Blogger #30 - Summer Yan - Period 1 - 12/16/20 - Day A - Freshmen Lit 2021
RL: 4 The Odyssey: Sailing from Troy & Lotus Eaters
Housekeeping:
First, we went through attendance for our class.
After, Mrs. Peterson asked if there were any questions for the Poem Anthology Collection Project. She had mentioned that all four poems should’ve been completed by today’s date, and that only things like, the title page, the table of contents, intro, annotation, and reflection should be left after the finishing of the four poems.
Aim: How does “Sailing From Troy” and “The Lotus Eaters” (Book IX) establish Odysseus’ role as a leader?
Do Now : TEAM NAME CHANGE
On our Do Now page, we had to change our team names. Mrs. Peterson had said that we had originally had our name ‘The Alchemist’-based because for summer reading, we were required to read it. At the beginning of the year, Mrs. Peterson mentioned how we would be continuously changing our team names based on what was relevant to our studies at that time. We didn’t change it for the poem sections because during that time, we would be learning about the poems, and there were too many different types of poems to have a definitive topic name on. She had explained that this time around, it was ‘The Odyssey’-based, because, after all, we were doing an analysis of The Odyssey.
We were split into our team breakout rooms and required to come up with names for our teams.
Team One = Zeus and the Boys
Team Two = The Muses
Team Three = Argives
Team Four = The Olive Trees
Team Five = The Trojan Horses
Team Six = Achilles’ Heel
Consider the fact that Odysseus has been trying to return to his home in Ithaca for 10 years. Imagine being away from your home for that long. What would you miss the most and why? Why do we have sayings like the ones below? After our team name changes, we had to read this question and think of a response. Personally, I thought that I’d miss my family the most because they are the people closest to me and I love them dearly. They're the most important people to me and I think that I’d be incredibly uncomfortable if I was taken out of my current environment and went on an adventure like Odysseus did.
Other Feedback:
Charlton = Charlton had said that he would miss his family and friend’s love the most because they’ve been near him his entire life.
Joshua T. = Joshua said that he would miss his bed because it’s where he’s most familiar and comfortable.
Marcus = Marcus had said he would be missing his pillow the most because it was really comfortable.
Chase = Chase said that he missed the cooking and food because outside, in The Odyssey, they most likely were not able to eat good food like he has at home.
Agnes = Agnes had also said she’d miss her family and the food at home because it’s where she feels most secure.
Stephen = Stephen had agreed with Agnes, saying that his home is where he's most comfortable and free to do what he wants.
Jasmine = Jasmine had gone next, saying how she thought it’s hard to find the same connection and support that her current relationships can give.
Sachi = Sachi also agreed with Jasmine, saying that if she had been forced to journey like Odysseus, she’d be incredibly homesick.
Crystal = Crystal said that because we all live in the city if she had journeyed, she’d miss the atmosphere of the city life the most.
Characterization
After we had gone through the Do Now, we first went over what Direct and Indirect Characterization were. Characterization, in general, is the method by which an author creates the personality and appearance of their character.
Direct Characterization : The author makes direct statements about the character (can be revealed through a narrator or through another character in the story). The author TELLS the reader what they want them to know.
Indirect Characterization : indirectly stated from the character's actions, choices they make, dialogue/relationships with others, thoughts, feelings. The author SHOWS the reader what they want them to know.
Mrs. Peterson had provided a chart for us to use this chart and further elaborate and explain what signifies as indirect characterization.
SPEECH - What does the character say?
How does the character speak?
THOUGHTS - What is revealed through the character’s private thoughts and feelings?
EFFECTS - What is revealed through the character’s effect on other people?
How do other characters feel or behave in reaction to the character?
ACTIONS - What does the character do?
How does the character behave?
LOOKS - What does the character look like?
How does the character dress?
We then went on to put the STEAL method to use through Disney’s Frozen.
Characterization w/ Disney's Frozen
This video displays examples for each of the STEAL categories.
SPEECH : In this picture, Anna and Hans are asking Elsa for her blessing with their marriage.
“In this scene, Anna is completely convinced that she’s in love and that she’s marrying someone she just met. The fact that she said this shows that she doesn’t have a full understanding of love yet and is very naive.”
Anna has been sheltered her whole life, trapped inside the castle. Elsa has been too, but due to her powers, she was exposed to the harshness of reality much quicker than Anna.
THOUGHTS : In the picture above, Anna and Olaf are trying to convince Elsa to go back to Arendelle with them. (A flashback ensues after of Elsa hurting Anna with her powers when they were younger.)
“Since Elsa hurt Anna last time, she decides that going back to their friendship is not possible. This shows that she cares about Anna. Elsa is caring and protective of her sister, and doesn’t want her to get hurt.”
This scene, with the flashback, and Elsa’s unwillingness to go back to Anna, is used to show much how she actually cares. All her life, she’s been lonely and whenever she’s alone, nothing bad happens, so she might be thinking to push Anna away for her own safety.
EFFECTS : This picture shows Anna about to leave Arendelle to get Elsa back.
“During this scene, after the confrontation between Anna and Elsa, reveals a side of Anna that we haven’t seen before. She defends her (Elsa), which shows that she’s loyal to her sister. This character trait is reinforced by the fact that she decides to go after Elsa herself.”
Personally, during this scene, I felt that I could see Anna become more mature. In the beginning, she displays this naive, carefree sides through her character and songs like, “For The First Time In Forever”, but as Elsa gets involved and anna realizes how much she actually cares about Elsa after she leaves, there’s character development in her decision to go after Elsa during the blizzard to take responsibility.
ACTIONS : This scene shows Anna throwing a sack of materials at Kristoff near the shop.
“In this scene, Anna throws a sack of materials at Kristoff and politely demands to be taken up the mountain. The fact that she knew bringing the materials would convince him shows that she’s resourceful, and the fact that she demands shows that she’s determined to get to her sister.”During this scene, a lot can be told. Anna has only met Kristoff once, for only a few minutes, and had already known what it would take to convince him to take her up the mountain, which shows her wit.
LOOKS : In the picture above, Anna is waking up for Coronation Day.
“In this scene, we see the way Anna wakes up completely disheveled, with her hair messy and all out of sorts.
What does her appearance tell us about her character?
I’d say she’s very carefree because she wakes up peacefully and is unconcerned about her appearance.”
I also agree with the creator of the video because, throughout the scene, Anna’s life isn’t super fast-paced, as she’s able to stay in bed and continue nodding off to sleep again.
Ten years after the Trojan War, Odysseus departs from the goddess Calypso's island. He arrives in Phaeacia, ruled by Alcinous. Alcinous offers a ship to Odysseus and asks him to tell of his adventures.
SAILING FROM TROY
"I am Laertes son. Odysseus
Men hold me
formidable for guile in peace and war:
this fame has gone abroad to the sky's rim.
My home is on the peaked sea-mark of Ithaca
under Mount Neion's wind-blown robe of leaves,
in sight of other islands—Dulichium,
Same, wooded Zacynthus—Ithaca
being most lofty in that coastal sea,
and northwest, while the rest lic east and south.
A rocky isle, but good for a boy's training:
I shall not see on earth a place more dear,
though I have been detained long by Calypso,
loveliest among goddesses, who held me
in her smooth caves, to be her heart's delight.
as Circe of Aeaea, the enchantress,
desired me, and detained me in her hall.
But in my heart I never gave consent.
Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass
his own home and his parents? In far lands
he shall not, though he find a house of gold.
What of my sailing, then, from Troy?
What of those years
of rough adventure, weathered under Zeus?
The wind that carried west from Ilium
brought me to Ismarus, on the far shore,
a strongpoint on the coast of Cicones.
I stormed that place and killed the men who fought.
Plunder we took, and we enslaved the women,
to make division, equal shares to all—
but on the spot I told them: 'Back, and quickly!
Out to sea again!' My men were mutinous,
fools, on stores of wine. Sheep after sheep
they butchered by the surf, and shambling cattle,
feasting—while fugitives went inland, running
to call to arms the main force of Cicones.
This was an army, trained to fight on horseback
or, where the ground required, on foot. They came
with dawn over that terrain like the leaves
and blades of spring. So doom appeared to us,
dark word of Zeus for us, our evil days.
My men stood up and made a fight of it—
backed on the ships, with lances kept in play,
from bright morning through the blaze of noon
holding our beach, although so far outnumbered;
but when the sun passed toward unyoking time,
then the Achaeans, one by one, gave way.
Six benches were left empty in every ship
that evening when we pulled away from death.
And this new grief we bore with us to sea:
our precious lives we had, but not our friends.
No ship made sail next day until some shipmate
had raised a cry, three times, for each poor ghost
unfleshed by the Cicones on that field.
Next, we started our team group work.
Keep in mind that the Odyssey is the account of Odysseus's ten-year journey back home to Ithaca. He misses his family and home; therefore, we will often find connections to this throughout the poem.
Identify lines in which Odysseus talks about his home in Ithaca.
How does he feel about it?
In our group, Group Six, we had discussed what Odysseus thinks about his home in Ithaca. We had thought that Odysseus felt that his home in Ithaca is where he’s meant to be.
“There were constant mentions of how Odysseus longed to go home, even though he was tempted by so many things.”
Find lines & specific evidence that describe these feelings.
There were many points throughout the passage of what we could use as examples to depict Odysseus’ want for his home.
“Odysseus’ feelings can be conveyed through the many lines of ‘Sailing to Troy’, such as Line 28, where he states that “I shall not see on earth a place more dear,” which shows the significance that his home in Ithaca has to him. In the above question, it’s mentioned that he’s tempted many times, such as Calypso, who was said to be the ‘loveliest among goddesses’ as well as Circe, a magnificent enchantress, who still couldn’t keep Odysseus with her because of his longing for Ithaca.”
When we finished our class discussion, we read ‘The Lotus-Eaters’.
THE LOTUS-EATERS
Now Zeus the lord of cloud roused in the north
a storm against the ships, and driving veils
of squall moved down like night on land and sea.
The bows went plunging at the gust: sails
cracked and lashed out strips in the big wind.
We saw death in that fury, dropped the yards,
unshipped the oars, and pulled for the nearest lee:
then two long days and nights we lay offshore
worn out and sick at heart, tasting our grief,
until a third Dawn came with ringlets shining.
Then we put up our masts, hauled sail, and rested,
letting the steersmen and the breeze take over.
I might have made it safely home, that time,
but as I came round Malea the current
took me out to sea, and from the north
a fresh gale drove me on, past Cythera.
Nine days I drifted on the teeming sea
before dangerous high winds. Upon the tenth
we came to the coastline of the Lotus-Eaters,
who live upon that flower. We landed there
to take on water. All ships' companies
mustered alongside for the mid-day meal.
Then I sent out two picked men and a runner
to learn what race of men that land sustained.
They fell in, soon enough, with Lotus-Eaters,
who showed no will to do us harm, only
offering the sweet Lotus to our friends—
but those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotus,
never cared to report, nor to return:
they longed to stay forever, browsing on
that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland.
I drove them, all three wailing, to the ships,
tied them down under their rowing benches,
and called the rest: 'All hands aboard:
come, clear the beach and no one taste
the Lotus, or you lose your hope of home.'
Filing in to their places by the rowlocks
my oarsmen dipped their long oars in the surf,
and we moved out again on our sea faring.
When we finished reading ‘The Lotus-Eaters’, we were split back into groups to finish the group work.
My group and I came up with the following summary:
“When they are routed from Ismarus, Odysseus and his men are struck by storms for many days, until they finally see land: the Land of the Lotus Eaters. After disembarking, Odysseus sends a few men inland to see what the inhabitants are like. They discover the Lotus Eaters, who are friendly and offer them lotus.
These men become drowsy and drugged, they neglected to return to Odysseus, who came looking for them. He dragged them back to the boats by force and, despite the pleasantness of the island and its inhabitants, he told his sailors to row away as quickly as possible, before anyone else succumbed to the land's lovely and lethal tranquility.”
This response was one that incorporated all the main points for the reader as well as for them to assume all the blank points using context clues.
3. What kind of world do you think the Lotus Eaters live in?
Describe the type of lifestyle it is?
To do this question, my group and I had to really delve into analyzing the actions of the Lotus Eaters. Together, we came up with this response:
“The Lotus Eaters live in a utopia because after eating the lotus, because we assume that these native people also ate the Lotus, the people wanted to stay on the island and didn’t want to return home from wherever they came from. They had a carefree lifestyle where they didn’t really think about anything else besides the area where they lived and were addicted to the sweet lotus on the island.”
With this response, I struggled a bit with wording it because I really had to use context clues to assume how the ‘Lotus-Eaters’ felt based on the description of Odysseus’ own men when they had eaten the Lotus.
4. What do you think Homer is implying about this?
How does the Odyssey characterize the land of the Lotus-eaters as a veritable (real or genuine) paradise? And, why, then, is this land seen by Odysseus and others as negative, and something from which to escape? What do you think is wrong with such a place, if anything?
To completely answer this question, we had to look at this event from multiple perspectives; Homer and Odysseus’s.
“Homer characterizes them as innocent, and that such a "sweet fruit" had no notion of mistreating his comrades. Odysseus sees it as a negative place because the lotus flowers makes his men forget about going home and makes them want to stay forever. He also realizes that there’s something wrong with The Land of the Lotus Eaters, where this place appears as a somewhere they can stay without harm.”
5. Consider the kind of leader Odysseus appears to be in "Sailing from Troy."
How do his leadership abilities compare to how he is in "The Lotus Eaters?"
Has your opinion of him changed? Why? Why not?
Why do you think these events are important to understanding Odysseus' character?
During this discussion, my thoughts on Odysseus changed immensely as I now know that it was mostly likely his environment and influences during the war that caused him to plunder areas and be incredibly selfish. Being with his men during the journey, has humanized his morals, and helped him learn how to actually care for people.
REFLECTION :
What did I learn? Why did I learn it? How will I use what I learned in the future?
During this lesson, I learned that The Odyssey is all about challenging yourself, setting goals, reaching new limits, and learning more about yourself. It is also all about teamwork and leadership because without your crew, you wouldn’t be able to survive. This was the major theme that ‘Sailing from Troy’ and ‘The Lotus-Eaters’ conveyed and how I personally interpreted it. I have a passion for Greek Mythology, so these recent lessons were very enjoyable to me. I found Odysseus’s journeys fascinating because with the amount of temptations he had faced, he had stayed true to what he believed until he was able to return home. I also find Odysseus admirable because after all the pain that was inflicted on him (from various gods and goddesses) he was still able to gain back his morality and ethics albeit through the help of various people, which ties back into our main theme. Through his drowning of selfishness, pride, and pitiful glory, there were still people that were willing to love and help him through his struggles. In the future, I think I’ll keep the major themes of teamwork in my head, as I love working by myself, but sometimes I’ve felt that I needed help but never asked for it. I hope in the future I’ll be able to ask for help from people easier, and during that also learn more about myself.
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