The Odyssey-Part 2

I really enjoy all the descriptions in The Odyssey. Everything is really easy to imagine, and I still really like the format of all the different stories.

Everything seems really dismal for all the heroes in general. Their lots in life seems to be incredibly difficult, dangerous, and emotionally damaging. In The Kingdom of the Dead, every hero—most whose names have been mentioned in relation to how awesome of hero they were—had a tragic end. They spent so much of their lives in this drastic situation, a tightrope of life and death, and they all ended up in the exact same place, without ever having the chance to live their life. Their lives were determined, more or less, the moment they had a god or goddess for a parent. But they all still were more or less destined for the same fate, the same end. Heroes do not seem to survive very long, and the gods and goddesses do not really let them. It really seems like the only way a demigod would be able to survive for very long is if they managed to avoid having any of the gods or goddesses know they exist: no great or powerful deeds, no quests, nothing. If they lived their life quietly, then they would have a significantly less blatant chance of angering someone who could kill them—and has absolutely no problem whatsoever killing people. The gods are way too emotional.

I still really do not understand why everyone wants to kill Odysseus. It honestly does not seem like he is worth the effort to try to kill him. Obviously no one has succeeded thus far, and since apparently none of the gods and goddesses can actually work together well enough to off him, and no one can quite work together well enough to save him entirely, everyone should just give up their dreams of revenge or heroics and let the guy live his life (more or less) in peace. If he really is so important, he would be better off left to his own device actually able to make a difference than dragged all over the place in attempts to kill him.

I am also seriously impressed with how easily women seem to swoon over him. Odysseus really does not seem that great. He is not dead yet, great. There are easily hundreds of thousands of men who are also not dead yet. Get over yourself.

Why do you think, out of all the possible people to talk to Odysseus, why was it Achilles who went through the list of the dead?

Do you think Odysseus would have made it this far without the help of any gods or goddesses, or anyone else? Do you think he was strong or smart enough to figure everything out on his own?

Why do you think, out of all these people and heroes, why is Odysseus so important?

Homer's Odyssey

I like The Odyssey way better so far than The Epic of Gilgamesh. I love learning about the Greek gods and goddesses, though. And as much as I love Genesis, I also like The Odyssey better. The Odyssey seems to have a lot more action than both The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis. The Epic of Gilgamesh did have a lot of action, but that action always seemed very passive to me, I guess.
I like all the other characters more than I like Odysseus. He is incredibly lucky that so many people liked him, because he really does not seem that intelligent. So far the only thing he really has going for him is the debate and escape from the Cyclops Polyphemus. To be fair, he did help his men several times, but he is recounting his tales to the Phaeacians. We do not really know whether or not Odysseus is a reliable narrator. I feel like he very well could be, but everyone embellishes stories at least a little when they tell them. On the other hand, he does actually seem to listen to the requests of the gods and goddesses helping him out, and there is something to be said for that. The goddess Ino gave him a veil to help protect him from Poseidon, and when he was more or less safe, he obeyed. There is something to be said about that. It seems like out of any of his personality traits, his confidence is probably the one that got him in trouble in the first place, and probably is the one that gets him in trouble the most.
What on earth did Odysseus do to piss off Poseidon? It generally takes a lot to anger him, as opposed to angering some of the other gods, who already have terrible tempers, like Zeus or Ares. Poseidon is generally a lot more laid back than some of the other gods. Odysseus is seriously lucky that Athena likes him, and that she along with others are trying to help protect him. Most gods do not forget other people’s mistakes that easily, although they all seem fairly excellent at forgetting their own.
I seriously love Calypso’s character. Her story is so interesting, because she did not actually do anything wrong besides support her father Atlas in the Titan war. He was cursed to have to hold up the world, and he couldn’t put it down unless someone else agreed to hold it, and she was forced to live on an island in the middle of nowhere all by herself, with only Hermes as the occasional visitor. On top of that, sometimes men (like Odysseus) would wash up on her shores, but she was cursed to fall in love with only men who could leave. Only once she fell in love with them would they leave her behind, never able to find the island again. Also, her speech to Zeus about double standards is fantastic. She really knew how to use her words.
I really like all the separate stories in The Odyssey, and how they all come together in one big story. I am not a huge fan of Odysseus’s character, but he does have a few, minimal really, redeeming qualities.
Which story do you think best shows Odysseus’s character? Why?
Which god (that we find out about) has the worst temper? Which one has the worst temper?
Do you think Odysseus would have been able to do as much as he did and make it as far as he did if he had not had help from so many of the gods and goddesses? Why?

Genesis Part 2

It is interesting how focused the whole lens of the book of Genesis becomes. I have never really noticed that many literary things about it before. I also think it is really interesting that I did not notice this until today, since the book gets equally as focused with what we read last week, and where we left off, with Jacob and his wives, is exactly what the rest of Genesis focuses on. I think the only reason I did not notice before was probably because I did not think it was strange, but then we mentioned it in class, so my attention was drawn to it.

I always felt bad for Rachel in this story. Jacob wanted to marry her, and her dad was just kind of a jerk, and then he tricks Jacob into marrying Leah, and only after 7 more years of work does he get to marry the daughter he actually loved. I also felt bad for Leah. At this point, neither she nor Rachel or happy, but Leah gets to have thirteen children, and no matter how hard Rachel tries, she only ends up having two. Also, it always seemed to me like Leah was in on her father’s treachery, which made me not like her, but it seems highly probable that she did not really have any other choice. Even if she did like Jacob, which it seems like she did, at least a little, it would suck to marry someone that you knew for a fact did not love you. Especially when all they tried to do after that was marry your little sister. This just seems like everyone involved, besides Laban, was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

I am still kind of surprised that everything worked out so well. I mean, yeah, Jacob and his wives and his children ended up running away from Laban, but that seemed to magically all work out, even though Rachel was a thief and lied about it. I also really never understood (and still do not) why Rachel decided to steal the household gods in the first place (household gods? Are those, like, smaller than regular gods, but still bigger than apartment gods?). They seemed like a really useless thing to steal, and definitely a really strange thing for Laban to chase after them just to get back. I feel like it was just an excuse to see if they had stolen from him in any other way. He was incredibly greedy, which did not end up working out for him in any way, shape, or form. Still, it seems like Laban would have figured out that someone was lying, or at the very least had a temper tantrum because he did not end up getting what he wanted.

On to the matter of Jacob’s sons. Seriously, everyone in this family seems unhappy and incredibly upset with their lives, except they all work out in the end, which seems like something we would classify as fairytale-like today. Which is kind of interesting and strange, thinking about the Bible having the first fairytales. Anyway, I digress. I always felt really bad for Joseph, because the poor guy gets thrown down a hole, by all his jealous brothers, and guess what, his mother is extremely upset because she thinks her only child is dead. She had one child, and then her sister’s sons all thought it would be a brilliant idea to throw him down a hole and hope that he died, but not bother to verify that information. Which explains why Joseph was the genius who managed to help run a country and they were not. That always seemed like a weird segue/outcome. Still does.

Why do you think the book ends the way it does, with Jacob’s death?

Why do you think the Pharaoh’s wife was so interested in Joseph? Why did she try so hard to get him into trouble?

Why do you think Joseph was so willing to forgive his brothers, even after they threw him down a hole, despite the fact he had not seem them for like twenty years?

Genesis

One of the differences between The Epic of Gilgamesh and Genesis is that Genesis actually has a backstory that is quite extensive. To be fair, almost the entirety of Genesis is backstory, though. However, The Epic of Gilgamesh has a little bit of backstory mixed in with the story, but there really isn’t a whole lot. Genesis dumps everything on you all at once, although not in a bad way. Genesis literally spells everything out step by step.

Gilgamesh was praised almost incessantly by the writer and by other characters within the story; however, Adam and Eve are not made out to be perfect. They are never made out to be something that they are not, and they both make the same mistake. They ate from the tree, even though God said, “You shall not eat from it and you shall not touch it, lest you die.” They both seem infinitely more human than Gilgamesh, who seems almost untouchable. The only negative thing that really happens to him is that he loses his best friend.

The Epic of Gilgamesh seems to be a lot more action, whereas Genesis is almost always consistently cause and effect. God says [insert phrase here] and something happens. When people listen to God, everything works out, and when they don’t, bad things happen. It seems pretty simple.

This happens time and time again; first with Adam, then with Noah, then with Abraham and his wife, Sarah. All these people listened to God and were blessed, and when they did not, there were consequences. However, this should not make it seem like God is not merciful, though. God talks to Abraham, and he wants to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham tries to fight for the town’s survival. He talks God from saving the town if there are only 50 people who are innocent down to only 10 innocent people, and God still sparing the city. This clearly shows that God is merciful.

Genesis gets more and more in-depth the farther you get within it. The stories start out shorter and simpler, and then they proceed to get more and more complex. You delve more into everyone’s lives the farther you get into the story of Genesis. By the time you get to Jacob, it seems like we learn about almost his entire life.

Another similarity seems to be in relation to how people (in Genesis) are described and how gods (in The Epic of Gilgamesh) are described. In Genesis, there is generally a long drawn out explanation about who is descended from whom, and when the gods are described, there is a long drawn out explanation about who they are related to and what they can do (what they are the god of).

I am enjoying this translation far more than I thought I would. It is not as dense as most things in relation to Genesis. The notes are also surprisingly interesting and helpful.

1. Genesis mentions Nephilim, and in class it was brought up that Gilgamesh could have been a descendant of the Nephilim. Do you think this is still a possibility?

2. Which character seems to have the best life or make the least amount of mistakes in Genesis? It seems like almost all of the characters do something stupid at one point or another in time: again, they all seem incredibly human, unlike Gilgamesh.

3. Do you think the blessings God gives seem to make the commands to follow worth it? This is obviously up for debate, but good things happen when people listen. However, every once in a while people argue with God about whether or not he can actually provide what he says he will.

The Epic of Gilgamesh

I think the travels of Gilgamesh and Enkidu were probably the least interesting part of this section. It was a small section, but they did almost the exact same thing every day. In general, when someone goes on a journey there’s danger and fighting, but this was very simple. The dreams were the most exciting part of this, and they were just kind of intense.

I really like the descriptions used throughout this epic. Everything seems vibrant and full of life. There’s also a surprising amount of specificity. There’s a lot of specificity mentioned in relation to distances and heights, but what surprises me is that there are also general descriptions, with scenery and color.

Enkidu and Gilgamesh have an excellent sense of teamwork. I think is obvious in many different ways: when they are traveling to take down Humbaba, when they are traveling to take down Ishtar, and the actual combat with Ishtar. They both communicate while they are attempting to bring Ishtar down. They also plan out how to destroy him before they actually make it that far.

It’s really interesting that as interested in treasure and glory as Gilgamesh is, Enkidu never really has that same kind of drive. It seems like he could honestly care less whether or not he has anything of the same things Gilgamesh seems to crave.

Enkidu is kind of dramatic. He spends multiple pages basically romanticizing his death. So far, I believe that’s the most anyone has talked at one time throughout this epic. I was expecting a dramatic battle to the death, but I certainly wasn’t expecting Enkidu to simply drop dead from illness. That makes his monologue significantly more dramatic. Also, it’s kind of depressing that he doesn’t die in battle, because as he says, no one will remember him. I’m impressed, however, by how much Gilgamesh mourns his friend. The second longest amount of time is spent with Gilgamesh incessantly praising his dead friend. Gilgamesh also is dramatic, so it doesn’t seem quite as unexpected as it was when Enkidu did the exact same thing.

I think it shows how much Gilgamesh appreciated his friend in relation to how after he’s done mourning, Gilgamesh decides to wander aimlessly for a while. However, it’s probably not a good idea for this scorpion thing to continue to compliment Gilgamesh, as it already seems whatever anyone says goes to his head. However, as much as every single person Gilgamesh seems to mention about how amazing he is seems to give substantial evidence that he is probably as impressive as everyone makes him out to be.

I’m kind of wondering about the significance of lapis lazuli. This is something incredibly specific that they’ve mentioned many times.

I’m slightly concerned about how willing Gilgamesh is to listen to this person, just so he doesn’t have to worry about death, at least temporarily, and hopefully in the long run. I am impressed, however, with how much of a hard worker Gilgamesh is. He does all this work on his own, with no guarantee of an outcome of immortality. He obvious really wants immortality, but if the main reason is because of Enkidu dying, then at least that is slightly redeeming. If the only reason he wants it, however, is because he wants to be immortal and is using Enkidu’s death as an excuse, then there is absolutely nothing redeeming about that whatsoever.

I’m disappointed with how the most exciting parts are when all that is happening is excessive monologue. I’m interested to see where this goes from here. The title for the next section seems like an interesting segue.