Odyssey Books 5-12

At the beginning of Book 5 Ulysses is being held capitive on Clypso's island. The gods (execpt Neptune) had convened and decreed that he (Ulysses) was to return to his friends, family and home country. So Mercury was sent to Calypso's island to inform Calypso that she was to release Ulysses or she would be punnished by Jove. Calypso told Ulysses to build a small ship and gave him the necessary food and water to survive a journey home, then sent Ulysses on his way. On his 18th day of sailing he saw the dim outlines of the mountians on the Phaeacian coast. Yet at the same time King Neptune was returning from the Ethopians said that "He shall have plenty of harship yet before he has done with it." So Neptune caused a great storm making Ulysses go overboard. Alas with Minerva's help he floated two days and two nights until he saw land and trees and with the rest of his remaining strength he swam to shore and decided the safest place ot spend the night would be in the woods.

Then Minerva influenced the daughter of the King Alcinnous to go the the water near where Ulysses was in the morning to wash some clothes. When Nausicaa arrived with her maid servants they made enought noise to awake Ulysses and to bring him back to town with them. The gave him clothes for he was without clothing and food and wine which he ate heartily, for he had not eaten in days. When he entered the land of the Phaeacians, Minerva used the mist to shroud him from the eyes of the towns folk for they were very unwelcoming people. When he arrive at the House of the King he was welcomed in and given food and drink, and was also given a place to rest and spend the night. Afterwards Ulysses was asked who he was, where he had come from and where he had gotten thoes clothes. Ulysses then explained his situation and how he had recived the clothes. 

Ulysses told them how he had come to end up on their lone island and more. Ulysses explained to the King how he and his crew were leaving after having sacked a town, they took many goods and moved on to the land of the cyclops. They entered Polyphemus's cave and waited for him to return expecting gifts from him. But in turn he killed some of Ulysses men and finally Ulysses divided a plan to escape. They got the large cyclops drunk ans when he passed out they blinded him. Every day he would let out his heard to graze in the fields, and when he let them out he felt the tops of them to make sure none of the men were trying to escape. So Ulysses told his men to hang on to the sides of the sheep and to just be carried out.

 Soon after He and his crew arrived at the island of the enchantress Circe. All but one of the first group that went there were poisoned and turned into animals. So Ulysses went out to save his men. On his way king Mercury came down from Olympus and instructed Ulysses how to save his men from Circe. After following Mercury's directions he was able to save his men. After he had saved his men Circe instructed him to go to the House of Hades and sacrifice a ram And a black ewe To spill the blood and only let Teiresias drink out of it first. Once Teiresias told him the prophecy he talked with his mother asking her how his family wtas. He also spoke with the many wives and daughters of Jove and with many of. His dead comrades. From there he and his crew sailed through the whirlpool of Chariblus and Scylla. Then his men ate the sun gods cattle though they had been forbidden and only Ulysses survived.

Odyssey Books 2-4

I was very surprised at the level of hatred displayed by Penelope's suitors. I was curious why they would wish to kill him, that part of the story confused me a lot. I was also very excited for Telemachus though because he learned the whereabouts of his father. The books became more confusing as I read farther because you learned the life story of each person and it was very difficult for me to keep track of the characters.The pictures all related to the class quote a lot because in the picture of the fire-fighters they were probably really scared but overcame their fear to do something for the greater good. I also thought that Telemachus did something for his mother that was beneficial to him but helped her as well. I think the fact that it helped his mother was a very important factor.

Odyssey First Impression

I was originally very surprised at the amount of impact that the Gods had on the hero's fate. I hadn't expected them to be so involved with the world below. It became difficult to follow who they were talking about because many of the names are very a like and the story speaks of many people. The active reading helped me because it made me put the pieces together instead of just reading the words not understanding the content.

Ron Koertge's Geeks Bearing Gifts

In his writing Ron makes his characters easy to relate to, for almost everybody. When someone is reading it they can relate to at least one of the characters in one way or another. He also knows his audience and knows that many high school students have to read short stories. I could use this in my writing to make it more familiar.

When he writes he tells it like it is. He puts himself in his characters shoes and tells it how he sees it from their perspective. He does not add "fluff" to the short story to make it easier to face the truth. He writes it how it is and adds nothing to cution the "blow."