Odyssey (Day Four: Books 16-20; Day Five: Books 21-24)

Consider at least two of the following topics from each day for your blog discussions (or bring up your own topics with analyses). Use specific quotes from the text to support your statements. Remember - I would like to see your own thoughts and analysis of the text, NOT general statements about plot or incoherent sentences that say nothing.

For Day Four (Books 16-20):

1. Meeting of father and son, hiding identity from Eumaeus

2. The character of Melanthius

3. Odysseus's test of the suitors

4. The character of Irus

5. The text's treatment of Penelope

For Day Five (Books 21-24):

1. The symbolism of Odysseus's bow

2. The violence against the suitors and guilty women - can this violence be justified when Odysseus's entire journey is one away from the violence of his past? Can further murders negate his murderous past?

3. The symbolism of the bed

4. The resolution of the final book

5. Final thoughts about the epic poem (possible topics of discussion: appearance vs. reality, intelligence, hospitality, gender, violence vs. peace, loyalty vs. infidelity, etc.)