Read the excerpt from The Odyssey . Neither reply nor pity came from him, but in one stride he clutched at my companions and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to beat their brains out, spattering the floor. Then he dismembered them and made his meal, gaping and crunching like a mountain lion— everything: innards, flesh, and marrow bones. What can be inferred about the Cyclops?
Read the excerpt from The Odyssey . My heart beat high now at the chance of action, and drawing the sharp sword from my hip I went along his flank to stab him where the midriff holds the liver. I had touched the spot when sudden fear stayed me: if I killed him we perished there as well, for we could never move his ponderous doorway slab aside. So we were left to groan and wait for morning. What prevents Odysseus from killing the sleeping Cyclops?
Read the excerpt from The Odyssey . Then, his chores being all dispatched, he caught another brace of men to make his breakfast, and whisked away his great door slab to let his sheep go through—but he, behind, reset the stone as one would cap a quiver. What two things are being compared in this epic simile?
Read the excerpt from The Odyssey . 'Aye He'll smash our timbers and our heads together!' I would not heed them in my glorying spirit, but let my anger flare and yelled: 'Cyclops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes' son, whose home's on Ithaca!' What motivates Odysseus to reveal his name and put his men in more danger?
Read the excerpt from The Odyssey . 'We are from Troy, Achaeans, blown off course by shifting gales on the Great South Sea; homeward bound, but taking routes and ways uncommon; so the will of Zeus would have it. We served under Agamemnon, son of Atreus— the whole world knows what city he laid waste, what armies he destroyed. It was our luck to come here; here we stand, beholden for your help, or any gifts you give—as custom is to honor strangers. We would entreat you, great Sir, have a care for the gods' courtesy; Zeus will avenge the unoffending guest.' He answered this from his brute chest, unmoved: 'You are a ninny, or else you come from the other end of nowhere, telling me, mind the gods! We Cyclopes care not a whistle for your thundering Zeus or all the gods in bliss; we have more force by far. I would not let you go for fear of Zeus— you or your friends—unless I had a whim to. What can be inferred about the Cyclops?
Read the excerpt from The Odyssey . but Cyclops went on filling up his belly with manflesh and great gulps of whey, then lay down like a mast among his sheep. What two unlike elements are being compared in this simile?
Read the excerpt from The Odyssey . 'My ship? Poseidon Lord, who sets the earth a-tremble, broke it up on the rocks at your land's end. A wind from seaward served him, drove us there. We are survivors, these good men and I.' What motivates Odysseus to tell a lie to the Cyclops?
Read the excerpt from The Odyssey . 'O Cyclops! Would you feast on my companions? Puny, am I, in a Caveman's hands? How do you like the beating that we gave you, you damned cannibal? Eater of guests under your roof! Zeus and the gods have paid you!' According to this excerpt, Odysseus
Read the excerpt from The Odyssey . At this he gave a mighty sob and rumbled: 'Now comes the weird upon me, spoken of old. A wizard, grand and wondrous, lived here—Telemus, a son of Euryinus; great length of days he had in wizardry among the Cyclopes, and these things he foretold for time to come: my great eye lost, and at Odysseus' hands. Always I had in mind some giant, armed in giant force, would come against me here. But this, but you—small, pitiful and twiggy— you put me down with wine, you blinded me. Come back, Odysseus, and I'll treat you well, praying the god of earthquake to befriend you— his son I am, for he by his avowal fathered me, and if he will, he may heal me of this black wound—he and no other of all the happy gods or mortal men.’ Why does the Cyclops invite Odysseus back to the island?
Read the excerpt from The Odyssey . Why not take these cheeses, get them stowed, come back, throw open all the pens, and make a run for it? We'll drive the kids and lambs aboard. We say put out again on good salt water!' Ah, how sound that was! Yet I refused. I wished to see the caveman, what he had to offer— no pretty sight, it turned out, for my friends. Odysseus ignores his men’s pleas to return to the ship. As a result, they face terrible consequences. How does Odysseus’s decision defy ancient Greek attitudes and values?
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