Odyssey Response, Books II – IV

It’s getting interesting! In these books, Telemachus is looking everywhere for his father. My thoughts and reactions were not really on the story, but the way it was written – did anyone else get annoyed by the “rosy fingered Dawn” thing? I laughed every time I read it. Also, how easy was it to get someone to cry back then? I mean, the only crying part in this story so far where the character actually deserved to be “weeping” is the part where Menelaus finds out his comrades are either dead or aren’t doing well. I’d cry for that. But if I were a maid, and my mistress was weeping, I wouldn’t start weeping too just because she is. I found that part, along with all the other crying parts, very strange and kind of comical. Also, I found the suitors are pretty stupid. Who in their right mind would walk into someone else’s house, and stay there forever? Think about this happening today – it’s unheard of! The people would be in jail at once. Why aren’t the local authorities taking action on the suitors? Was that kind of behavior actually legal back then? That seems so weird, that people would really just do that. Anyhow, I’m looking forward to reading more, and getting into Ulysses’ half of the story.

Heroes – “A Hero is a selfless person who is courageous and overcomes fear to benefit others despite any obstacles.” That was our class definition. I looked up the site on the blog, and found three of those four definitely abiding by this definition. The people who raised the flag at Iwo Jima totally fit this, I read a book on them once – each one didn’t care about themselves, more or less did what they did to fight for America’s freedom. They raised that flag, despite the bullets flying from all directions and rough, crazy terrain – despite all those obstacles. They most definitely fit the definition. I’m not sure I understood the second example, I wasn’t familiar with what it or he was and there wasn’t anything to read about. Batman? He was a hero. He didn’t care about himself, and ran around catching those villains so the people could live in peace. So he did what he did to benefit others… no matter what the cost, or the obstacles. And firefighters are everyday heroes that save hundreds of lives all the time. They risk everything to get an innocent person out of a fire, no matter what the cost to them, and no matter how bad the fire is. They are selfless, and get that person out despite any obstacles. These fit the definition perfectly, “selfless” “benefit others” “despite any obstacles”. All those examples fit our definition perfectly. By the way, I think we should send our definition into Webster – all they have on hero is “A person who is greatly admired.” While that may be true in some cases… I like ours much better.