Blog post 14

Francesco Argentina

Ms. Harrison

ELA

1/29/17

Blog post 14

Prompt: Discuss the major conflict in Act 1

There is one major conflict that emerges from what we have read so far in Act 1, The Merchant of Venice. The problem is that Bassanio is in need of money which he will use with the intention of pleasing the beautiful Portia. There is only one way that the book has introduced of him getting it, and that is through Shylock the Jew in whom he has little respect for, and vice versa. Bassanio's loyal friend Antonio would have loaned him the money, but is unable to, as all of his money is invested into his ships which are out at sea. Antonio and Bassanio come to Shylock with the proposition that he lends Bassanio the money. Shylock is first very insulting as he mocks the fact that Bassanio, someone whom he doesn't respect, is now in need of his assistance. This is understandable, as the two christians have talked down upon the Jew many times and have insulted him previously, there is a clear lack of trust between both sides. Shylock then claims that he will loan the money as long as it will be repaid by Antonio. If Antonio fails to do so however, Shylock is permitted to take a pound of flesh from Antonio from any body part he pleases. Antonio being the loyal friend he is, is willing. To conclude Act 1 the conflict is that Bassanio is in desperate need of money and his only source is someone he does not respect, as well as his closest friend putting a great deal of risk on his behalf.   

   

Blog post 13

For our last week of reading the odyssey, we got to choose what to write about. I chose to write about the importance of epithets inside of the odyssey. Epithets are a type of formulaic language that help describe a character. The typical formation of these epithets are Adjective-Noun then a name, for example clear headed Telemachus. These epithets were a very important part of these greek stories, because the stories were all told orally and they wanted to sound like song. By including epithets, it adds an element of rhythm to the song/story. Another reason is that since the stories are told orally, the epithets give the individual characters titles to help the characters get stuck in the audience's head. In conclusion, the Greek story of Odysseus and other works from that era would not be complete without epithets because of how much they contributed to the story.

blog post 12

Foreshadowing of the suitors fate - The Odyssey

This week for the Odyssey we were supposed to read chapters 17 - 20. The prompt I chose to write about was that In Book 17, there is a lot of foreshadowing of what will happen to the suitors. Find three examples of this (quote them in your post), and explain what you think this means for the fate of the suitors.” It is still up to speculation as to what the fate of the suitors will be, but through reading some important quotes some of the characters strongly express their viewpoint on the suitors. Early on in the book, I read this quote from Telemachus “Peiraeus, we don't know how things will turn out. Should the suitors treacherously kill me at home and among them divide my family's wealth, I would rather you keep these gifts.” Page 258. Here he is speaking with Peiraeus and he shares that he might be a little frightened on the suitors behalf, of them viciously murdering him. After Odysseus travels to the palace disguised as a beggar, things get a little heated with one of the more aggressive suitors Antinous, and soon after Antinous attacks Odysseus, he says this to him, “May death come to Antinous before marriage does.” This quote reveals Odysseus’ anger in the heat of the moment and also suggests plans he may have for the future towards the suitors. Page 271. Towards the end of the book, as Penelope is challenging one of the suitors she yells “Go ahead and call the stranger for me! Didn’t you see my son sneeze at my words? That means death will surely come to the suitors, One and all.” This quote gives a direct accusation from Penelope that the suitors will indeed die, and that the sneeze from telemachus confirms it.     

Blog post 11

For this week I chose to write about the contrasting differences and similarities between the hospitality during Odysseus’ journey and in Telemachus’. During Telemachus’ subplot story he first travels to Pylos, with the assistance of Athena, to ask the king Nester about his missing father. Whilst he is visiting he witnesses a ritual where bulls are sacrificed to the God Poseidon. Later, Nestor unfortunately informs Telemachus that he has no information as to the location of Odysseus, and tells the story of how they split up during the battle for Troy. He talks about how the two brothers leading the expedition Menelaus, and Agamemnon one of them sailed back to Greece and the other stayed to continue fighting, Nester chose to go back, while Odysseus stayed, and that was the last he had heard from him. Nester then tells Telemachus to go to Sparta and sends his own son Pisistratus along with him.
In Sparta the king and queen quickly recognize Telemachus as the son of Odysseus due to similar resemblance, and make a feast for him. They tell stories of Odysseus during the feast but quickly send Telemachus back to Ithaca to defend his mother against the suitors. During Odysseus’ journey he is treated with incredible hospitality by the phaeacian King Alcinous, and his daughter Nausicaa. He is first found by Nausicaa in the forest with no clothes incredibly dirty, she then generously tells him to wash up in the lake and offers him some of her own clothes. Once he reaches the palace, the king Alcinous is so impressed he offers him a ship to sail back as well as his daughter's hand in marriage. After the assembly announcing that he will give the new visitor a ship, he throws a festival with a feast and games all in honor of Odysseus. In conclusion, both of Odysseus and Telemachus had a similar sort of journey, in that they were both treated very well and their arrivals were celebrated which I was personally shocked about. Especially in Odysseus’ case, I was surprised that the Phaeacians were not more suspicious of this strange man visiting them considering he did not even tell them his name. And yes Athena did help out alot with getting him in, but still.

Penelope- the Odyssey

          This week I have decided to write about the role Odysseus’ wife Penelope plays, in the the book the Odyssey. For the first 5 books she isn't introduced a whole lot, but is still extremely significant as she is some of the motivation behind Odysseus’ return. The premise of the first 5 books are about how Odysseus is being held captive by a goddess called Calypso, and Athena and some of the other gods are trying to help him return home, Poseidon, however is still enraged by Odysseus killing his favorite cyclops and thinks he should pay a price. Meanwhile, Penelope, is back home at Odysseus’ estate where the suitors are trying to persuade Penelope that Odysseus is dead and that she should remarry one of them. Penelope doesn't want to believe them and she still has some fate that her beloved husband is alive somewhere (which he is). One of the suitors, is always aggressively encouraging her to select a new husband and she claims that she will do so once she completes her weaving project for her father in law, however every night she is undoing her work she has done during the day, therefore making no progress. So far it has been a struggle for her with Odysseus missing, but that has pretty much been her contribution to the plot for the first 5 books.
Thank you for reading my blog this week, and what do you think the outcome of Penelope's situation will be as we continue reading?

Blog post and respond to disscusion leader

For my blog this week I chose to write about the period of the book in which Douglass starts learning how to write. This part really fascinated me and really illustrated how tricky Douglass really is. I am referring specifically to the part of the book in which Douglass starts challenging little white boys to writing competitions, and as he is always losing he is being taught every time because the boys are showing him the correct way to write and spell. In the book, he also says that he mainly targets the young boys who have not yet learned that slaves and Negroes are not really considered humans. This part of the book was absolutely remarkable to me, and it had me asking again and again how Douglass developed this cleverness and level of persuasion. I also truly believe that Douglass was indeed a special slave with a gift because I don't really see another slave that would do anything that he has done with the level of determination Frederick has shown throughout the book.

how is education related to human freedom?

Blog Post #8

In the context of Frederick Douglass and slavery, Freedom and education had a lot to do with each other during that time. The way they are related, is that once you start learning things, the more you start to become aware of certain situations, and discovering problems and contradictions in things which could lead to being more free. There are plenty of examples throughout the book, such as halfway when Frederick is learning how to read he starts to realize the bigger picture of slavery and that sort of sparks his energy for rebelling against some of his masters and trying to run away. I would definitely argue that the claim “education relates to freedom” is definitely one of the many themes included in this book. I think that without the education Douglass was granted during his life he would most likely be a slave his whole life and never do any of the amazing things he has done including the completion of his book.