Aim: How can we evaluate Odysseus’ leadership through his decision-making in his encounter with “Scylla and Charybdis” in Homer’s Odyssey?
Do Now: Would you sacrifice one person in order to save five other people?
We started today’s lesson with the Do Now by watching a video that explains what The Trolley Problem is. Essentially, it’s a dilemma involving a runaway train, where you are given the choice to switch the point to save 5 people, but one dies as a result. The other scenario is to push a man in order to stop the train. Unlike the last scenario, the video states that most people wouldn’t push and sacrifice the man to save the others. The Trolley Problem examines whether moral decisions are about outcomes or the manner in which it’s achieved. Afterwards, we did a Kahoot as a class to see what would influence our decision in the problem. For example, Daniel mentioned how he made his decision based on how important the person was to him or society. He would save the world class surgeon over the others since they could save more lives in the future. Similarly, I made my decision based on how many people I could save with the exception of what they meant to me. Thus, I would also save my best friend but I would not switch the point to save the 5 murderers. Overall, understanding this will help us understand why Odysseus chose to bring his men through one place over another in “Scylla & Charybdis.”
Here’s the link to the video:
Background Information: Scylla & Charybdis
Whole Class Discussion
Spirit reading: “Scylla & Charybdis”
To summarize what was read, it describes Odysseus’ journey through the Strait of Messina. He makes the decision to let his men pass through Scylla. After spirit reading, we had a whole class discussion on why Odysseus made that choice. One student, Zihan, mentioned how Odysseus avoids Charybdis since Poseidon was already angered at him. Another student, Justin, said how Scylla was the less dangerous option since she could only grab six men at a time. However, Charybdis would guarantee or have a higher possibility resulting in the death of everyone on the ship.
Here’s the link to the story:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OH77TtDun-Lkp1Oyq_BLisyQTIKKasr0/view?usp=sharing
Circe’s Advice
Similar to how Circe provided Odysseus with advice when he encountered The Sirens, she also gives him information about the sea monsters, Scylla and Charybdis. Although Odysseus seems reluctant and wants to save all of his remaining men, Circe’s advice is to just pass Scylla, even if that means he will have to sacrifice six of his men. Here’s her advice:
Allusions- incorporated lesson
Allusion- Is a brief and indirect reference within a literary work to a historical, literary, or biblical character, place or event, which is not explained.
They are not explained, since writers intend the audience to recognize and understand them from prior experiences.
Used to create the mood or contribute to the theme
Here’s a further definition of allusions:
https://www.britannica.com/art/allusion
Types of Allusions
Biblical Allusion: referring to the Bible or a religious work
Ex:
Classical Allusion: referring to Classical Literature
Ex:
Literary Allusion: referring to another literary work
Ex: In “The Outsiders” the line “Stay gold, Ponyboy.” is an allusion to Robert Frost’s poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”
Historical Allusion: referring to an event in history
Ex:
“Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima,”
The main takeaway from this is that allusions are everywhere! For example, In television shows like “Family Guy” and “The Simpsons.”
Here’s a clip we watch in class of an allusion in “Family Guy” of The Sound of Music.
Some other examples of allusions discussed in class are:
Alludes to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Alludes to The Persistence Of Memory by Salvador Dali.
Point of View: Questions
After, we went into our groups to analyze the questions and then came back to discuss as a class.
Imagine you are one of Odysseus' men when he leads his crew to Scylla.
How do you feel about his decision to take you closer to Scylla?
Do you support his decision or not?
Kelly and her group would feel terrified if Odysseus brought them towards Scylla. However, since he is the leader, they all agreed they would support his decision. Likewise, Ayah shared that our team would also be scared but we would also support Odysseus’ decision because there would be less fatalities.
Also, Odysseus decides it would be best to not tell his men which route they are taking.
But as I sent them on toward Scylla, I
told them nothing, as they could do nothing.
Assess Odysseus’ decision.
Would you have wanted to know which route Odysseus was leading you?
Why or why not?
If you were the leader, do you think you would have made the same decision?
Why might Odysseus have opted to withhold this information from his men?
Randy shared how if he was in Odysseus’ shoes, he would also not tell his men which route they were taking because he didn't want to further frighten his men and panic. Personally, I have conflicting answers to this question and it all comes down to what perspective I’m in. If I were the leader, I would probably make the same decision of withholding the information. Despite this, I would also feel guilty because I kept such a big thing from them and I would know that 6 of my men would have to be sacrificed so the rest of us could be on track back home. However, if I was part of the crew, I would want Odysseus to tell me which route we were taking. I think this way, everyone would feel more motivated to fight since it’s a matter of life or death.
Wrap Up
How does the story of Scylla & Charybdis correlate to the “Trolly Problem” we encountered in the Do Now?
Zihan said that the story of Scylla & Charybdis correlates to the “Trolley Problem” because people would die in both. Essentially, it’s the lesser of two evils and will benefit the majority of the surviving crew. I agree because as mentioned, going through Scylla would leave more men unharmed. It’s either sacrificing 6 men or the whole crew is in great risk of dying.
Reflection
Going back to the aim, today’s lesson was targeted to evaluate Odysseus’ leadership through his decision making. We also got to make our own decisions when given two options that were both unfavorable, like the Trolley Problem. It was interesting to see how most people would pull the lever and switch the tracks to save the majority. Yet things changed when they had to personally touch or push the person in order to save the others. This shows how we tend to make the more logical choice until it involves us and the emotional connection we have to them. For instance, most of my class, including myself, picked to save one person instead of sacrificing them for five killers. On the other hand, it was a harder choice to pick between saving your best friend or five people. Since we have an emotional connection and personally know them, we are more selfish and save them over the majority because it would affect us. Keeping this in mind, we were able to comprehend why Odysseus picked to go to Scylla as opposed to Charybdis. As the leader, he is responsible for each and every single one of his men. Throughout his journey home so far, he has encountered a plethora of problems already. As a result, he’s only left with a fraction of the men he started with. Thus, he felt obligated to find a way for all of them to survive. Even so, Circe’s advice was to just pass Scylla since only one ship managed to successfully pass both Scylla and Charybdis. Therefore, it would be nearly impossible to do so. Odysseus had not other choice than to take her advice and choose the lesser of two evils. Like The Trolley Problem, men were to die in both, so choosing Scylla over Charybdis was the better option. Lastly, in today’s class I got a deeper understanding of what allusions are. I learned that they truly are everywhere in our daily lives. An example that Ms. Peterson mentioned was in Taylor Swift's song “Love Story” which alludes to Romeo and Juliet. Another example I found was in the television show “Legacies” where one scene alludes to Snow White. Not to mention, even in the story we read, the saying “being caught between a rock and a hard place.” This means to choose between two equally difficult situations. Overall, everything we learned today not only helped us understand Odysseus’ position but also transition to the next part of his journey home.
No comments:
Post a Comment