A Pleasantly Annoying, Tediously Short, Quietly Ear-Piercing Analysis of the themes of The Odyssey

This post will focus on the themes of the last few books (11-end) of The Odyssey. Please enjoy...

The Odyssey has many themes that occur throughout it, but a few stand out as being a main recurring theme. one of these, in my opinion, is the idea of not rushing into things, and being patient.

The theme of being patient is shown a lot in book 13. In this section, the godess Athena describes what sets Odysseus apart, namely his wit and patience. "Anyone else, having come back from wandering long and hard, would have hurried home at once." This may seem out of place, but because Odysseus didn't rush into his home like any other man would, saved his life from the Suitors that were there. Because of Odysseus' patience, his life was saved.

The theme of Patience is also shown in book 12. In this book, the men, still trying to reach home, land on the island of the sun, where the Cows of the Sun are. Patience would have saved the lives of the men there, but they were not patient. "if we come upon a herd of cattle or fine flock of sheep, not one man among us,--blind in his reckless ways-- will slaughter an ox or ram." This quote is Odysseus' instructions to his crewmembers, but they aren't patient at all and kill the cattle. Because of this, the crew was killed and Odysseus was left alone. Rushing into things, like the men did, will never really pay off.

Patience does not always involve waiting, as is shown in book 22. In this book, Odysseus' Patience paid off, and because he didn't rush into things, he could get revenge. the book describes the scene of his revenge: "the suitors lay in heaps, corpse covering corpse." Odysseus, because of his master plan, was able to kill all the evil suitors in his house. Being patient and thinki9ng over things, like Odysseus and Telemachus did, is a much better choice than rushing into things, because it will usually pay off in the end.

The Odyssey: two heroes, or are they?

Throughout the book The Odyssey, there are two main protagonists: Odysseus, for whom the book was named after, and Telemachus, his son. but are they heroes? This post will look into whether or not either of them qualify to be a hero.

First, lets look at Odysseus. He's the main character, hes strong, smart, and overall the perfect guy to be a hero. I would say that he is the main hero of this story. He fits the hero's quest pattern very nicely. For example, he has faithful hero partners, namely, his crew. These men went with him to the ends of the earth, and gave their very lives to help him. If that doesn't exemplify a hero partner, i don't know what does. The men were a key part in helping him succeed in his quest. Also, Odysseus has an ultimate boon, namely the magic scarf. the magic scarf is what keeps him alive throughout the ordeal with Poseidon. All heroes have an ultimate boon that is key to helping them survive, and Odysseus is no different, seeing as the scarf is what kept him alive.

Telemachus, on the other hand, is not a hero. Why, you might ask? Well, for one, he has no ultimate boon. Throughout the pitiful trip he calls his quest, nothing is so consequential as to merit the term ultimate boon. maybe the ship could be considered a mediocre boon, and the men a lukewarm boon, but it doesn't compare at all to a hero's ultimate boon. Also, Telemachus never had a final battle. He left, reached Sparta, then turned around and high-tailed it home. This is DEFINITELY NOT a final battle. What is fought? who wins? the answer: who cares? Telemachus isn't a hero. thats it.

PS3's are better than 360's

Sure, the argument has been going on for what seems like centuries, and nothing has been solved, but I would like to give my input nonetheless. The PS3/360 war is a nasty one, with threads turning intelligent posters into mindless trolls trying to prove their point (luckily for me I am on an obscure assignment blog). Even so, it is a topic that I am casually passionate about, so I will write, and hopefully persuade a few of you to my point of view.

First, I'll start with some background. I have lived the past three or so years with a wii, and just recently decided to upgrade to the PS3. Now before anyone starts to complain about bias and all that, let me say this: all of my friends had Xbox 360s, and I knew of only one person with a PS3. So why did I go the opposite way of everyone I knew? Well, I hope to show you.

The decision seems hard at first, both have similar stats when viewed casually, but take a closer look and the PS3 pulls ahead. For example, let's take optical drives. 360's feature a DVD drive, whereas PS3s feature a Blu-Ray drive. Sure, you may not have an HDTV, so you won't be watching that many Blu-Ray movies, but the difference lies in the games. DVDs can hold up to 8.5 GB, whereas the Blu-Ray discs hold up to 50 GB of data. This can mean a whole lot to games with heavy graphics or extensive features, allowing them to pack all the data into one disk instead of 5 or 6 that are installed (meaning slower loading times).

Another example of the PS3's superiority is in its failure rate. No Xbox fanatic likes the words Red Ring of Death, and if mentioned in a debate will leave most stuttering feeble excuses about some fan thingy that fixes it or something. Seeing as it was only fixed quite recently, it is still a major problem for anyone considering Xbox. Also, according to a study done quite recently by NoFussReviews, Failure rates among Xbox users numbered 42%, whereas PS3 failure rate was only 8%. Just to put that into perspective, about half of Xboxes broke or failed, whereas only 1 in 12 PS3s would fail. PS3 is the clear winner here.

Finally, a topic worth a quick mention is the Online Play. Microsoft currently charges users $50 per year to use online play in games, and you have to pay extra for most DLC (downloadable content). PSN, or Playstation Network, is and always will be free to play on, with DLC the only thing to pay for. Some may argue that the price for Xbox Live (Xbox's online play) gives it better speed and stuff, but from what I've noticed, it isn't true. Most of what speed is dependent upon is the internet connection speed, which has nothing to do with the console. Again, PS3 is a clear victor.

PS3 is a clear winner in all the categories I mentioned, and it stands true in other categories too. Blu-Ray is way ahead of its time and is just being tapped into for its potential, whereas DVDs are becoming obsolete. Failure rates are over 5x as much in Xboxes than in PS3s, which makes a HUGE difference in which to choose. And finally, online play on the PS3 is completely cost-free. I hope this will make a difference to someone, but as I will never know, I just hope that my point was proven.

Joan of Arc real Life Heroes Journey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_of_Arc#Life
http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/joanarc.html http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08409c.htm
http://archive.joan-of-arc.org/

Joan was born in a village raided by Burgundians. Raids were frequent, and one time even the village got burned down. When she was twelve, she recieved her call. She saw visions of supernatural figures who told her to drive out the English and bring the Dauphin for his coronation. She was inactive for about 4 years, when, at the age of 16, she convinced the captain of the dauphin's army to let her lead. They gave her a few tests, and she passed them all. She became so feared, that when Lord Talbot's army faced her, most fled the battle, including the commander. However, it was not to last. She was captured and sold to the English, where she was tried for witchcraft because she wore mens clothes. Because she refuse to take them off (for various reasons), she was burned at the stake.

Hi (again)

Whoa I haven't posted in 2 days!!!!1!!!one!!

Hi

and if anyone is reading this blog NOT for the school assignments, well... you're gonna be bored

Triforce

  ▲
▲ ▲

Dubble Bubble and such things

In some ways, Luke Skywalker from Star Wars and Doug from the short story Blue Diamond are alike. Their differences lie in the dramatic, or scale of their actions, motivations, or choices. They are both "called to adventure", for one thing. Luke receives the call in the form of Ben Kenobi asking him to become a Jedi, and Doug is called in the form of his friend asking him to go with him on a joyride. Although the form of the call was different for them both, Luke's being all dramatic and Doug's being just... normal, the fact remains that they were both called. They also shared Hero Partners. Luke had Han Solo to help him and ultimately save his life, and Doug had his friend Quinn, who ended up being the one who was saved. In all their similarities, however, they have many differences, Motivation being one of them. Luke got his motivation from his Aunt and Uncle dying, whereas Doug just simply tagged along for the fun of it. Although these two heroes are much alike, their differences set them apart, one being a guy we can all look up to, the other a guy we can all relate to.

Hi

Hi this is me its Daniel Whats up with you