Reading Notes: Homer's Odyssey, Part B

In the story "The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis," Odysseus and his men encounter sirens and two sea monsters. Odysseus has just heard from many ghosts and has gotten advice from Circe on how to get through his upcoming trials. When Odysseus and his men sail past the sirens, his men put beeswax in their ears to block out the sirens' song. Whoever hears the song is lured to their death. Odysseus wants to hear the song, so instead of putting beeswax in his ears to block it out, he has his men tie him down to the ship so he cannot be lured to the sirens when he hears their song. Although Odysseus is very tempted by the sirens' song and tells his men to let him go, but they just row harder and faster and tighten Odysseus's ropes. I found it interesting that in the sirens' song, their promise is for wisdom; perhaps this is what is so tempting to everyone who hears it, or maybe it is specific to Odysseus.

The crew gets past the sirens, but immediately find themselves in a dark storm. Odysseus tries to reassure his men that they can get through the upcoming difficulties because they have already gone through hard trials. He says his intellect and strength will get them through this. Odysseys ignore's Circe's instructions to not arm themselves as they pass Scylla and Charybdis. As they sail past, he and his men take up spears, and Scylla kills some of Odysseus's strongest men.

This story adds to Odysseus's characterization. It is shown that he is curious when they pass the sirens since he refuses to put beeswax in his ears and wants to hear their song. He is also characterized as prideful when he tells his crew that they can take on the sea monsters because he is smart and brave. It is shown that Odysseus longs for wisdom when he is tempted by the sirens' song.

Sirens and the Night by William Edward Frost. Source: Wikipedia

Story Source: Homer's Odyssey, translated into English by Tony Kline

Comments

Reading Notes: Nursery Rhymes, Part B

In the "Jingles" section of the Nursery Rhymes unit, there are several well-known tales. The first is "Hey Diddle Diddle." HEY! diddle, diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laugh'd To see the sport, While the dish ran after the spoon. The next is "Tweedledum and Tweedledee." TWEEDLE-DUM and Tweedle-dee Resolved to have a battle For Tweedle-dum said Tweedle-dee Had spoiled his nice new rattle. Just then flew by a monstrous crow As big as a tar-barrel, Which frightened both the heroes so They quite forgot their quarrel. Another is "Rub-a-dub-dub." RUB a dub dub, Three men in a tub: And who do you think they be? The butcher, the baker, The candlestick-maker; Turn 'em out, knaves all three! As I said in the other reading post about the Nursery Rhymes unit, I think it would be difficult to write my own jingles inspired by these. They are all fairly short and follow a similar rhyme scheme. Th...

Story Lab: TED Talk Videos

For this Story Lab, I watched Ted Talks about stories and storytelling . The first video is the TED Talk of a woman named Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie from Nigeria. From a young age, she has been a storyteller. She read foreign books for much of her childhood and based the stories she wrote based on what she read in these books. She eventually discovered books and she learned that writers could look like her. When she came to university in the United States, her roommate was surprised to learn Nigeria has English as an official language and that she was familiar with many of the comforts of American life. She believes people like her roommate have a view of Africans because of writing that portrays them as living in a dark place. When Chimamanda wrote a book, her professor told her the book was not "African enough" because the characters were similar to him, a middle-class man, and they drove cars. When she visited Mexico, she realized she saw the people there as poor immigran...

Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt, Part A

In the story " The Death of Osiris ," Osiris's brother, Set, creates an ornate chest that match Osiris's exact dimensions. During a large feast, Set tells everyone that whoever's dimensions are a perfect match for the chest will be gifted the chest. All the guests tried fitting in the chest, but none fit. Finally, Osiris tries laying in it and fits perfectly. Before he can get out, however, the "evil followers" of Set nail Osiris into the chest, killing him. The party quickly becomes filled with sorrow rather than joy, and Osiris and his coffin are put in the Nile, which they float down until they set sail in the ocean. I think it would be interesting to tell a similar story to this one, in which people thought someone was doing a good deed for society, but it is secretly a sinister act. I could use the same basic premise by having someone create an object that is unknowably created for one specific person, people trying to win this object, and ...

Shea's Myth-Folk Blog

Search This Blog