Blogger #21: Oscar Lin, Period 7, 5/11/21, Day C

Aim: How does the episode of "The Land of the Dead" further our understanding of Odysseus as the epic hero?

Do Now: Whole Class Discussion 

The Do Now asks for the class to share some of the cultural traditions we know that honors the dead. Mohamed said he buried his grandpa and prayed for him in a simple way and mainly feasted for his grandpa’s death. He said he mainly celebrated his grandpa’s death rather than mourning for it. Ms. Peterson shared that she practices Christianity and Judaism. For Judaism, she said when someone passes in her family, she covers up all the mirrors and doesn't sit on normal chairs. She also said on the day of the funeral of the person, they would take a scoop of dirt and put it on the coffin. Similar to Mohammed, Ms. Peterson says she celebrates a family member’s death by partying and celebrating rather than mourning. For Christianity, she shared that she will leave out a person’s body for a few days after the death so that they can pay their respects to the person. Bernice also said her culture burns paper money to the person when they pass, which they use as money in their after life or next life. This discussion contributes to our lesson because it introduces us to the concept of the dead and afterlife in much of the culture today, which prepares us for the reading and discussion of the Underworld. 

Notes:

• Death and The Underworld:

We discussed the greek mythology belief of the Underworld. The Greeks believed that after they died their soul went to the Underworld, which  was ruled by Hades and Persephones. The Greeks think that their soul would be judged upon by three judges based on their choices and actions in their life. From there they then would be either sent to Elysium, a heavenly place where the sun always shone, or to Tartarus, which is a bad place to go to. 

We then watched the video The Underworld: The kingdom of Hades - Greek Mythology Curiosities - See U in History [3:50] , which reinforces our understanding of the Underworld. 

This activity introduces us to the background information of the Underworld before our reading of Odysseus’s journey in the Underworld.

• Honoring and Remembering the Dead: 

The class then talked about how the Greeks honored the dead. The Greeks looked at the burial rituals for the dead very importantly, and thought it was the key to sending the dead into the Underworld. A person who forgot to honor and remember the dead was seen as unrespectful, and was scorned upon. 

This activity prepares us with knowledge of the Greek perspective of the path to the Underworld. 

The Land of the Dead: 

The class then read the short story “ “Land of the Dead”,  which was about Circes guiding Odysseus, who goes on the journey into the Underworld to find Tiresias, who is the blind prophet in the Underworld. She tells Odysseus to not stay with the lingering souls on their way to Tiresias. On the way to Tiresias, Odysses meets Elpenor, his crew mate, who died because he fell from the roof of Circe’s house. Because Odysseus and his men needed to leave to find Tiresias, they left Elpenor unburied where he was. Elpenor requests a proper burial when Odysseus returns to Circes’s island. Odysseus then encounters his mother, Anticlea, who  he found shocked and surprised since he wouldn’t expect her death this quick. Odysseus remembers Circe’s warning and puts aside his sadness for his mother’s death and ventures on to find Tiresias. Tiresias tells Odysseus will make it home but it will be very hard because he blinded Polyphemus, which angered Poesiden. He also warns Odysseus to not kill Helios's cattle, otherwise they will die because of it. 

Vocabulary to know:

ignoble (adj)  - dishonorable, shameful

assuage (verb) - to calm, to mollify, to lessen

Teamwork Questions:

We were told to do the numbers 1 to 4 ourselves and use it for our own reference. 

(This is my analysis of questions 1-4):

1. As Odysseus prepares to meet the dead he says, “Then I addressed the blurred and breathless dead, / vowing to slaughter my best heifer (cow) for them…”  (line 555-556).  It can be inferred that the Greeks regard death and the after life as important, as to kill their best cow in sacrifice for the dead. 

2. The details that Elpenor wants Odysseus to remember about his burial is that he should burn his corpse with all the armor and gear he has used in his life and build a cairn, a tomb with stones on top instead of dirt, and use his oar as a tombstone. This reflects that the Greeks care a lot about their burials and ritual of death. 

3. Odysseus is surprised when seeing Elpenor because he thinks his way to the Underworld is quicker than Elpenor goes to the Underworld when he died. He is sad and astonished when he sees his mother in the Underworld because he wouldn’t expect his mother dead at the time. Odysseus displays a sense of responsibility in this scene because even though he is sad and wants to stay with his mother on the way into the Underworld, he knows he has to continue on to find Tiresias, which is more important. 

4. Tiresias advises Odysseus’s leadership by warning him to not let his men slaughter Helios's cattle because it will lead to his crew’s death. He also tells Odysseus, in order to quell Poseidon’s anger, he has to travel to a place where the people there haven’t seen the ocean, and stick an oar down and make a sacrifice to Poseidon there.  

First we did a quick learning about what foil is in greek mythology. 

5. Foil: 

In literature, a foil is a character that shows qualities that are in contrast with the qualities of another character. The objective is to highlight the traits of the other character. The term foil, though generally being applied to a contrasting character, may also be used for any comparison that is drawn to portray a difference between two things.

What we observe in literature very often is that a foil is a secondary character who contrasts with the major character to enhance the importance of the major character. The etymology of the term foil testifies the aforementioned assertion as the word is taken from the practice of backing gems with foil (tool), so that they shine more brightly.

In other words, the foil is the character that has traits that contrasts with the main character and better shows the traits of the protagonist. 

We then did a whole class discussion about the concept of foil in the Odyssey. 

 

Class discussion:

 I started the discussion by sharing that Eurylochus is the crewmate of Odysseus and he wants to throw down the men who were turned into pigs by Circe and leave the island, but Odysseus doesn’t think that's right, and wants to go back for them. Eurylochus’s actions and words contrasts with Odysseus and better shows Odysseus’s care towards his crew. Joanne added on saying Eurylochus can be depicted as cowardly and Odysseus as brave. 

This activity helps us better analyze the main points in the reading, and help us better understand the actions and thoughts of Odysseus and also better see his traits as an epic hero.  

Enrichments:

The Odyssey by Homer | Book 11 Summary and Analysis [2:02] 

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Aim: How does Odysseus' strategic leadership further characterize him as an epic hero in "The Sirens" episode of Homer's Odyssey?

Do Now: 

• Flattery is a dangerous weapon in the hands of the enemy.

• Flattery is not proof of admiration.

• He who listens to flattery is not wise, for it has no good purpose.

The Do Now asks the class to share their own definition of the word “flattery”, and also analyze and find the meaning of the 3 Morals of Aesop’s Fable. I started by saying I think flattery is praising someone, either truely or falsely, to get to a specific purpose. Ms. Peterson ends the discussion by telling us and showing us that flattery is a bad thing through the 3 Morals of Aesop’s fable. 

The Do Now introduces us to the main concept of Odysseus’s encounter with the Sirens, which is how their song is flattering him and his crew, trying to persuade them. 

Odysseus and the Sirens: 

We discussed what the Sirens are and how they lead their victims to death. The Sirens are half-woman/half-bird creatures that lure sailors to death on the rocks under the sea next to their island, with their beautiful song. We also discussed how Circe warns Odysseus about the Sirens and to plug the men with beeswax in their ears to prevent them from being attracted towards the Sirens in their singing. 

This activity provides us the background information we need from before the story to understand the story in the reading of The Sirens.

The Sirens: 

We then read “The Sirens” , which is about the crew’s experience with the Sirens and how Odysseus wants to be the one who listens to the Siren’s song and lives to tell. He does this by telling the crew to tie him to the mast, and putting beeswax in their ears to prevent them from both hearing him and the Siren’s song. 

This Link helps to summarize the reading; 

https://katiereinig.weebly.com/sirens.html

We then watched the video Sirens: The Seductive Creatures of Greek Mythology - Mythology Dictionary #15 - See U in History [2:00] to reinforce our understanding of the Sirens. 

Because of time limits, the class were told to do the questions that follow the reading by ourselves, which can be used in our final exam on the Odyssey. 

These are my own answer of the questions:

1. Odysseus addresses his men “sore at heart” because he is going to tell them the danger that they are going into, which he knows the crew would not like. 

2. Odysseus decides to tell his men about Circe’s forecast because he wants them to know about the danger they are about to face. This reveals his honesty because if it were someone else, they would probably lie to the crew about where they are going because they are scared of the Sirens and wouldn’t want to go there. Odysseus shows leadership qualities because he knows to not only let his crew listen to him without their own opinions. Odysseus shows his curiosity when he wants to hear the Sirens’ song because he wants to be the one who lives to tell the tale of the Siren’s song. From this action, we can see that Odysseus has leadership qualities because even though he wants to hear the Siren’s song, he puts beeswax on his crew’s ears, so it doesn’t affect them. This shows he doesn’t risk his crew’s life only because of his own curiosity. 

3. The Siren’s strategy in their song is that they use flattery. They praise the men of their bravery and strength in their battle in the Trojan War. In the song, they use “All feats on the great field”  and “In the long warfare, Dark days the bright gods willed, Wounds you bore there.” to praise the men of their bravery and strength on the battlefield in Troy. 

4. The analysis of the Siren’s Song suggests that we are also very vulnerable to flattery. We are susceptible to a figurative “Siren’s Call” because in reality, humans like the feeling of being praised and glorifying their good parts, which get humans greatly affected by flattery. The Sirens represent both desire and distraction because of our desire to be praised by someone else, and our distraction of reality and of the real side of things when we are immersed in flattery. 

Enrichments: 

The Odyssey by Homer | Book 12 Summary & Analysis [2:25]  

Reflection:

Through today’s lesson, I learned about the next two parts of Odysseus’s journey. In the first lesson, we learned about the culture and customs of the Greeks towards the dead and how they buried them. The Greeks believed that the proper burial for a person was very important. I can relate to this because my family and culture looks at the rituals for a person’s funeral as very important. I also think of the movie “Coco” when thinking of the dead and Underworld, since there is an Underworld there and shows how the dead actually get the offerings from their loved ones. After learning about the Greek customs, we read “The Land of the Dead”. From this reading, I interpreted some traits an epic hero has. When Odysseus put down his sorrow for the death of his mother and kept on looking for Tiresias, I saw the characteristic of responsibility of an epic hero in him because he knows which is more important. From our learning of the rituals and importance of burials of the Greeks, we can better understand the concepts of similar religions and cultures today. In the second lesson, we learned about Odysseus’s experience with the Sirens. Odysseus’s leadership when he and his crew passed the Sirens characterizes him as an epic hero because his action of telling the crew of Circe’s warning and putting beeswax in the ears of his crew and telling his crew to tie him to the mast so he can listen to the Siren’s song, show his sense of responsibility for the crew. This is because even though he wants to listen to the Siren’s song, he doesn’t risk the life of his crew with him. From the reading I also learned that the Sirens symbolize the greed in us. The Sirens use flattery to lure the sailors to their destruction, similar to the  The readings and analysis of the readings “The Land of the Dead” and “The Sirens” better prepares us for the Post Card Mini Project that is due later on. I can use my analysis of the readings by applying it when analyzing the morals Homer is trying to portray to us through the experiences and traits of Odysseus. To sum up, today’s lesson and the two readings are good demonstrations of Odysseus’s characteristics and traits as an epic hero through his actions and thoughts and it can help us better understand the later reading in The Odyssey.