Day five

I think that the symbolism of the bow is destruction. Minerva puts in Penelope's head to give the suitors the bow so they destroy each other and the symbolism of destruction is showed. The suitors will all want the power of the bow and will do anything to get it and will inevitably destroy each other because of the bow. I also think the symbolism of the bed means peace and that everything is over and odysseys journey is finally at the end and he could just relax just as Ulysses and everyone else on jersey.

Thoughts

I think that this book was really good and Odysseus journey was really interesting and he met a lot of people and the whole book was about of journey of his life and the ups and downs that he had. The end of the book ended in a peaceful manner between him and minerva and the two parties.

Day Four

1. The character of Melanthius is the brother of melantho. Melanthius supports the suitors. And in book 17 Melanthius starts abusing the beggar who shows up at odysseus palace. Melanthius doesn't realize that the beggar is odysseus. Melanthius gave Ulysses a kick on the hip out of pure wantonness. Ulyssess didn't know wether or not to kill Melanthius with his staff of fling him to the ground and punch his brains out. But then Melanthius prayed to the gods and spared him and he claimed back his spot next to Eurymachus with the suitors. Melanthius is not a wise character and him no seeing that odysseus was the beggar showed that he was weak and that he should of been killed but was spared because Eurymachus who likes him the most spared him along with the other suitors.
2. Irus is a very interesting character that started off begging all over ithaca and he was notorious as an incorrigible glutton and drunkard. He had no strength or say in him and his a very hulking fellow to look at. His birth name is Arnaeus but the young men call him Irus. They call him Irus because everyone would send him on a errand. As soon as he saw Ulysses he tried to run him out of his house.

Thought

I think that Irus is pictured as this very good looking character, if that is what Hulking means, and he is just used as a errand boy and once Ulysses comes in as this hero he feels like he is gonna be driven out of his house so before that happens he tries to do the opposite and drive Ulysses out of his house. And i also am wondering why Ulysses is at Irus house in the first place, I'm confused with that.

I think Odysseus decent into the underworld is a metaphor for his life and that is life is that good right now and he is metaphorically descending into hades. This is really a decent into the underworld. Odysseus speaks to the shades of the dead in the underworld who are like ghosts of the underworld because the underworld is supposed to be a shades, scary, uninviting place to be.

Well in book 13 athene tells odysseus that she is the master of disguises and that she wants to disguise him before going to ithaca. She suggest disguising him as a beggar because people don't like to look to closely at beggars so it will keep in unnoticed. I think the disguise is a symbol of himself that is because he doesn't want people noticing him in ithaca because he was to noticed when he left originally.

Odyssesy's need for a disguise his because of his trials he needs to complete to go back to ithaca, Posideon has a serious grudge against Odyssesy's which forces him to start these harsh trials so he can be ready when he makes he's return to ithaca in his disguise.

Calypso island is very bizarre and full of life, i think that Calypso's island represents greed because the options that Calypso give to Odyssesy's are very fruitful and extravagant and that if he stays on this island with her he can have it all and not have to worry about anybody else

2. After the prologue the book splits up the characters in to two groups those groups are Gods and humans. And some of them are demigods who are an offspring off a human and a God if they decided to have a child.

5. Telemachus goes to Pylos and Sparta to ask for any news of his father. His journey represents a symbol of growth because he didn't have a father when he grew up so this is his chance to prove him self that he can make it on his own. Penelope was a important character. Also Antinous and Eurymachus

1. When his father though his favorite son was dead because all of his other brothers dipped his robe in goats blood and showed his father and said that he was torn to pieces by a beast and then tried to help the dad and comfort him but the father wanted nothing to do with any of the sons so there plan backfired and not even pretending to kill his favorite son worked and they could never get the respect of there father.

2. I feel like the robe that Joseph made for his father was a symbol of how much he meant to his father and that his father thought he was apart of him and that when you wear a robe in means a lot because it always reminds you of them when the father wears the robe. So when the sons dipped it in goats blood and said Joseph was dead it was a big for the father because it was such a personal gift from Joseph to his father that his father could not get over it.

1. Since these twins were born Esau was the one who went into the field and got the food and i feel like was more of the stronger typical "son" that they expected back then. Jacob is less of the hunter and more of the stay at home brother that cooks and does non-men activities. These problems between these twins start of early when Esau comes back from the field and is hungry while jacob is making stew and Esau asks for some stew but Jacob asks for his birthright which was very odd. We saw problems before between brothers Cain and abel and that didn't really workout well.

4. I think that Jacobs dream means that every time someone dies they ascend to the "ladder" of heaven and go to God who is at the top of the ladder. And when God says to jacob that his offspring should spread north, south, east, and west means that offspring means humans and that we should spread throughout the earth to all continents. 

5. I think that Jacob is wrestling with life and the struggles of life because he has a wife, twelve children, and has to work all the time. When the his wrestling with life and asks him his name is Israel instead of jacob because the people of Israel have to struggle with life just as Jacob did thats why they don't eat the sinew of the thigh because thats what life took off of Jacob.

1. I think that abram reacts the way he did before entering egypt because he saw them as sinners and different people from them and seeing him with his beautiful wife would get them angry and confused so they would resort to killing abram. He came to this assumption before they even met the egyptians because he knew a foreign  land would not react well to a beautiful woman and that the pharaoh would want the most beautiful women.

2. I think that sarahi stays silent because the pharaoh eventually realized that she was abram's wife and that it was not the pharaohs wife to deal with. Her being silent i think sent a message to the pharaoh saying to him that she dosent really want anything to do with him. She gains power and respect as a wife to abram.

3. Some human problems that arise from this love triangle are that sarahi gets eventually jealous of her servant with her husband abram and that they conceived a child and then the servant ran away because sarahi was mad with her servant and that they bore a child. So this is some human problems of jealous because i guess this human love triangle has not happened before so they did not know they were going to have this types of problems.

5. I think that civilization come from a murderer because it was supposed to be a metaphor because society and civilization are wild, crazy, liars, killers. Just like murderers civilization have the same traits as a murderer. I think its a great way to compare civilization to a murderer.

1. I can see relationships between the family as a great theme because in the myth its the first time a family is together with all the pieces. They will realize that they have problems and sets up the most of the story and tell what the myth is mostly about. The beginning of agriculture is very important because its the basis of society and makes humans have work and supply food. But work can cause problems and they will in the future societies that why its a great basis theme for the myth.

3. This story says a lot about justice and that you will not always get what you want as a human and people may like other people better than you and abel was jealous of cain and this caused murder in the civilization. And it might of been a set-up against cain since the beginning because cain was always the star child and always loved and you can have that forever and eventually turns on you.