discussion room for english essay

This a place to continue the query about question 1, and the homeric simile, and the General Discussion Theme.

If someone could give some direct quotes from the Odyssey referencing question 1 that would be helpful

i think it's page 95 lines 220-ish. odysseus is talking about why he wants to leave

ill see if i can bring out some quotes that answer the question

Kalypso- "Son of Laertes and seed of Zeus, resourceful Odysseus, are you still all so eager to go back to your own house and the land of your fathers? I wish you well, however you do it, but if you only knew in our own heart how many hardships you were fated to undergo before getting back to your country, you would stay here with me and be the lord of this household and be an immortal, for all you longing once more to look on that wife for whom you are pining all your days here. And yet I think that I can claim that I am not her inferior either in build or stature, since it is not likely that mortal women can challenge the goddesses for build and beauty."

Odysseus- "Goddess and queen, do not be angry with me. I myself know that all you say is true and that circumspect Penelope can never match the impression you make for beauty and stature. She is mortal after all, and you are immortal and ageless. But even so, what I want and all my days I pine for is to go back to my house and see my day of homecoming. And if some god batters me far out on the wine-blue water, I will endure it, keeping a stubborn spirit inside me, for already I have suffered much and done much hard work on the waves and in the fighting."

If we are required to give textual answers with our answers, we cannot conclude much from the given text. All that we can draw from this paragraph is that Odysseus wants to go home in order to have his homecoming which he has wanted for so long. Though it may seem that Odysseus had a certain faithfulness and commitment to Penelope, we cannot conclude from the text that he would feel bad leaving Penelope alone and staying with Kalypso. The text only states that he wants his homecoming. It does not at any point explicitly state that he wants to return in order to be faithful to Penelope.

i would also like to say that Odysseus refuses Kalypso's offer of immortality because it goes against his nature. Odysseus nature is that of a warrior and adventurer. He wants to roam free and as we see in many examples he loves a challenge (Ex. The cyclops. Odysseus knows that he is facing a great monster and has little hope of actually defeating him, but he still decides to go into its cave and wait for the Cyclops to come back.) But what challenge does living in a paradise give Odysseus. He has everything he wants, without having to even try. So when he is offered to stay in a paradise sleeping with a goddess, he refuses because he knows he can never be at peace in such a place.

YES, John, I think your answer is the best so far.

ya but you also have to bring in the fact that odysseus has suffered alot and so he wont let that go to waste if you actually use the text. but otherwise just talk about star trek alot

Yeah thats good, bc/ mr. neid was talking about how odysseus learns from his mistakes, but still he cant change his nature. Like he doesnt accept that he will lose men when he goes through Skylla and Charybdis

good point john, I think his nature does have a lot to do with it. Where can i get some physical evidence of his nature dominating his actions....? Could you show him screaming his name to the cyclops? Tying himself to the boat so he can listen to the sirens to satisfy his curiousity?

Could someone type all the notes they have about the simile? b/c I dont know where mine are...
How long do you think we have to write on this section?

look I don't have many notes but I know you need to talk about the object of the simile, what it's being compared to and how - all the similarities and subtleties, and finally, I think it would be good to try to indentify the twist in the simile. That's pretty much it I think

can we say that odysseus wants to return to penelope but he doesnt say that directly to not anger kalypso?