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Odyssey Response

Homer should be considered to be an early feminist because he has so many strong female characters. Circe is able to seduce Odysseus to sleep with her. She makes him promises that she keeps, but Circe tempts Odysseus in ways that a sexist writer wouldn’t create if he truly was a sexist. Another example is Queen Arete. Throughout the time Odysseus spends with the Phaeacians, she seems to be very powerful. Arete is the first one to ask who Odysseus is, even though the king usually talks to the guests.

Also, if Homer was a sexist, then wouldn’t he have a god helping Odysseus rather than a goddess? Athena is a huge role in Odysseus’ life. She tells the other gods and goddesses to let him leave Calypso’s island, and she helps him get to the Phaeacian King successfully. In the end of the book, Athena even helps Odysseus kill all of Penelope’s suitors.

The Tell-Tale Heart

The Tell-Tale Heart is about a man (the narrator) who kills an old man. The old man happens to live with the narrator. The reason why the narrator kills the man was because the old man had a pale blue eye with a film over it. The narrator went crazy because of that eye. After he murders the old man, he hides the body and essentially ‘put to rest’. Later, three police officers came by because neighbors reported screaming earlier in the day. The narrator talks to the police men, right by where he hid the body. Eventually, the narrator hears a beating heart which becomes louder and louder. The narrator confesses his crime to the policemen.

The narrator reminded me of when Achilles removes himself from battle in The Iliad. The narrator reminded me of Achilles because the narrator is so obsessed with getting rid of the staring eye, he doesn’t think of the consequences such as murder. I think it was interesting how only the narrator hears the heart, so he confesses his crime to the policemen to relieve his guilt.

Overall, I think this is a good short story and I recommend it to anyone who likes Edgar Allen Poe.

Giordano, Robert. “The Tell-Tale Heart.” Poestories.com. September 30,2008

Putin defiant on Caucasus troops

Vladimir Putin refuses to consult western European countries, and Georgia, about how many troops should be put into the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Apart of the agreement between Russia and Georgia, Russian troops would return to pre-conflict positions. This reminded me of The Iliad when Achilles asked the seer why Apollo sent a plague. Achilles didn’t consider the actions of telling Agamemnon that he had to give up his war prize. Putin is doing the exact same thing, by not considering what the other countries think.

"Putin defiant on Caucasus troops." BBC News9.21.(2008) 21 Sept. 2008

Hello

Hi, I'm Kirsten. This is my Enriched English 10 blog. I'm very excited to be start blogging for outside reading.