Au Revoir: Part II

Hour 0–1.5

Day 25–11/17/25

Today we talked about a number of things, from the slaughters in Books 22 to tokens of reunion. The first question asked was whether or not Odysseus was just and nurtured in his killings. As someone who may be a little biased (though for whatever reason, I have no idea) I thought he was more than just. The suitors had been in his house for years, courting his wife, belittling his son, and basically tearing apart his household while exploiting his resources. Not to mention her has been distressed from fighting a war and trying to get home for 2 decades. His ability to be so measured impressed me, and showed a lot about his character. I think he was fair in everything that he did, even in the killing of the servants. They had been unfaithful, and while I don’t condone using violence against your inferiors, considering the time, I’m in support in Odysseus. Even in having to clean the hall beforehand, that was more than fair. It worked to remind them of what their job was, and also to warn them that they would not be able to get away with their wrongdoings. At first, Telemachus hanging them seemed a little much, but when you think about it, he was definitely harboring some personal animosity. Odysseus was angry, of course, be he did not grow up around the activity that surrounded Telemachus, he had only heard of it. While he spent a few night witnessing it, Telemachus was helped raised by those women. Had I been surrounded for 20 years by those who blatantly disrespected the household my father helped build, I would want to humiliate them by doing more that just stabbing them too. I think they were both justified in their actions.

Next, we discussed The Bow of Apollo, and its origin. If i’m being honest, I have the tree of it written down, and I followed along in class when we reread it, but I don’t really know what we talked about. I was definitely going in and out by this point of this discussion. I know that Herakles was in there and killed someone, and we ended up coming full circle and discussing xenia, which at this point in the semester I’m pretty familiar with. Turns out I was right on track, because we eventually talked about Homer’s digressions throughout his works, which I notice often (usually when I’m reading on autopilot and then realize I don’t recognize any names or plot points, aka the passages I usually read 4 times and still don’t understand.) Outside of familiarizing myself with the language, they may be the hardest part of reading Homer. Because he does this often, I have to make sure I’m really focused on the reading, and it’s usually during these digressions that I check myself. Even if I don’t remember what’s going on, I am used to the digressions by now, and actually appreciate their existence for making me refocus.

The last thing we talked about was the exchange between Odysseus and Penelope about the marriage bed. We discussed it before, so it wasn’t much about the bed this time. It was more about the idea and understanding of a bed, or something that it shared between two people that signifies the connection they have with each other. Where before, we talked about tokens as items, such as jewelry or pictures, we now talked about it as an idea or memory. While the bed is furniture, it was the meaning about it that made it significant. I have written in my notes “what’s yours?” because he challenged us to think about it, and I have no idea. With my parents, my best friend, my sisters, nothing. I’m not a very materialistic person, so jewelry, pictures, or anything of the like are out. I have a fantastic memory, but when put on the spot I never fail to blank out, so I doubt I would be able to even recognize a token of recognition if I was held as gunpoint (heaven forbid). It was definitely cool to think about, and I will continue to consider this until I come up with some.

Takeaways from this class: James Brown’s The Big Payback was stuck in my head for the first half of crowd, and I wish I had named my last blog post that. The food-slaughter metaphors were initially very creepy, but they became kind of cool? Not sure how to feel about that lol. I really wish I could think of some tokens in my own relationships. I’ll come back to that.

Hour 1.5–2.5

Reading — 11/18/15

Reading Book 24 was eh. I could have done without the whole scene in the underworld, and the scene with Laertes could have been extended. It was fun to revisit some of the major players from the Trojan war, but was it really necessary? The rest of the book was also unnecessary to me, but that is also because I’m used to the fairy-tail storyline where the happy ending is the end all be all. We got that in Book 23, so I was pretty much over it after that. I also wasn’t expecting it to end so abruptly; I honestly probably wouldn’t have expected the last book at all had we not talked about Odysseus’ reunion with Laertes before in class.

Because I wasn’t so interested in the book, I was pretty lost with all of the scene changes, from the underworld to Laertes’ farm to the assembly of the suitor’s parents. The one thing that stood out was the suiting up of the generations, and Odysseus and Telemachus briefly bickering. It was sweet because Laertes looked on, feeling fortunate for the opportunity to witness it. In my head, he is a sweet old man who has been growing old with sorrow, so I loved seeing him get emotional over that. I know, even though I don’t understand myself, that parents have a love for their children that is unmatched, which I can only imagine is increased exponentially when you have grandchildren. It was also nice to see him suiting up along with them, fighting alongside his son and grandson. I was kind of sad that it was the end of another poem, but because I had already put the book down after Book 23, it wasn’t as sad as the end of The Iliad. Aside from that, this story has a really great ending, and it truly was the end of a story, as opposed to an end mid action that doesn’t answer any questions. This one really felt like a finale.

A lot more happened, but I didn’t really realize until I read the summary to study for the quiz. I was pretty familiar with books 21–23 because I read them as a whole twice (because I read the medium syllabus wrong :/), so I really only needed the summary of the book I had just read. Studying was pretty eh, but I was looking forward to taking the quiz because that meant that it was Thursday, aka my last day of classes before the weekend, so for once I was enjoying studying.

Takeaway from this reading: This one had a lot less fanfare at the end, but really tied up the loose ends. Laertes reminds me of the small old men at my grandmother’s church that you know lived a full life and now just like to see young people doing well. On to Plato!!

Hour 2.5–4

Day 26–11/19/15

Today was the last Odyssey quiz, which is a day I’ve been looking forward to. I got a B, which is pretty much on par with how I’ve been faring, so I’m ready to start getting A’s again. I don’t remember what the extra credit was, but I’m pretty sure I knew it, so that’s comforting.

We discussed whether Book 24 was an ending or not, and I think it’s pretty clear how I felt about it. The end, yes, an ending, not so much. Either way, our Odyssey experienced is over. I guess it was an ending to the series, because it did come full circle through the conversations with Achilles and Agamemnon. It did start with their quarrel, and ended with a mutual respect for each other. That was something I hadn’t noticed, but it made sense that it would be one of the last scenes. It also helped that their dialogue helped to answer some questions we were left with about the rest of the Trojan War after the completion of The Iliad, which the entire poem had done.

The battle between the house of Laertes and the suitor’s parents was kind of random to me. Considering all that the suitors have done, I don’t think it was necessary for their parents to retaliate, but I guess that’s the mindset of parents. Laertes got a little action killing Eupetheus, so the old man did get his story.

Apparently, the final book was a conversation about what it means to be blessed, and while I didn’t get that first, it makes sense. I know that Achilles and Agamemnon, though showered with blessings and favored by gods, didn’t receive the best fates, so they’re not so blessed. The suitors definitely weren’t blessed, they weren’t much but nepioi and annoying. The only characters I considered to be blessed were Odysseus, Telemachus, and Penelope. They were able to reunite after all of those years, and considering that family is so important to me, there’s nothing more blessed than being able to be with loved ones. Especially those that you really have that connection of a partnership with, because I can imagine it feels like you are missing half of yourself. Everyone else just ended up seeing a sad end.

Takeaways from this class: I’ve never read Herodotus, but I feel the need too. The sadness around the death of Achilles was pretty great, and even in other works he is being revered. We are finally done with the Odyssey, now to all the love talk :)

Hour 4–6

Reading — 11/20/15–11/21/15

I loveeeeeeee Plato’s Symposium. I am a sucker for any talk about love, and I really enjoy reading about the different origins, meanings, and representations of it. I read it freshman year, so it was long enough ago that I don’t remember anything except for the fact that I enjoyed it, so I was pretty much ready to jump back in.

Reading it did take a little longer than expected, but I also forgot how much was packed into such a short work. The first 30 or so pages are chocked full of interpretations. Before we even get into the speeches, though, we see how a gathering took place. They start with dinner, then decide how much to drink, then propose conversation, which is different than any gathering I’ve been to, even though it sounds fantastic.

Phaedrus’ speech is first, and the main thing that stuck out was his point that an army made of loved ones would be unmatched, because they would do anything to appear brave in front of their beloveds. He uses Achilles and Patroclus as an example, which seems like the perfect fit for his argument. His was interesting because according to Socrates, he was the one who always brought up the fact that men don’t honor Eros the way he deserves, and it is apparent in his speech because he starts off by saying that Eros should be revered because of his age.

Pausanius’ speech holds a lot of truth today. His distinction between Heavenly Love and Common Love is pretty significant. I found myself agreeing with him, especially when he said that Common Love is shallow, whereas in Heavenly Love the partners look to give something to the other, and grow as a result of being in the partnership, and that it makes people pretty much do crazy things. I don’t agree that it should only be in male-male relationship, but that holds true based on the time period. It made me think about, without getting too abstract or naive, whether a lot of love that I’ve seen has been more akin to the common type or the heavenly type. This is probably the speech that I will remember the most, just because I agree with it, and hope that I can find the right type of love. I like the idea of gaining virtue, and even though I think his sentiments of shaming those who are looking for the wrong things in love is a little harsh, I hope to recognize the right goals in myself whenever they appear.

Euryximachus’ speech delved into science, which is something I hate, so I didn’t really feel much about it, but I did agree with his argument about Love ruling different things that are all agreements between the different parts. Aristophanes myth is one that I’ve heard often, so it’s pretty engraved in my memory. It is the most interesting because of it’s mythical element, and it makes the most sense. I definitely believe in soul mates, and I think his story is just one of many that explain the origin.

Reading it was a lot easier than anything we’ve read before, because the translation is pretty straightforward. It is also very realistic, because I can imagine a bunch of men sitting around sharing their wisdom after dinner. I did reread the beginning a few times just to get all of the names right, because it’s like a story within a story within a story. Besides that, I loved the first half, and am looking forward to the rest of it.

Assignments

Day 27

1. Phaedrus’ speech most closely resembled what we have studied so far, even mentioning characters we have become well acquainted with. Even in The Odyssey, even though he wasn’t in an army, Odysseus did not stop fighting to get home because he remebered his loved ones, which is similar to not wanting to stop in front of your loved ones out of your desire to be courageous. Part of me believes that Odysseus wanted his family to know that he suffered through all of those atrocities just so he could be reunited with them. My favorite speech was Pausanius’ because I feel like the distinction he made was so true, and so important to recognize. It almost felt like I was reading an exposé or manual, because it so clearly and honestly defines what love is, what it looks like, and what it should look like.