Freshman 2020
Ivy Zhu Period 1,Blog #33 5/8/20
Aim: How does “The Cattle of the Sun God” episode illustrate the culminating challenge
Odysseus faces as a leader?
Odysseus faces as a leader?
Today, in class, we continued reading The Odyssey. Odysseus and his men in the part “The Cattle of the Sun God” lands on the island of Helios. Odysseus warns his men not to touch Helios’ cattles because he was told that if they did, they would “pay dearly for it.” For the first month, everything was fine; the men feasted on the bread and wine they had on their ship, but soon they ran out. They were starving and one day, while Odysseus was sleeping, Eurylochus convinced the men to slaughter the cattle for food. Helios was greatly angered and demanded Zeus to punish Odysseus and his crew. On their voyage back home, the ship was struck by lightning, causing it to break apart. Odysseus survived this incident and tells the story about his adventure.
After we finished reading the excerpt, we played a round of Kahoot to test if we fully
understood what was going on in the story.
understood what was going on in the story.
Odysseus’ trust in Eurylochus was broken because Eurylochus convinced the men to slaughter the cattle. As a class, we discussed why Eurylochus was loyal to Odysseus until this point. We came to a conclusion that it is because Eurylochus’ grudge against Odysseus was slowly building up as the story progresses. For example, Odysseus had ignored Eurylochus’ plea to not go to Circe’s house in Book X. Eurylochus might have also done it out of hunger. “But in the end after all the barley in the ship was gone, hunger drove them to scour the wild shore with angling hooks, for fishes and seafowl, whatever fell into their hands; and lean days worse their bellies thin,” it states in the chapter. The men were desperate to find any food source they could. Eurylochus tells the men that “famine is the most painful” way to die and that it is better to die at the hands of a god.
Today, I learned how foreshadowing can be used in a story. In parts of the story, the text warns the readers about what will happen next. “As long as bread and good red wine remained to keep the men up, and appease their cravings, they would not touch the cattle,” it says. This foreshadows that eventually, they do run out of wine and bread, which means the men will eventually go and kill the cattle they were told not to touch. I also learned about omens. Omens are events that are viewed as good or bad signs for the future. An omen shown in “The Cattle of the Sun God” in The Odyssey is: “The gods, moreover, made queer signs appear: cowhides began to crawl, and beef, both raw and roasted, lowed like the kine in the spits.” This is an example of a bad omen. Omens and foreshadowing would help me in future readings. I would be able to figure out the next sequence of events from the hints that the author is giving the reader through these literary devices.
Here is something to help clear up Book 12, which contains “The Cattle of the Sun God”:
Here is more information on Helios, the sun god:
The situation with the COVID-19 virus in New York is slowly getting better. We’ve passed the peak and the governor, Mr. Cuomo, has already thought of a plan to reopen the economy. This pandemic has impacted my life greatly. I haven’t been allowed to go outside for more than a month and school has been transferred online. Working from home, in my opinion, is less stressful. Remote learning let’s me manage my own time and do the work at my own pace. If I really didn’t understand something, there are various ways I can reach out to my teachers.
The way people are reacting in this coronavirus pandemic has shown me that there are many brave, generous, and kind people out there. Doctors, nurses, and all the essential workers are still working hard to help others, even though it is dangerous being out so much. Many people are also making and providing face masks for those in need.
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