Hello! For today’s lesson, we were continuing our study of The Odyssey by focusing on the
following question: “How does The Odyssey, Book X further enhance our understanding
of Odysseus’s plight; through his journey as a hero?”
Before our class, we had all read the “Circe’s Island” section of The Odyssey, in which Circe turns the rest of Odysseus’s party into pigs and offers to turn them back if Odysseus becomes her lover. After a year of living a life of luxury with Circe, Odysseus remembers his obligation to his men and convinces Circe to undo the curse and let them leave. Since Odysseus convinced Circe to release his men because of the obligation he felt toward them, we began today’s class by discussing our own experiences doing things out of obligation and what they resulted in.
Circe, as described in The Odyssey
I don’t remember exactly who said what, but I remember that one of the examples someone
brought up was doing homework. While I don’t remember the exact wording, the gist was that no one particularly wants to do homework, but we do it anyway because our teachers and parents expect us to. Another example was doing something such as going to a party because a friend wanted you to. You might not really want to go to the party, or might not even know anyone else there, but you might still go because it would make your friend happy.
Of course, there were plenty of examples that we couldn’t cover because we only had ten
minutes. For example, sports teams. You might not want to show up to a game because
they’d rather go to a movie, or play with their cats, or one of countless reasons.
Lots of times people do anyway because their team needs them.
Next, we learned about epithets, something that Homer often used throughout
The Odyssey. Simply put, an epithet is a description that is associated with a
specific person to function as a nickname. An example of an epithet is how Homer
often refers to Odysseus as “the great tactician.” Odysseus is cunning and intelligent
(as shown by how he escaped from the Cyclops), and he is the only person Homer
refers to as “the great tactician.” So whenever we see the epithet “the great tactician,"
it’s clear that Homer is talking about Odysseus. We didn’t learn about any epithets
Homer used to describe Circe, and after looking back at the text it doesn’t seem
he used any, which is somewhat interesting. The closest I could find was the
description “a goddess skilled in many magic potions,” which is really just a fancy description.
The rest of the period was spent on a group discussion about Odysseus and his actions during
“Circe’s Island.” Once again, I don’t remember exactly what was said or who said it, but I do
remember many of the points brought up during the discussion.
One person claimed that Odysseus’s unreliability was the cause of most of his men’s problems.
Whether the issue is that his men trusted him too much (such as in “The Cyclops”) or his men
didn’t trust him enough (such as in “The Lotus Eaters”) if Odysseus was simply a reliable leader
half of their problems could have been avoided.
Odysseus causing problems for his men
Another person suggested that Odysseus’s actions were not entirely out of obligation.
Many people (myself included) agreed that Odysseus had no reason to stay with
Circe as long as he did, and he should have left with his men much earlier. Although
his obligation to his men won out in the end, and he did convince Circe to let him and his
men free, he could’ve done it without waiting so long.
A third thing that I remember being a topic of debate was whether Circe’s actions were
better or worse than those of the Lotus Eaters. I don’t remember the conclusion of that
discussion, but it was agreed that Circe and the Lotus Eaters were much less violent
than some of the other threats the crew had faced.
With that, the class ended.
Reflection
Now, for the three reflection guidelines, what did I learn? I learned about epithets,
which I had seen previously but never knew there was a name for. I learned a little
about the concept of obligation and the fact that even people like Odysseus can be
affected by their obligations. But when I think about it, I’m not entirely sure why I learned
the information I did. Now I suppose the simple explanation is that I learned it because I
was taught it, but I’m not entirely sure beyond that. Epithets can be very useful in
conversation, and understanding the concept of obligation is certainly important, but
I don’t think there was anyone in the class who was entirely unfamiliar with obligations.
Here’s a scene from “Jason and the Argonauts” that just reminded me of The Odyssey, as they both involved groups coming from Troy and encountering the supernatural:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUK3VCW2LH0
We talked about The Odyssey, which is the current focus of the class, but… I’m not
really sure why it’s our focus. I’ve never really understood why I’ve been taking
classes that just focus on analyzing stories for the past five years. Stories can certainly
be important things, and sometimes they can be fun to read, but I’ve never known
why there’s so much focus in schools on analyzing what other people have said.
I remember in middle school we were taught how to write responses to questions
such as “Why did Odysseus travel to the Cyclops? What could this represent?” but
I never understood why those questions were important. Who cares why Odysseus
visited the Cyclops? Why should that represent anything? If I visited a Cyclops,
I assure you it would represent nothing more than me visiting a Cyclops (and my
stupidity, never visit a cyclops). So why do we focus on understanding the actions
of people who don’t even exist?
I think that maybe the point isn’t really the answers to those questions, but rather how you get those answers. It may not matter outside of the story why Odysseus went to the Cyclops, but if we understand how to find the motives of fictional characters, perhaps we could use those same skills to understand the thoughts and motives of the people around us. And if we can understand those motives, perhaps we can tear down the walls that we build between ourselves. If we fully understood why someone was who they were, how could we ever hate them for it? If we can understand people who make decisions as terrible as Odysseus’s, maybe we can stop hating each other and make the world a better place.
Ben
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