Odyssey Books 11 & 12

After reading book 11, I was beginning to wonder how long this was taking Ulysses to tell his stories. I know that it takes up a lot of pages :) I was wondering also, how do you dig with a sword? It seems that when Ulysses was digging the ditch on his journey to Hades place, he was using the blade of his sword. When Ulysses was with the ghosts, what were the other men thinking? And what was the goal of this journey? He didn't do much except talk to the ghosts. . . There were some really awful deaths in this book, as well as in book 12, and I was wondering how many more ways can someone die? I'm sure I will be surprised by how others die though too. 
In book 12, I was reminded of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, by C.S. Lewis. I was reminded of this because of the Sirens and how there was the temptations of evil when they went up to the Witch's Island. It was a powerful magic that the Witch used and it almost got some of the crew. There are other ways that it reminds me of this, but I won't write it all out. When they got to the Sirens, why could only Ulysses hear them? Why didn't they affect him in the way that it did the others. And if there was wax in the crew's ears, how could they hear when Ulysses begged an prayed, but not the Sirens? When Eurylochus told the men to kill the cows, how did Ulysses know what the men said? And did Ulysses tell them of the horrible things that would surely happen to them if they did? He must have not told them the full effects of it since they did it anyways. . . It was really easy to understand for the most part, although there were really long sentences in some parts of the assigned books.

Odyssey Book 10

In book 10, I noticed that at some spots, the story moves really fast. But at other spots, it moves fairly slow. Here are some of my thoughts on this book:

1. Why does Ulysses have to go on the extra journey? And how does he remember all the information given to him from Circe about this voyage?

2. When they say cloaks and shirts, by cloak do they mean pants or what a cloak is to us? It seems kind of odd that they would walk around with no pants . . . hmmmmm.

3. How many men were left when the got to the island where Circe lived?

4. If I were there as part of Ulysses' crew, I would be pretty upset with him myself too.

5. What about the bag caused them to be turned around? It would be so awful for that to happen when they could see their home.

6. When Ulysses and his crew were turned around and ended back on the Aeolian Island, why did they end up here? Because this is where they came from?

7. And when Ulysses went back to Aeolus, I agreed with Aeolus not helping them. I wouldn't want to because what if this happened again?

8. Why did Antiphates eat Ulysses' men?

Anyways, I pretty much got everything that was going on, but sometimes it was hard to get the meaning of the story and what it had to do with the whole poem in general. And most of the time, I can't tell that it is a poem I am reading. . .

Odyssey Books 8 & 9

As I read book 8, I was really surprised at how Ulysses still hadn't told anyone his name!!! I know that at the beginning of book 9 he tells his story and all, but it was kind of surprising to know that they went all that time without knowing his name. It seems so different from our culture considering that right when we meet someone, we ask their name and things that we need to know about them, like how old they are. Here, they feed them, and give them comfortable clothes and let them bathe and even go several days without knowing about this person. I think that that would be really weird. . . I was also wondering, does Ulysses know that Minerva was helping him along the way? Like at the athletic field? Overall, I found this book to be really easy to read and it all made sense. I also like the part that reads 'hither and thither'. I think that that is cute and something that you don't see everyday.

In book 9 as Ulysses was telling his story, I was wondering what the Phaeacians thought of him. I think that if I were to hear this story of it happening today, I would be REALLY mad at what he has done. Was this the norm? Was this how you became mighty, noble, powerful, great, etc? I can understand why the gods would want to punish him from his story . . . it seemed like they wanted him to think through what he did and how he killed lots and lots of people. It's almost as if they sent him to timeout by sending him to Calypso and not being able to leave for _ years, (I forgot). And who are the Lotus-eaters? It reminds me of a book I read a while ago. And do they ever get drunk from drinking so much wine? It seems in every book, they are drinking wine like 3-5 times a day! And that's only what they mention! When he is telling his story, it seems like he remembers it like it was yesterday. Ulysses has a lot of detail and it seems that he shouldn't remember it so vividly since it happened a few years ago. I thought that the when Ulysses told Polyphemus that his name was Noman, that it was cleverly thought out for this to happen. 

I realized that while I was reading, that I really hate Ulysses. For one he is arrogant, for example, when they are leaving the island of the Cyclops, Ulysses jeers at them twice, causing Polyphemus to throw the rocks at them.

Odyssey Books 5-7

While I was reading this, I got really annoyed how they kept using 'When the child of morning, rosy-fingered Dawn appeared'! Could they not come up with anything better?

I think that as I read this, it is easier to understand because they aren't using a lot of big complicated sentences anymore.

Some of my questions while I was reading are:

1.) If Minerva hated Ulysses so much, why is she helping his son to find him? Does she feel guilty of what she did to him?

2.) When Calypso showed him the forest of the poplar trees that he could use to build a raft, wouldn't the boat wreck easier since the wood is lighter and dry? Did she show him this wood because she knew that Neptune would be after him?

3.) Since Minerva can provide a lot of things, why didn't she provide Ulysses with clothes when he walked up to the women?

4.) How many drink offerings do they make a day? I think in book 7 they make 3 offerings just while Ulysses is there.

Other than these, there were just questions like 'how old are they?' and general questions like that.

I was thinking that gold must be really abundant, or everyone that has been mentioned must be really wealthy.

Odyssey Book 2, 3, & 4

I finished books 2,3, and 4 this week. I'm liking this book right now, but it can get really confusing with all the names and places. As I was reading, I had a lot of thoughts about the suitors who were trashing Telemachus's house. Some things were that I couldn't have put up with them for as long as he has and why wouldn't anyone steal the gold and bronze treasure in the spacious store-room?And if Telemachus had to pay for the "parties", couldn't he just stop paying for them? There were a lot of improbable events that occurred, like when they were able to sail through waves that were mountains high. I think that some of what is being says has a double meaning, but you can't always figure them out. When she was with Nestor and Telemachus, did she mean to give herself away to Nestor as she took off? Also, it gets quite confusing when she is Mentor, but she is referred as Minerva. I found that a lot of the time, when someone was feasting, they would use gold cups. Are gold cups not just for the wealthy? I found a lot of typo's too, for instance words were put in the wrong order, quotations were left out, and some other minor things, which got kind of confusing when you had to decode it.