Weekly ELA Blog Post #13

This week I will be blogging about a subject that really interested me in the Oddysey that I never got to write about before. That subject is the little blocks of italic text sprinkled throughout the book.

I didn't think much of these through most of the Oddysey, but when they became particularly prevalent in the last few books, I decided I'd like to look into them all a little more closely and figure out why they were there. What I noticed is this: all of them seemed to be similes or metaphors comparing the story's characters and their recent or current actions to other things. More specifically, though, they seemed to always be compared to animals, and always either a predator or a prey. In the case that characters did particularly noble, brave, or heroic things, they would almost always be compared to a predator chasing, killing, or gloating over its prey. On the other hand, if they were doing something cowardly or being killed, they were compared to prey being hunted, or in some cases herd animals being slaughtered.

I thought these little interjections made the story more interesting overall, and analyzing was overall very fun to do. That's all for this week.

Weekly ELA Blog Post for the week of 12/5

My class has recently been reading "The Odyssey" by Homer. At the part we are at, the hero of the story, Odysseus, has just recently returned to his homeland that he is the king of after being away for 20 years. He is in disguise, however, so nobody knows he is back, and he is able to find out the opinions of the people he used to know without bias. 

Two of these people in particular are his swineherd, Eumaeus, and his goatherd, Melanthius. Interestingly, their attitudes as a whole seem to be almost polar opposites. Eumaeus is very kind to Odysseus when he first arrives at Eumaeus's swine hut, and even though he believes that Oddyseus is just a poor beggar, he shows him much generosity, allowing him to sleep and eat in the swine hut for a few days before Telemachus orders take Oddyseus to the city to beg. On the other hand, Melanthius, who Odysseus runs into on his way in to town, is a rude and mean man who scorns Eumaues for even helping the beggar, and is even as bold as to kick Odysseus when he gets in the way. The other big difference between them is their attitude towards Oddyseus and his family in particular. Eumaues praises and reveres the family, and even shows his angst at Oddyseus being gone. Melanthius, on the other hand, jokes about Oddysseus having died at sea and expresses his hope that the suitors will kill Telemachus.

The question is, now that Oddyseus knows how both of these men feel about him, what will happen to them once Oddyseus takes back over his kingdom? I believe that Eumaues will probably recieve gifts and praise from Oddyseus. I don't think he'll be promoted from or relieved of his job as a swineherd, though, seeing as that's he's been doing his whole life. Plus, I can't think of any jobs it would make sense to promote him to. On the other hand, I think Melanthius's fate will be like his attitude: the opposite of Eumaues's. In fact, I believe that his punishment will be death, possibly a painful reason. There are a couple reasons I don't think he'll have a lighter punishment like demotion or exile. The first is how Oddyseus treated Irus. The only thing that kept him from killing Irus with one punch is that he didn't want to make the suitors suspicious. Plus, he did nothing to stop the horrible fate the suitors said they planned to exact on Irus, which included his genitals being mutilated. The second reason is that Oddyseus clearly has very few reserves about killing. Other than a single, ineffective warning to one suitor, there is no sign Oddyseus has any concerns with slaughtering all the suitors. The final reason, and probably the most significant one, is that, even though he managed to reserve himself in the end, Oddyseus seriously considered killing Melanthius on the spot on his way to his home.

This is what I believe will happen to Oddyseus's swineherd and goatherd soon because of what he learned about their attitudes. I'm assuming, though, that he will succeed in taking back Ithaca, but since he has Athena helping him, I'm pretty sure he will. Unless, of course, after the suitors are defeated, Telemachus turns on him and murders him. I have no idea why this would happen, but it sure would be interesting. That's all for this blog post, though. Adios.

Weekly ELA Blog Post #11

In this weekly blog post, I'm going to compare the hospitality Telemachus received in his travels to the hospitality Odysseus received from the Phaeacians. One way the hospitality they recieved is similar is that they were both told stories about the Trojan War. However, Telemachus heard the stories through simple spoken word, while Odysseus heard them in song from a bard. Another big difference is that Oddyseus arrived alone and in poor condition, so he was cleaned up, while Telemachus didn't have to be because he arrived on a boat with a crew. Another way they were similar is that they were both invited to big feasts. Finally, one last difference is the entertainment Odysseus recieved. He got to watch the Phaeacians play sports and dance, in order to give him good things to tell people back at home. Plus, he was challenged to sports by a Phaeacian. All in all, both father and son were treated very well by their hosts, and recieved great hospitality.

Weekly ELA Blog for the Week of 11/14

In what I have read so far of "The Odyssey" by Homer, the character Penelope, who is the wife of the hero of the story, Odysseus, plays a very important role in the narrative. For one thing, she is Odysseus's main inspiration to come home, besides his land. His yearning for her is what gives him the willpower to leave the opportunity of an immortal life alongside the goddess Calypso. However, beyond just being someone else's inspiration, Penelope also takes an active role in changing the tide of the story. The biggest thing she does in the story is avoid marrying any suitors who have come to marry her in the years her husband has been away. Even as they crowd her home, tire her servants, and kill her livestock, Penelope's resolve against the suitors stays strong, and she finds clever ways to keep them at bay until Odysseus may return and force them from her home. A specific piece of textual evidence for this is that she at one point told the suitors she needed to finish a sowing project before she could marry, and then cunningly snuck in to the room where the project was kept at night and unwove it a little bit to buy time..

ELA Blog Post Week of 11/7

For my ELA blog post this week, I'm going to be writing about a part of the book "The Narrative oftbe Life of Frederick Douglass that really interested me but that we never really got to discuss. What I want to discuss is what happened to Douglass after his master found out about his escape plot. Fron what I learned about slavery and about Douglass's masters throughout the book, the punishment he recieved for plotting an escape seemed insanely lenient.  After all, he was planning an escape, which was about the worst thing a slave could do in a master's eyes, and plus, his plan proved he could read and write. another thing that was seen to be strongly opposed by masters. So, to be sent to live in Baltimore with master Hugh seems way less harsh than what I'd predict would have happned to Douglass. Plus, his old master must have explained his plan and the writing it involved  to Hugh, the man who originally tried to stop Douglass's education, and yet, even knowing that, Hugh allowed Douglass a large degree of leniency. All in all, considering his actions in trying to escape slavery the first time, I would have expected Douglass to recieve more punishment than he did.

On the Relationship Between Education and Freedom in "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass"

In this blog post I will be speaking on, as the title suggests, the relationship between education and freedom in "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass". I could probably just copy and paste my blog post from last week, as it's basically on the same subject, but because of this little inconvenience known as "plagiarism rules", I'll go ahead and write a new essay.
So, what is the relationship between education and freedom in "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass"? Well, you see, the book is set in the time of slavery, and back then, being educated gave slaves powerful tools to escape slavery, as well as a strong understanding of why they should do so. For this reason, as well as the reason that white people didn't want to see evidence that black people could be equal to them, slaves were often barred from education. As we can clearly see in Douglass's case, when slaves did manage to become educated, they were suddenly empowered both in their understanding of what rights they deserved and in their ability to fight for those rights. On the opposite side of the coin, slaves who never received an education had lots fewer tools to escape bondage, and perhaps also didn't really ever even think to do so. So, how did education and freedom tie in to eachother in the book. Well, in the slaves' case, the former was a path that drastically increased their odds of reaching the latter. As the saying goes, "Knowledge is power."

Weekly Blog Post 10/24

In "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an Amerocan Slave", Douglass speaks about how when he learned from Mr. Hugh that literacy was the key to freedom. There are a few reasons why this is true. The first is that it proved that black people were equal to white people, which in turn made it harder to justify keeping them as slaves. One of the defenses of slavery was that black people were not as capable as white people, so keeping them as slaves actually benefitted them, but when it was made clear that they were just as intelligent, they could no longer be dehumanized. Also, literacy gave slaves a powerful connection to the outside world. Without being able to read and write, they could only communicate with and learn from people they could speak with in person, in other words, people near them. However, once they could read and write, they could educate themselves with books by people from all over the world and, though it would be very difficult to get them sent, write letters to anyone. Finally, literacy allowed slaves to read written works that argued against slavery, which in turn lead them to loathe it and be more passionate than ever about freedom. In short, being able to read and write had a strong connection to freedom for slaves during Douglass's time for many reasons, all of which had to do with the empowerment that came with it.