Aim: How does "The Cattle of the Sun God" episode illustrate the culminating challenge Odysseus faces as a leader?
Do Now: Kahoot
Whole Class Discussion
How would you feel if you asked someone (you highly trusted) NOT do something, and they did it anyway? What would you do?
I got 8 out of 10 questions right from the Kahoot. The questions I got wrong at had answers that were similar or were the correct choices but one was better than the other. After playing Kahoot and answering the questions, we had a class discussion. Two answers quickly came to mind when I saw this question. First, it would depend on what I am telling that person to do. If I know that my decision to tell them not to do something is actually a bad one, then I wouldn’t blame them or lose trust in them because I know it myself that my decision is bad. However, if my decisions were right and what the “someone” that I asked decided not to listen to me, I can only feel a little bit untrusted and can’t be as comfortable with asking them to do something for a while. However, it also has things to do with other perspectives. While I think my decision could be the right one, others might find it wrong. Finally, if what I asked someone not to do is just a small request and wouldn’t really affect me a lot, I might be fine with it if it is just once or twice.
I might have thought too much towards the questions, since my classmates had simple and similar answers such as how they would feel betrayed. One even said that she will guilt trip her friends (the “someone” she is referring to). My teacher also added that at some point in life, we would usually betray or be betrayed. Depending on the cases, some trust might never be formed again, and some might gain trust again as time go by. I agree to that as well since there are times where people break others’ trust. It is then depending on how strongly that person broke someone’s trust, and their actions in the future to determine whether or not the trust can be earnt again.
After the discussion, I already knew that this question has something to do with the rest of the lesson which we are focusing on Odysseus and his men, who are trying to return home.
In the next slide, we were shown that Eurylochus is actually Odysseus’s brother-in-law and has always been on Odysseus’s side and being loyal to him.
The next whole class discussion is as followed:
Eurylochus is also Odysseus' brother in law and shows loyalty to Odysseus; until this point.
Why do you think there was a change in his character in "The Cattle of the Sun God"?
What reason does Eurylochus give the crew members to justify the betrayal of Tiresias' warning to Odysseus?
I already knew why the class discussion was asked. Eurylochus was always loyal to Odysseus and followed his order. However, this time, the brother-in-law convinced Odysseus’s men to kill the Helios’s cattles if they are starving, which then Odysseus found out that his men had a feast on the cattle and then were punished and killed by Zeus, which Helios asked Zeus to punish them.
While I was thinking about this, my classmate had said that Eurylochus would rather die by the wrath of Gods instead of dying by starvation, which is why Eurylochus and his men made their choices.
Our class made a comparison discussion between Eurylochus during Circe’s island and himself right now. There was a switch in role in which we can see how Eurylochus was very fearful at Circe’s island and wanted to leave as soon as possible. Right now, he is leading his men and making the choices which led to the consequences they faced.
Warnings were given by the gods as the men began to kill and eat the cattle. However, the response and reaction from Odysseus’s men was that they did not care. My classmate said that they probably knew that they have made the gods mad, and so therefore, they would rather just have their final meal and make it count before their death.
Omen: Anything perceived or happening that is believed to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future (something of prophetic significance)
The warnings from the gods were probably representing the definition of omen, since it is a sign that something bad will happen.
After the discussion, we broke down in our own teams to have another discussion about a few questions that were given to us.
What similarities do you see in Eurylochus' speech to the crew in this episode and Odysseus' speech in “Scylla and Charybdis”?
Lines 894-954
In "The Cattle of the Sun God", what does the wrath of the gods say about their involvement amongst mortals?
Assess their involvement!
What are some of their behaviors/actions at this point of the episode?
What details in lines 920-921 clarify the flashback presented here?
For the first question our group agreed that Eurylochus’s speech was similar to Odysseuss speech in “Scylla and Charybdis” because none of the two mentioned the outcome or what will happen later on. Odysseus never mentioned that Scylla will appear even though he chose to go towards the path to Scylla instead of Charybdis. Eurylochus didn’t remind Odysseus’ men what would happen if they ate the cattles. However, Odysseus’ men were probably aware of the fact that they will be punished since they know that they are eating Helios’ cattles. One of the biggest similarities was that both gave speeches to their crew about how much they had gone through, and even if they die, they would die in a better way.
The involvement from the gods towards the mortals most likely showed that as gods, they wouldn’t directly get involved with the mortals, but more “indirectly”. However, it was very clear that something was trying to be shown that the mortals are to listen to the gods. The gods are the one who is the “boss” and if mortals are to act against the gods, the gods would then step in, which was shown from Zeus’ action to punish Odysseus’ men.
Lastly, we came up with the answer for the third question that line 920-921 clarifies a flashback since Calypso had a talk with Odysseus about what would be coming up.
Do the members of the crew
deserve the punishment they receive
for killing the cattle?
Explain.
The first classmate said that Odysseus’ men deserved to die since they didn’t listen to the gods’ warning. Another said that it would depend on the level of the actions the men did.
However, I would disagree because the crew are starving. If they did not eat the cattles, they would die as well. In a state where you are close to the end of life, you would do anything to survive, unless you completely lost hope. Instead, I would really see it as very cruel since the gods are giving them no choices. If the men did not eat the cattle, they would die. If they eat the cattle, they would still die.
After that discussion, we came to the next slide which was the last discussion slides before the slide that revealed our homework.
Is Odysseus learning to not be so proud and too confident?
Has his hubris been “put in check”?
Explain.
Though I missed the final class discussion, I personally think that Odysseus is learning not to be too proud or confident. Throughout the stories, Odysseus has been careful and serious about the decisions he made, though he still ended up making some mistakes. At first during the encounter with Cyclops, I can see that Odysseus’ action was reckless, but later on Odysseus is learning and improving. It can be proved from Odysseus’s decision when choosing to either sail through Scylla or Charybdis. He was serious and wanted to save all his men, but had to make the decision to sail through Scylla’s territory and sacrifice a few of his men.
Reflection:
Instead of a learning lesson, today’s lesson was mostly a reflection and review of the homework we had in the previous lesson where we were to read 8 pages about the “Cattle of the Sun God”. There isn’t much meant to be learned and everything was more like a review. However, the review and today’s lesson did make me learn a bit more that I didn’t know. Though I read the “Cattle of the Sun God”, it doesn’t mean that I understood everything in the story. Today’s lesson helped make sure that I knew what happened in the story which helps me prepare for the upcoming lessons and project. I will be using the lessons and information I learned today and the past weeks to help me complete the project that is due soon. I won’t get too much about the project, but in the project, me and my class are assigned to choose two out of many stories that we read about Odysseus’ encounters while trying to find his back home with his men. Then, we would use these stories that we chose to help finish the project. I might not choose the story that we went over in today’s lesson, but if I were to choose it, I would use what I learned and remembered in today’s lesson to help me find the best choices to write about so that I can be as much successful as I could in my project.
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