Weekly Journal

Thursday, January 14th: 8:00 a.m.-9:30 a.m.

• We had previously discussed life’s five great stories and what we thought about them. This day, we discussed how life’s story can conflict and how we should balance them. For example social life can conflict with intellectual enlightenments. These can conflict because being a religious person will always in someway conflict with your social life when it comes to partying, drinking, smoking, or even the smallest thing that you don’t think counts. I’ve never thought of life as stories and I find it so interesting to categorize them as so. We also covered the Trojan War Saga backstory. Discussing the various characters and what to expect from the story before we read.

Friday, January 15th: 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.

• I got started a little early with reading the Iliad because I knew that I would procrastinate. When I began to read I had the hardest time understanding because this is my first time really being introduced to greek mythology. It literally took me 15 minutes to read the first couple of lines because I reread it, reread it, reread it, and read it again. I couldn’t understand and pick up on the language and terms used in the story to save my life! So i said forget it, let me read it anyway even if I don’t understand at least I read. Lord have mercy! I read the whole entire thing and still had no takeaway! Like, what did I just read? So after sitting on my bed for an hour and a half looking crazy, I decided that was enough for the night and I should try fresh the next day. My main takeaway was to keep working hard and I will eventually get it.

Saturday, January 16th: 5:00 p.m.-6:30 p.m.

• This evening I decided to start again with reading the Iliad. My best friend was over so I said “hey let’s read this together because I knooooooooow I’m not tripping!” She then said “you never read this before?” I said “no” and she looked startled! I guess I’m the only one in the world that had not read it. So this time I wanted to take a different approach, I wanted to find a different version in English, a way I could understand it better. So after I read that, I was able to get a clear understanding about the plot and the main events. After this, I was able to read the actual story and pick up what happened because I had additional background information. As I started to read the Iliad it became easier because I had an idea. I had no idea the books were so long so after reading half of it, I called it a night.

Sunday, January 17th: 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.

• This evening I picked up where I left off, reading and jotting down the important names, events, and places. It began to become a tedious task because the story introduces so many people and you can never differentiate who is important and who isn’t but I wrote down every name because I didn’t want to miss anyone.While I was reading I would stop and explain the story to my mom to ensure I understood what was going on. Then I realized how interesting the story really was! I really began to like it so that is what really made it easier for me to understand because I began to become intrigued.

Monday, January 18th: 12:00 p.m.- 2:00 p.m.

• This afternoon I went over my notes and focused on the important parts of the story so I would be prepared for the next day’s class quiz. I focused on the questions that were provided in the syllabus like what the quarrel was about. I remember how important spelling is so I practiced writing the important characters name correctly.

Tuesday, January 19th: 8:00 a.m.-9:30 a.m.

• After the quiz, I was highly upset that I misspelled a name, however I still managed to receive a 70%. We then elaborated on the three books of the Iliad we had to read so the class could get a better understanding. Thank God for that because somethings were clarified as far as the language and who was related to who. Because there are so many characters it gets hard to follow along. The take away from class was to always ask questions if you don’t understand.

Questions:

• Why do Achilles and Agamemnon quarrel?

The quarrel was mainly because Agamemnon tries to abuse his power as a leader. When Chryseis is asked to be returned he demands Briseis which was Achilles gift.

• What challenges of leadership does Agamemnon face?

Because Agamemnon had so much power, he became condescending. He faced challenges like allowing his emotions to take control of how the based his decisions which eventually caused a lot of turmoil with soldiers dying and corruption in the city.

• How much does Homer reveal to us about the experience of war through the eyes of his female characters (e.g., Chryseis, Briseis, Andromache, Helen, Hekabe)?

From my understanding, females suffer greatly from war because they lose their loved ones and basically have to learn to live their lives differently depending on who the person is. However, it is an honor for men to die in battle.