Summarize what the books are about & connect to a theme
The generous Phacacians help Odysseus get home even though this angers Poseidon. Odysseus arrives on Ithaca and disguises himself as a beggar to scout out the land. His kingdom is in shambles. One of his old servants, Eumacus the swineherd, takes pity on the "bum" and takes him home for a meal. While Eumacus is not around, Odysseus drops his disguise and reveals himself to Telemachus.
The theme we can connect this to is loyalty to family.
list the important characters in the books
- Amphinomos is the most aggressive and said to be the best suited for Penelopea
- Laetes is the old father of Odysseus, who lives in isolation from the demands of public life, on a small farm in the back hills of Ithaca. He remains alert and agile, despite his age.
- Emaios the chief swineherd of Odysseus, who remains faithful to his master during his long absence
- Theoclymenos a seer who foretold the retuning of Odysseus
food and banqueting
When we think of a feast, we think of good hospitality, having fun, and being polite. In the Odyssey, food and banqueting means evil, all things bad, and wrong will come of it. Odysseus’s men transgress boundaries of hospitality by dining on Helios’s sacred cattle and suffer death as a consequence. The most obvious example of a misused banquet is the suitors’ pillaging of Odysseus’s provisions. This shows that the supposedly "noble" men do not have the human qualities of restraint and propriety; they are therefore somewhat less than human and worthy of death (or so the Odyssey argues). On the other hand, Nestor, Menelaos, and the Phaiakians serve proper banquets – full of good food, wine, and singing. They are considered not only good hosts, but great human beings.
list and explain a favorite passage from each book
My favorite part from what we've recently read is when Odysseus reveals himself to the swineherd, who was his old servant. This to me is the most exciting part of the story because it could ruin Odysseus's plan, or it could help him. The swineherd could be one to turn on Odysseus, we just don't know yet. By revealing himself to the swineherd, more tension, questions and excitement to the story.
