homesickness.

The Land of the Dead

THE LAND OF THE DEAD

The Land of the Dead in THE ODYSSEY 

VOCABULARY: 
Heifer: a young cow who has not had a calf yet.

Ewe: female sheep (pronounced like "you".)

Assuage: to make someone feel better; to calm ruffled feelings.

To assuage her girlfriend's hurt feelings, she bought her a 25 dollar gift certificate.

Pommel: the horn on a saddle or the knob on the sword's handle.

Woe: Sadness; pain, suffering, emotional pain, troubles

Sovereign: ruler; autonomous or independent or self-governing

Lance heads: head of a sharp spear

Flay: to strip the skin off the body.

Scabbard: sheath; like a holster but it holds a sword

Implacable: Unforgiving; unshakable, unbending

Rancor: deep lingering anger, a grudge

Bereft: deep sense of grief over a profound loss

The Sirens: Harpies; half birds/half women
Mast: the biggest beam in the middle of the ship from which the sails are fastened.

Scylla: is a huge creature, she yelps like a dog; she has twelve legs; she has six heads on each neck and each head has three rows of serrated teeth. 

Across the narrow strait from Scylla is Charybdis, which is a huge whirlpool. 

Stealth: by clever secretiveness; clever and sneaky

Winnowing fan: a farming implement used to remove the useless outer husk of grain. It looks vaguely like an oar.

Oar: A boating implement used to paddle a boat; a paddle used to steer a boat.

Hecatombs: the sacrifice of 100 cattle to each of the gods.
Strait: a narrow stretch of water between two outcroppings of land. Steep banks of land from two different continents bracket the narrow stretch of land which flows between them.

Atone: to make amends; to make up for a sin one has committed
Court: to woo

Brief Overview:

Circe, the sorceress, sends Odysseus to the Land of the Dead to speak to Teiresias in order to learn his destiny.  He is instructed by Circe to bring a black ewe to sacrifice to entice the cold shadowy shades to him. The warm dark blood of the sacrificed lamb draws forth the dead, who hover ever closer to mortal Odysseus, who draws  his sword to ward them off until Teiresias appears.  After the blind soothsayer drinks his fill of the sacrificed blood, he intones what he foresees of Odysseus' fate. But he warns him that horrible monsters lie in his path towards home: the sirens, Scylla, Charybdis, and a dangerous place lies in his future, the isle of the Sun God, Helios.  

The blind prophet tells Odysseus that he and his men will land on the island of Thrinakia, the island of Helios, the Sun God, who drives his chariot (the sun) across the sky each day and who sees all and hears all - nothing escapes him. Teiresias tells him of Helios' beloved beeves and kines (cows and sheep),  which have never experienced birth nor death, and warns him not to eat of these animals, for if he does,  he will meet death at the hands of a vengeful god. However, Teiresias continues,  his men will eat the animals,  which will enrage Helios, who will demand that Zeus send a lightning bolt to set fire to Odysseus’s ship.  All of them will die except for Odysseus who will drift for years alone, finally returning home on a boat no one will recognize, to his home ransacked and plundered by insolent men.

Teiresias warns him that his way home is fraught with peril for Poseidon is “not to be shaken from your track, implacable, in rancor for the son whose eye you blinded.”

 He is told not to tell the men that they are going to die for he needs their cooperation in order to get home, which poses a moral dilemma for Odysseus. 

He will be adrift for many years after the deaths of his men, and when he does finally return home he will be met by rogues and rude, insolent men who have been plundering his home and harassing his wife, Penelope to marry one of them. He must fight his way past the suitors to win back both his home and his wife. 

Teiresias continues with his advice: After Odysseus arrives home and has defeated the suitors, he must take an oar and walk inland far from shore, where men eat their meat unseasoned with salt from the ocean.  He will know that he has arrived at the ordained place when a farmer, mistaking the oar for a farming implement, calls it a winnowing fan. There he will plant the oar in the land, far from Poseidon's domain, and sacrifice many heads of cattle, 100 hecatombs to each god and goddess on Olympus. If he does this, Odysseus will be blessed with a long life and a soft, gentle death surrounded by his loved lone.

While Odysseus is in the Land of the Dead, he is shocked to see his mother wandering among the shades.  Depressed by her son's long absence, she committed suicide, which of course, Odysseus knew nothing about.  When he tries to embrace her, he finds he cannot grasp her for she is without substance, being without corporal body. She asks why is he wandering in the dark world of the dead and urges him to leave this place and seek the sun kissed land and seas of the living. 

The dead spend the rest of eternity in the same state as they died. If someone has died by decapitation, he will remain headless (carrying his head under his arm) for all eternity. If someone dies in battle, his body pierced by an arrow,  he will forever walk around Elysian Fields with the arrow protruding from his body.  Strangely, the Greek concept of the dead closely corresponds to the modern Western view of the dead - clear, shadowy forms that look a lot like they did when they were alive, but transparent, insubstantial. Once the dead cross the River of Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, their memories of life above ground will wither away. 

Some of the language in THE ODYSSEY is difficult.  Let's look at the following stanza and analyze it.  This is one of the warning Teiresias gives him about the anger Poseidon still bears him: 

But in anguish lies ahead;

The god who thunders on the land prepares it,

Not to be shaken from your track, implacable,

In rancor for the son whose eye you blinded.

The subject is: the god who thunders on the land

Not to be shaken from your track refers to Poseidon (or the god)

Implacable: refers to the god

In rancor: in anger

Whose son: Poseidon's son

Back to the Isle of Circe

Back to the Island of Circe

Odysseus returns to the island of Circe after visiting the Land of the Dead

Circe gives further instructions to Odysseus on how to avoid the Sirens, get past Scylla and to avoid being sucked down by the whirlpool Charybdis.

Circe warns Odysseus about the Isle of Sirens which is where the Sirens live, hideous half-bird, half-women creatures who sing men to their deaths. Men who hear the beautiful singing of these wretched creatures will leap overboard to swim to the island to be closer to the music, but there they will die. The island is littered with the dried bones of those men who couldn’t resist the hideous creatures’ music.

Circe tells Odysseus that he should hear this music – he is after all Odysseus! - but that he should put beeswax in the ears of his men so they cannot hear. (Being ordinary men they would not be able to resist the Sirens’ music.) He should instruct the men to tie him firmly (to lash him) to the mast of the boat and if, while listening to the Sirens’ music, he is so overwhelmed by their seductive powers that he begs the men to untie him, then his men must tie him even more firmly to the mast.

Circe then warns him about the even more hideous Scylla. She has twelve legs, unjointed tentacles like an octopus. Scylla has serpent necks with six heads on each swaying neck. Each head has a mouth of triple serried teeth (like a knife).
Vocabulary:
Den: a cave where an animal or monster sleeps.
Abominably: So horrible as to be deserving of hatred.
Gullet: throat and esophagus (the tube that runs from the throat to the stomach).
From each ship she takes one man for each gullet.
Vocabulary:
Promontory: a high cliff overlooking a body of water.

Circe tells him that on the other side of the strait (narrow body of water between two land masses) lies Charybdis (Ka rib dis) which is a huge whirlpool that sucks down all the water three times a day and then vomits it back up (spews) like a geyser. Avoid it and stick as close as you can, Cire warns him, to the opposite side of the strait (close to Scylla) and away from Charybdis. Better you lose a few men than the entire ship.

Circe then warns him about the Island of Thrinakia, the Island of Helios, the sun god who sees all and hears all as he, in his chariot, drives his thundering steeds across the sky each day. Nothing escapes him. He keeps on his island cattle and sheep which he loves very much. These beeves and kine have never been born nor never die. Do not eat them, Circe warns Odysseus, for if you do you will meet certain death at the hands of the angry gods.

The Island of Circes

The Reading Log for The Enchantress Circe:

Glade: a clearing in the middle of a forest.

Beguiling: (be gi ling): bewitching, tricking through beauty and charm. Guile: trickery, slyness, subterfuge

Swinish: having to do with swines or pigs. Attributes of swines: greedy, gluttonous, dirty, muddy, fat, lazy

Ambrosial: drink of the gods; from the word ambrosia

Ambrosial: adjective meaning having to do with the gods or of Mount Olympus.

Tidbits: morsels, tiny little delicious bits of food

Fond: with affection, with liking

Fawned: to show excessive affection for someone

Pigsty: a pen where pigs are kept

Foreboding: a sense of doom

Odysseus sends 23 men on a scouting expedition to explore the island. The men find Circe's cave, which is filled with beautiful and exotic animals that seem very human. Beautiful wild animals look at the twenty three warriors with eyes which seem human, unsettling so, which seem to plead with them to do something…. The men are disturbed by these animals with eyes which seem to hold the light of human intelligence, but the men shake off this odd feeling when they spot a beautiful woman singing an enchanting song while weaving ambrosial fabric.

Why do Odysseus’ men find the animals so unsettling? Do you think the animals may turn into humans? Or do you think the enchantress may turn Odysseus’ men into animals?

The beautiful enchantress offers the men something to eat and drink, which the men greedily accept - they have, after all, been on board boats for a very long time – and all of them gobble the food down, except for one, Polites, who senses a trap.  Suddenly, before his eyes, he sees his friends turn into pigs!

 The Enchantress, whose name is Circe, turns the men into their “totem animal” with her magic potion. The totem animal is the internal animal that represents the secret hidden nature of the person. Odysseus’ men are sometimes driven more by their carnal needs than by their intelligence and so the animal that represents the men’s real nature is the swine, noted for its sensual indolence and huge appetites.

Polites, horrified, runs to the ship to tell Odysseus the terrible news. Before Odysseus goes to save his men, Hermes, the messenger god arrives to give him “moly” which is believed to be a sort of garlic to protect him from the witches’ power.  (Who knew that twenty five hundred years ago, garlic was not only effective against vampires but also evil witches (;-)? Odysseus runs to Circes’ cave where she tries to give him the magic potion with the hope that such a fine man as he would be turned into a lion, or some other sexy beast.  But when Odysseus eats the potion without incident, she knows she has met her match.  When he tells Circe to either turn his men back into humans or he will kill her, she replies, “Do and you will never see your men again.” Realizing he has met his match, Odysseus resheaths his sword and she agrees to turn his men back into men.

 Reaching a sort of détente, Circe, Odysseus and his men begin to celebrate for what the humans think is a wild five day party. After five days of this celebration, Odysseus informs Circe that they appreciate her hospitality (after all, she did turn them back into men) but after five days it’s time for them to head back to sea.  Circe is amused by this for she knows that on her island of sensuality and indulgence, time bends and lose its shape, which humans are particularly vulnerable to. Humans become victim to their senses and of time, and five days can stretch out to…..five years!  Odysseus doesn’t believe her when she tells them they have wasted five years of their lives on food, drink and sex on her island.  It’s not until she shows him the five years of sand that’s accumulated on their ships that he believes her. 

What important lesson do you think the chapter holds for us humans?

But first, before he leaves, Circe tells him he must go to the “Land of the Dead” to seek out Teresias, the blind oracle to learn his fate. Circe warns him that he must go, unaccompanied by his men, and that he must carry a black lamb to attract the attention of the dead prophet.

Persephone: Her mother is Demeter or Ceres. The myth of Persephone and Ceres explains the seasons.

Myths: Stories made up by ancient peoples to explain naturally occurring phenomena, such as the changing of the seasons, rain, the sunrise, etc.

Teiresias is a blind Greek seer who predicts the future. He was also the only man who knew what it was like being a woman for he had spent seven years as one. One day he was walking down a road and saw two snakes mating. For some reason, he was turned into a woman. Seven years later, walking down the same road he saw two snakes - maybe the same ones - mating and he was turned back into a man. There is also a belief that the blind, who are denied sight of the material world, are compensated by having sight or knowledge of the psychic or unknown world - the future, the past and those worlds that are unknown to the sighted living world.

Teiresias is a very important character in Greek literature for many different writers in the Greek era used him as a prophet to predict the future, provide hidden information about the past and to provide guidance and advice to other characters.

___________________________________________________________

The Cyclops

Page 660; Polyphemus the Cyclops

This is in “media res” which means that we start the story in the middle. Remember that Odysseus is sitting in the court of Alcinous telling the story of what happened during the last ten years.  This part of the story is in flashback!

Remember the ties between the host and guests are sacred. Who violated these ties in The Cyclops?

What did Odysseus and the men do when they found themselves in the Cyclop’s cave?
What did the Cyclops do when he came into the cave?
Did the Cyclops know that Odysseus and his men were there?
What did he do when he first saw them?
What did Odysseus say that offended the Cyclops?
The Cyclops took it as a rebuke (scolding) or that Odysseus was scolding him.
What is the Cyclop's attitude about the gods?
What clever lie did Odysseus tell the Cyclops and why did he tell it?
What did the Cyclops do next?
The men were described as two small puppies struggling in the hands of the Cyclops.  “Like squirming puppies....” This is an example of a simile.

“When the young Dawn with fingertips of rose lit up the world....” This is an example of personification for Dawn or sunrise does not have fingertips.
The Cyclops ate two more men for breakfast ;-(

Cap a quiver - the cap or top of a case of arrows.  To cap a quiver means to put the cap or top back on the case of arrows.

The Cyclops put a huge boulder in the door of the cave like an ordinary person would put a cap back on a quiver of arrows so that the men couldn’t escape.

Then men, under Odysseus’ direction, find an olive tree which has already had its branches cut off by the Cyclops.  It looks like a huge mast on a ship.  They sharpen one end of it so that it is very sharp. What do you think they are going to do with that sharp stake?

When the Cyclops comes back, he eats two more men. Odysseus offers him some wine which the Cyclops likes. He likes it soooo much he gets drunk!
Reeling: to stumble around
Seer: to burn on the surface.

The Cyclops:

Please answer in complete sentences:

After the Cyclops eats some of Odysseus’ men, what plan does Odysseus hit upon to escape?

What clever trick did Odysseus use to deceive the Cyclops?

Describe the effect Odysseus’ plan had on the Cyclops.

How did Odysseus and his men escape from the cave?

What foolish thing did Odysseus do after he and the men got on board the boat?

What is the weird?  What was the prediction the ancient wizard foretold about the Cyclops’ fate? Why is it ironic?

How did the Cyclops curse Odysseus?  What effect is it going to have on the rest of the story? 

Polyphemus the Cyclop

Polyphemus the Cyclop

Vocabulary:

Boughs: tree branches
Achaeans: (ah kee uns) Greeks
Ewe: (uu) female sheep
Bleating: Baaa-baaa; the sound a sheep makes
Hewn: to shape an object, usually of wood, with a knife.
Ambrosia: drink of the gods
Smithy: a blacksmith’s workshop
Adz: a tool with a long curving blade
Sage: wise or a wise person
Rosy fingers of Dawn: personification
Death sat there large: metaphor
Kinky: short, tightly curled hair or wool
Pectoral: chest
Carrion: road kill; dead animal body
Rogue: an unscrupulous person, an untrustworthy fellow; George Bush is a rogue.
Adversary: enemy; an opponent
Lob: to throw a heavy object like a rock or a grenade
Stern: the back of a boat
Girdle: to encircle

What was one of the most important things to the Greeks? The ties between the guests and the hosts.
Polyphemus: son of Poseidon.

According to the critic Erwin F. Cook, THE ODYSSEY portrays a series of contrasts between metis (cunning intelligence), and bie or bia (violent might). Odysseus demonstrates metis throughout his adventures, as does his patron, Athena. Poseidon and other figures who oppose Odysseus represent bie. Cook argues that in THE ODYSSEY and in other works, Poseidon and Athena are opposed to each other. They represent the "Greek polarization of nature and culture". Poseidon represents the brute force of nature and Athena represents the ingenuity which renders that power useful or protects us from it.

Symbols: The olive pole, which was used as a weapon by Odysseus against Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, is a symbol associated with the goddess Athena. According to Greek myth, Athena and Poseidon once competed for sovereignty over Attica, the region in which Athens is located, by offering gifts. Poseidon produced water in the barren Acropolis; Athena produced an olive tree. The Olympian gods who judged the competition, decided that Athena's olive tree was a better offering than Poseidon's water and declared her the winner. The contemporary audiences of THE ODYSSEY would be very familiar with this myth and would have recognized the use of the olive pole as another triumph of Athena over Poseidon, the triumph of the intellect over brute force.

Page 660; Polyphemus the Cyclops

This is in “media res” which means that we start the story in the middle. Remember that Odysseus is sitting in the court of Alcinous telling the story of what happened during the last ten years.  This part of the story is in flashback!

Remember the ties between the host and guests are sacred. Who violated these ties in The Cyclops?

What did Odysseus and the men do when they found themselves in the Cyclop’s cave?

What did the Cyclops do when he came into the cave?

Did the Cyclops know that Odysseus and his men were there?

What did he do when he first saw them?

What did Odysseus say that offended the Cyclops?

The Cyclops took it as a rebuke (scolding) or that Odysseus was scolding him.

What is the Cyclop's attitude about the gods?

What clever lie did Odysseus tell the Cyclops and why did he tell it?

What did the Cyclops do next?

The men were described as two small puppies struggling in the hands of the Cyclops.  “Like squirming puppies....” This is an example of a simile.

“When the young Dawn with fingertips of rose lit up the world....” This is an example of personification for Dawn or sunrise does not have fingertips.

The Cyclops ate two more men for breakfast ;-(

Cap a quiver - the cap or top of a case of arrows.  To cap a quiver means to put the cap or top back on the case of arrows.

The Cyclops put a huge boulder in the door of the cave like an ordinary person would put a cap back on a quiver of arrows so that the men couldn’t escape.

Then men, under Odysseus’ direction, find an olive tree which has already had its branches cut off by the Cyclops.  It looks like a huge mast on a ship.  They sharpen one end of it so that it is very sharp. What do you think they are going to do with that sharp stake?

When the Cyclops comes back, he eats two more men. Odysseus offers him some wine which the Cyclops likes. He likes it soooo much he gets drunk!

Reeling: to stumble around

Seer: to burn on the surface.

The Cyclops:

Please answer in complete sentences:

After the Cyclops eats some of Odysseus’ men, what plan does Odysseus hit upon to escape?

What clever trick did Odysseus use to deceive the Cyclops?

Describe the effect Odysseus’ plan had on the Cyclops.

How did Odysseus and his men escape from the cave?

What foolish thing did Odysseus do after he and the men got on board the boat?

What is the weird?  What was the prediction the ancient wizard foretold about the Cyclops’ fate? Why is it ironic?

How did the Cyclops curse Odysseus?  What effect is it going to have on the rest of the story? 

November 7, 2011 - November 10, 2011
Ninth Grade Honors English Agenda

Monday, November 7th:
Finish the Propaganda presentations.
Begin reading "The Cask of Amontillado"

Tuesday, November 8th:
Shortened day!
Finish reading "The Cask of Amontillado"
Pass out the irony and vocabulary packet for "The Cask of Amontillado"

Wednesday, November 9th:
Please bring your VOCABULARY WORKSHOP and your HOLT HANDBOOK (blue grammar book)
Unit 2 in your vocabulary book will be assigned today and will be due on Tuesday, November 15th.
"Independent and Subordinate Clauses"; pages 98 - 100; exercise 1 will be assigned today and will be due on Monday, November 14th.
Begin reading "The Most Dangerous Game".

Thursday, November 10th:
Warm-up!
Using three words from your Unit 3 vocabulary, write three sentence using subordinate clauses.
Continue reading "The Most Dangerous Game"

Island of Laestrygonians, The Wind God

Reading Log for the Island of the Wind God:

The men and Odysseus land on the Island of Aeolia, the land of the Wind God, Aeolus. Aeolus gives Odysseus a bag of the trade winds, which would keep Odysseus from reaching home. He tells Odysseus not to open the bag for the trade winds will be released, keeping Odysseus from reaching Ithaca. Odysseus stashes the bag under the seats without telling the men the contents in the bag and sets sail for home. The men are curious about what might be in the bag and thinking that it is filled with gold, open it. Unfortunately, the men open the bag just as they are in sight of Ithaca. The trade winds are released and blow the ships off the coast of Ithaca and back out to sea.

The theme of the story is__________________________.

Ignorance leads to destruction.

Distrust can lead to destruction.

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The Reading Log for the Island of the Laestrygonions:

Island of Laestrygonions: The ships land on an island filled with huge cannibals who devour all the ships but one. The ship manned by Odysseus manages to get away and lands on the Island of Aeaea, the land of the beautiful enchantress Circe.

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I Am Laertes' Son

Odyssey Notes:

I am Laertes' Son.

Princess Nausicaa takes him to the palace where her parents greet this striking stranger (whom Athena has made appear taller, more massive, with red gold crisping hair like hyacinth) with great politeness. Like all good Greeks who respect the laws of their gods and know that the ties between guests and hosts are sacred, the King and Queen offer the stranger wine and food. After he has eaten his fill, the court minstrel asks him what topic of song he would like the minstrel to sing. The stranger requests a song about the exploits of the Greek hero Odysseus at Troy, and his endless wandering, and his men lost at sea. As the minstrel begins to sing tears begin to fall from the stranger's eyes. The King can no longer hide his curiosity and asks, "Who are you?" The stranger's words, "I am Laertes'son, Odysseus, I mean..." are met with shock and amazement. Here is the great Greek warrior long thought dead, found alive at last seating in our palace!

Odysseus begins recounting his ceaseless attempts to return home after the fall of Troy twenty years ago.

The story is told in "Medea Res" which means in the "middle of". Notice that the book picks up ten years after the fall of Troy and after the occurrence of most of the events. Odysseus tells the story to the Court of Alcinous in flash back format. The stories of the Island of the Cicones, the Land of the Lotus Eaters, The Bag of Winds, the Island of Polyphemus the Cyclops, Circe the Witch, the Land of the Dead, back to the Island of Circe the Witch, the Sirens, Scylla, Charybdis and Thrinakia, the Island of Helios, the Sun God, all are recounted by Odysseus to the Court of Alcinous, and we the audience experience these stories in flashback. The real time occurrences are The Island of Calypso, The Court of Alcinous and his return to Ithaca where he struggles to regain his home.

Princess Nausicaa

THE PRINCESS NAUSICAA

HOMERIC SIMILE: A long comparison between two unlike things.

Imagery is descriptions that appeal to the senses.

Strategist: (root word: strategy) a very clever person who creates a plan of attack to accomplish a goal.

The Nymph Calypso releases Odysseus who builds a boat and sets sail for Ithaca. However, Poseidon whips up yet another storm which leaves him shipwrecked on the shores of the Phaeacians.

The Princess Nausicaa

Meanwhile, in the Court of Alcinous, we meet the beautiful young Princess Nausicaa. She is the daughter of King Alcinous who rules over the island of Scheria, on whose beach Odysseus is now lying, exhausted from his twenty rough days at sea, locked in the deep embrace of sleep.  We see the Princess sleeping in her bed before dawn. The Goddess Athena disguises herself as the best friend of the princess to wake her up so that she will go down to the beach to wash clothes and discover Odysseus passed out at the shore.

Graces: The three beautiful goddesses who govern beauty, charm, and pleasure in human life.

Common Motif in Greek literature and mythology: The gods disguise themselves as mortals. Athena disguises herself as a mortal again. The first time Athena disguises herself in THE ODYSSEY is when she appears as on old man named Mentor, to give advice to Telemachus. MENTOR is where we get the word "mentor", which is an older, wiser advisor. Now in Book 6 of THE ODYSSEY, Athena appears as Dymas' daughter, Nausicaa's best friend, to awaken her without frightening her to tell her to go to the beach today.

The Greeks believed that the gods frequently interfered in the lives of humans in this way - by disguising themselves as mortals to make suggestions, or to direct our feet along a certain path so that fates and destinies may be fulfilled.

Distaff yarn: Princess Nausicaa's mother was already at work, spinning wool onto a spindle to make cloth.

Nausicaa is probably about fifteen, marriageable age for a young Greek girl at that time. She tells her father she wants to wash the family linen for the dances her brothers must attend in order to find suitable wives.

Drubbed: to hit the clothes against rocks to clean them.

Nausicaa and her hand maids ride to the beach in a little cart with the laundry. There at the beach, they wash the clothes, they picnic, they run races, they swim, they sun bathe, and they play sports. While they are playing a game of catch, Athena causes the ball to go out of bounds and bounce next to Odysseus, waking him up.

Odysseus is a much older man - and naked - and he is confronted with a problem - how does he get what he needs - food, clothes and help - without frightening the young girls. He thinks quickly - should he prostrate himself (lie down flat on the ground) and touch the princess's knees to show submission or should he stand tall and humbly ask for her help? He decides that touching her may frighten her so he decides on the latter course. He breaks off an olive branch to hide his nakedness and begins to flatter her, saying she reminds him of Artemis (the goddess of virginity - a wise choice which shows he recognizes and respects her youth and virginity).

Odysseus says that if she helps him, he will wish a happy home and marriage for her - things that were very important to the Greeks.

Nausicaa says, "You know Zeus mets out fortune / to good and bad men as it pleases him."

Nausicaa says that Zeus gives bad things to both good and bad people - which is the Greek philosophy explaining the randomness of life. Good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people.

She decides to help him and orders her maids to bathe him, and to give him food and clothes.

Note again how important it is to treat your guests with respect.

Odysseus responds in a gracious, respectful and wise manner by saying it is not appropriate that these young girls should see him in his nakedness so he will bathe himself without their help.

Again, Athena intervenes by making him rockstar glamourous looking - fit for an action hero.

Hyacinth: a flower that is reddish gold. This is the color to which Athena restores Odysseus' hair.

Hephaestus: black smith to the gods. Look up the Myth of Hephaestus.  He was an exceptionally ugly god - so ugly in fact that his mother, Hera, threw him off Mount Olympus because he was such an ugly baby.  He landed at the bottom of the ocean and began gathering up the pearls, diamonds, rubies and emeralds he found there to make gorgeous jewelry.  When Hera saw the beautiful rings and bracelets he was making, she reconsidered and brought him back to Olympus.  So overjoyed was she by the beauty of his jewelry, she gave him Aphrodite, the most beautiful goddess on Olympus, to marry, which is another example of irony - the ugliest god is married to the most beautiful one.

Back to the story of the Princess Nausicaa:

Nausicaa tells Odysseus to walk behind the cart with her maids back to the palace. They will pass by the marina where construction workers and sailors are building ships. She warns Odysseus that the men will be quite rude and make speculative comments about their relationship. The men are quite bitter that she has rejected all of them as possible suitors or husbands.

Again, Nausicaa exhibits the highest level of appropriate Greek behavior - she does not want to do anything that will shame her parents.

"And I myself should hold it shame / for any girl to flout her own dear parents, / taking up with a man, before her marriage."

Flout: to scorn, to insult, to show contempt for.

Calypso's Island,

Odyssey Notes:

Calypso's Island

We first meet Odysseus in Book 4 where he is sitting on the shore of the lovely Calypo's island weeping with longing for his wife and son whom he has not seen in twenty years. It seems that Odysseus has grown tired of the beautiful goddess and wishes to go home to Penelope. Athena, the goddess of Wisdom, his patroness, takes pity on Odysseus and goes to Zeus to beg for his safe return to Ithaca. Zeus sends Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to give the seductive Calypso an offer she cannot refuse - either give up Odysseus and allow him to go home to his beloved Penelope - or Zeus will send her island plummeting to the bottom of the ocean. Calypso reluctantly agrees, but before allowing him to leave, Calypso offers Odysseus a romantic little dinner for two and over candlelight she asks him the age old questions, "What does she have that I don't?" Odysseus, the wiliest of all the Greeks - which is why he is the favorite of Athena, the goddess of Wisdom - casts his far ranging mind for an answer and comes up with this answer - although Penelope, being a mere mortal, cannot compare to the beauty of a goddess, he misses his quiet wife and wishes to grow old with her. Calypso reluctantly gives him permission to build a small boat to set sail for home, and bids him adieu.

But Poseidon, the god of the sea, still has not forgiven Odysseus for blinding his son, Polyphemus the Cyclops, and once again sends storms and winds to keep him at sea for weeks. Finally, Odysseus is shipwrecked on an island and exhausted from his weeks of battling sea storms, falls into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, Athena is up and about, setting the stage for his rescue.

October 31, 2011 - November 4, 2011
Weekly Agenda for 9th Grade Honors English

Monday, October 31st:
Handouts will be given today on propaganda techniques.
We will break into groups and create a political commercial and a product commercial using two of the propaganda techniques.
For homework: watch television tonight and find examples of some of the propaganda techniques we have discussed today in class.

Tuesday, November 1st:
Present your two commercials today to the class.

Wednesday, November 2nd:
Please bring your VOCABULARY WORKSHOP and your HOLT’S HANDBOOK (grammar) to class today
Assign Unit 2 of the VOCABULARY WORKSHOP
This will be due on Monday, November 7th
Assign “Independent and Subordinate Clause”; pages 98 - 100; exercise 1; this will be due on Friday, November 4th.

Thursday, November 3rd:
District Assessment on Persuasion

Friday, November 4th:
District Assessment on Persuasion

October 24, 2011 - October 26, 2011
Weekly Agenda for 9th Grade Honors English
Monday, October 24th:
Read essay on Jackie Robinson in PERSPECTIVES in MULTIPLE-CULTURALISM
Test Practice
For homework: Short Constructed Response

Tuesday, October 25th:
"Before You Read"
Vocabulary
Read Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream"
Test Practice
For homework: Short Constructed Response

Wednesday, October 26th:
Handouts will be given out on propaganda techniques
Break into groups and create a political or product commercial using two of the
propaganda techniques from the handouts.

Thursday, October 27th:
Present your group's commercial to class

Friday, October 28th:
Grammar assignment on adverbial clause
The grammar homework will be due on Tuesday, November 1st.
Assign Unit 2 in Vocabulary Workshop: Level D
This will be due on Thursday, November 3rd.

October 17th - October 21st

Weekly Agenda for 9th Grade Honors English

Monday, October 17th:

Go over homework from the weekend: Reading Check, Test Practice and the Constructed Response.

Read before pages 15 - 20; "Before You Read"; "Where I Find My Heroes" and "Heroes with Solid Feet"

For homework: Page 21; "Reading Check", "Test Practice" and "Constructed Response"

Tuesday, October 18th:

Go over homework!

Wednesday, October 19th:

Read pages 22 - 24; "Informational Text" and "Using the Sources"

Read pages 25 - 26; "Before You Read"

Read pages 27 - 29; "Free Minds and Hearts at Work"

Read pages 30 - 31; "Jackie Changed the Face of Sports"

Thursday, October 20th:

Read pages 32 - 35; "Before You Read"; "Jackie Changed the Face of Sports"; "Test Practice" and "Skills Review"

Finish for homework!

Friday, October 21st:

Read pages 37 and 38; "Literary Response and Analysis: Jackie Robinson"

Read page 40; "After You Read"

Rhetoric: Persuasion

Testimonial:

The testimonial is another example of the seven propaganda techniques as identified by the Institute for Propaganda Institute. The testimony can be implied by linking the image of a famous or respected celebrity with the item, or an endorsement or a quotation by a famous or respected celebrity which links the item to the celebrity in the mind of the viewer.

Testimonials are closely linked with the transfer propaganda technique, in that an attempt is made to connect an admirable person to an object. This propaganda technique is frequently used in advertising and political campaigns.

One way to combat this form of propaganda is to – once again – consider the merits of the idea or item independent of the person or organization endorsing it.

Examples of this type of propaganda:

Michael Jordan’s endorsement of Nike sports shoes. The viewer unconsciously links Michael Jordan’s prowess on the basketball court with being knowledgeable about sports shoes.

Wheaties, the breakfast cereal, always has an Olympic star or athletic star on its box which links the ability or star power of the athlete with eating Wheaties. Eating of Wheaties probably has nothing to do with Venus William’s success at Wembledon but seeing her endorsements link her with Wheaties in the mind of the viewers.

Examples of Propaganda Techniques: Plain Folks

It was claimed by some that the vote was swayed for Bill Clinton when he donned a pair of shades and played some sax on the Arsenio Hall Show, proving that he was much cooler than stodgy old George Bush Senior.

Here is Yale, Harvard and northeast prep-school educated son of a former president sitting on the tailgate of a battered pick-up truck. The implication here is that he is just like you and me.

Here is another picture of George W. Bush clearing brush from his ranch in West Texas - just like you and me. After his presidency, Bush moved to a home in a luxurious part of North Dallas where, presumably, there is no brush to clear.

Plain Folks:

Plain Folks is another of the seven propaganda techniques identified by the Institute of Propaganda. The plain folks technique is used by the propagandist to convince the public that s/he is like them, shares their interests, beliefs and needs, and has their best interests at heart.

The propagandist will imitate the speech pattern of the crowd s/he wishes to woo, or use idiom or jokes familiar to that segment of the public. The propagandist will increase the illusion by subtly mispronouncing words or using slight grammatical errors; by mimicking the speech pattern the propagandist shows s/he is just like the audience - plain folks - and not an affected, prissy intellectual who thinks s/he is better than they.

The propagandist heightens this affect by dressing in attire similar to his/her targeted audience – simple attire: jeans, boots, flannel shirt, jeans jacket, for example – and by affecting movements which reflect the body language of the people.

Finally, the propagandist will be photographed doing hobbies or leisure activities associated with the hobbies and leisure activities of the targeted audience. Some examples would be George Bush clearing the brush on his ranch (many of his supporters were rural who could relate to the brush clearing activity because that was something they frequently did). Another example would be Barack Obama engaging in sports, such as playing golf or basketball, which shows him to be a regular guy, but also emphasizes his youth, vigor and manliness.