For Spring Break: The Odyssey, Books 1,4,5,6

Obviously, no class next week! Be sure to start reading The Odyssey for the week we return, Books 1, 4, 5, & 6. I won't give you any questions over Spring Break (how decent of me!), but I will give you some bullet points to consider to help you as you read. We'll discuss these points in class next week. But be sure to read, since you don't want to fall behind once we return--we'll have to pick up the pace because there's only a few weeks left!

Here's some highlights from this week's class:

ACHILLES: UNIQUE OR COMMON? 

• Page 58(Graziosi): The Iliad practices the “Poetics of Inclusion”: only tells one part of the story, but hints at the entire thing...we can see a much larger world just behind the curtain, even though it's not all explored or even mention 
• Page 60: BIG—even the quick victims have a history, a story; he could have told us more 
• Every death is a LOSS! Even the most minor character leaves a body, a history, a family; every man has a mother and a father--many have wives and children. Achilles can't see that (until Priam). 
• Page 51: he ISN’T special—look at what everyone suffered! Priam especially, but also Andromache, Helen, etc.

THE OLDEST THEME IN LITERATURE: TRYING TO CHEAT DEATH

• Page 52: THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH—can anger bring back the dead? Achilles is a lot like Gilgamesh 
• Page 53: PTSD—like war veterans, goes through despair and rage: why the poem is about “menis” (rage)
• Page 49: he is a mortal man: gifts won’t help him; they won’t extend his life or bring back others –nothing as precious as life itself (50)
• NOT A GOD—but a mortal; so can’t be Apollo. He only has a few years to enjoy his life, and money can't buy him more. Apollo doesn't need life, and can't die, so all he has is money and sacrifices to enjoy. 

THE DATE OF ONE’S FATE

• Page 66: We all believe we shall die "whenever"; but Hector knows exactly when—and has to act accordingly
• Page 69: Andromache’s plea—to offer an alternative fate for Hector, which he refuses 
• Page 70: Shame and glory—his main motivators (her pain will become his future glory)
• Page 73: His death—ALONE, though he always cared for the community (they abandon him at the end—his people, and the gods)
• Page 56: WOMEN get the last word: people can only flourish if they look after each other.