Lies

In the later books that we have read as a class, characters take the role of another person. In addition to this, characters often lie about where they have been, what they have done, and specifically weather they have encountered Odysseus recently. Why do you think they do this and what is the rellevance of this?

Odysseus' Journey

The course of Odysseus’s journey should have been a straightforward ride home but obstacles in his way make it otherwise. He is affected by his own personal desire for honor and kleos as he sets foot onto the Cyclops’ island. His crewmen negatively impact his journey two different times as they open a bag of wind that backtracks them away from Ithaca, and eat Helios’ cattle, which they were told specifically not to, killing them all off. Athena, who is like his guide through the entire epic, helps Odysseus when times are rough. She saves him from the sea nymph, Calypo’s, island and convinces the Polynesians to send him home safely and with treasure.

There are three major factions that effect Odysseus' journey in both positive and negative ways. These factions being himself, others, and the gods. So which of these groups effected his journey the most? Or more specifically, which obstacle or event?

Personally, I would say that the catastrophe on Helios' island probably had the biggest effect on Odysseus' journey home. It is hard to say whose fault it is when both Odysseus and his crew mates are to blame. Odysseus does tell his crew that they will die a horrible death if they eat the cattle, but this obviously is not enough. His men kill the cattle because of their hunger and suffer the consequences. The loss of Odysseus' crew causes him to return home lonely and sad. We can only take guesses on how the story would have turned out if his crew would not have eaten Helios' cattle. Maybe Odysseus would make a huge entrance back into Ithaca, scaring the suitors out of his home, leaving no need to kill them. Anything is possible.

Revenge

This may have been posted before but this is an idea that I was thinking about recently -

Revenge is a key element of the Odyssey. Poseidon takes revenge upon Odysseus for an extended period of time. Odysseus, himself, takes revenge upon the suitors when he returns home. To what extent is this revenge justified, when should one stop exercising revenge, and what significance to the meaning of the story does this imply?

The Role of Fate in the Odyssey

Discuss the topic of prophesies and fate in the Odyssey and the power that the characters have to alter it. It is a positive or negative influence in their lives? Give specific examples and textual evidence to support.

Book 18 What has Odysseus learned?

In Book 18, Odysseus, still disguised as a beggar, “[a]nd the one who knew the world” (144), comments to one of the kinder suitors:

"Amphinomus, you seem a man of good sense to me. (145)
Just like your father – at least I’ve heard his praises . . . .
So I will tell you something. Listen. Listen closely.
Of all that breathes and crawls across the earth,
our mother earth breeds nothing feebler than a man.
So long as the gods grant him power, spring in his knees,
he thinks he will never suffer affliction down the years.
But then, when the happy gods bring on the long hard times,
bear them he must, against his will, and steel his heart.
I, too, seemed destined to be a man of fortune once . . . . (159)
Look at me now. (162)
And so, I say, let no man be lawless all his lifejust take in peace what gifts the gods will send . . . .


Early in the poem we witness Telemachus embarking on his journey from childhood to manhood. What do the lines above reveal about the impact of Odysseus own journey on him? What has he learned? What other episodes in the poem up to this point contribute to the viewpoint expressed by Odysseus in these lines?

The Order of Events

Let’s all face the Fact: the Odyssey is written in a non-chronological format, in which the story begins in the middle, and jumps around time, eventually letting us arrive at the ending. Now, why on earth would Homer, the eloquent epithet creator, make a story that is only semi-confluent, and lacks linear time?

In Mr. Ialacci’s Humanities class, we wrote down the two different orders that the story has; Chronological and Narrative order. The Chronological order is essentially the order of events that happen, regardless of when they happen according to the Narrator. The Narrative order, however, consists of the events of the story as told by the Narrator.

So, Why would Homer resort to writing a story that is in Narrative format?

My Personal Hypothesis is that Homer wrote the course of the story in a coagulated way in order to better show Odysseus and other character’s developments, by displaying their faults, and then displaying various ways that they overcome said faults. For example, take a look at the mutinous shipmates of Odysseus ungrateful twats that they are who, in the beginning of the story, seem to be loyal to him. However, as the Narrative time line goes on, Odysseus's men eventually become more hostile towards Odysseus, creating mutinies left and right. If we look at the Crew's development on the Chronological time line though, them seem schizophrenic sporadic in their mutinies.

Discuss.

-Nick

What's trust got to do with it?

Throughout the Odyssey we've seen many sticky situations, which most of the characters get themselves in and out of by on lying, scheming and or not trusting those around them. Penelope and the suitors: “Young men, my suitors, now that King Odysseus is no more, go slowly, keen as you are to marry me, until I can finish off this web…” “So by day she’d weave at her great and growing web—by night, by the light of her torches set beside her, she would unravel all she’d done.”(96) Odysseus and his men: “He gave me a sack, the skin of a full-grown ox, and binding inside the winds that howl from every quarter,” Jealousy and envy overcome Odysseus’s crew, who do not know what is in the sack. “Hurry, let’s see what loot is in that sack, how much gold and silver. Break it open—now!”(231-232). Many more trust issues are seen between Odysseus’s and his men and much plotting and scheming is seen back at Ithaca between Penelope and the suitors, and the suitors, Telemachus and now Odysseus. What relevance does lying, plotting and trust have to do with the book as a whole? What examples prove that these themes make up the entire book? What does lying, plotting and trust tell us about the characters and the Greek society?

Odysseus as leader

Is Odysseus a good leader who is just cursed by the gods, or is he a bad leader who causes his own problems and the loss of his crew? Explain, using examples from the text to support your answer.

Where are you from? your country? your parents?

Today in Griffin humanities we had a good discussion about book 16 and the factors that shape identity, and I'd like to provide a forum to consider it more fully. Simply put, why does Telemachus need to understand who Odysseus is in order to know who he himself is? How do our families (parents, siblings, family legacies) shape our sense of ourselves?

And, particularly considering the growing popularity of options like adoption, egg donation and surrogacy in our world today, how much is your identity defined by your genetic material and how much is it defined by how you're raised? What does the case of Telemachus suggest on the one hand, but also, what do you think?

How much of the story is real?

As we all know odysseus is quite the trickster, and quite the story teller. during this story do you think that odysseus is telling the story to make himself look better to pheacians?

There are similes... but then there are EPIC similes.....

Homer loves his similes.They are found throughout the Odyssey. Pick one of your favorite epic similes and write an analysis of it. What does it mean? How does it illustrate a point or describe a character's personality? What does it tell us about Greek society?

Through A Glass Darkly: Or Why Odysseus is Me

Did you ever have an experience in which you really, really wanted to see or hear something but knew it would be a bad idea? Or perhaps you were "starving" but the only food available was "forbidden fruit"? Did you ever have a dilemma in life's journey in which either choice involved a serious cost? Did you ever enjoy a good time so much that you lost track of time and one year had already passed you by (as in Humanities class)? In what ways can Odysseus' journey and the obstacles he faces and overcomes be a metaphor for life?

Play that funky music...

We've seen several examples of the power of music in the epic so far. Based on the way music affects characters and the way the bards are treated, what kinds of inferences can you make about the role of music in Homer's universe?

Identity (or, Who Was That Masked Wo/man?)

Identity and kleos (glory) are central to Greek culture. We see this in the epic when Odysseus taunts Polyphemus by revealing his name, and in the many epithets that identify characters by their defining characteristics or their lineage.

Yet in the Odyssey, some characters choose to mask their identities at crucial moments. Athena disguises herself at every turn, assuming many different forms. Odysseus, too, chooses to withhold his identity strategically at times (on the Phaeacians' island in books 6-8, while playing a trick on Polyphemus in book 9, upon his return to Ithaca in book 13).

What factors determine identity in the Odyssey? What does the epic suggest about the significance of identity and of disguise?

The Guest-Host Relationship

Which characteres in the Odyssey act as a perfect example of the guest-host relationship and how?

What are we missing?

Some sections of Humanities are skipping over the parts of the epic that focus on Telemachus and only reading the parts focusing on Odysseus. What might they be missing? How do the Telemachus sections complement the Odysseus sections?

Is This the Face that Launched A Thousand Ships?

In Book Four of the Odyssey Helen, the most famous woman of the ancient world, whose beauty triggered the Trojan War, is now safely at home with her (first) husband Menelaus. Ten years after the Trojan War, how is she doing? What would Dr. Phil say about her marriage? What about her "drug habit"?

Whose Fault Is It Anyway?

Zeus complains in Book I of the Odyssey:
Ah how shameless--the way these mortals blame the gods.
From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes,
but they themselves, with their own reckless ways,
compound their pains beyond their proper share (1.37-40).
What is Zeus saying? Is he right? Whose fault is it anyway that Odysseus has been wandering for ten years -- that the suitors are eating him out of house and home?

Gender and power

In this, as in other narratives we've read this year, much of the authority in the story is possessed for men. Still, in this epic we see several examples of women who possess different kinds of power, including Penelope, Calypso, Circe, and the goddess Athena. What is the relationship between gender and power in this story?

Growing up

At the beginning of the Odyssey, Telemachus seems young and powerless. As he embarks on a journey and the epic wears on, how and why does the character of Telemachus change?

Epithets

Almost every mention of a character in this book is accompanied by an epithet - 'rosy-fingered Dawn,' 'the grey-eyed goddess,' 'the man of twists and turns,' 'the true son of Odysseus'...What sense can you make of these epithets? What kinds of information do they convey -- about Greek society, about gender, about the relationship between humans and the gods, or about individual characters?

Narrative and storytelling

"Clever" Odysseus, "crafty" Odysseus, "the man of twists and turns," is known as an excellent storyteller. What is the role of stories in the Odyssey? How reliable are Odysseus's stories?