LITERATURE CIRCLES

Discussion Director
Name: Paul Dee________________________
Text: The Odyssey_____________________
Date: August 16 ______________________
Books: IX-XII ______________________

Discussion Director: Reading Homer's epics alone can pose a challenge as one tries to
untangle all the details and allusions of the lines. Even in a group setting, one needs a guide to
facilitate the discussion. Your task is to develop a list of questions for your group to discuss about the
assigned text. Asking each member for his input based on his current role. Your task is to help
people talk about the "big ideas" in the reading and share their reactions. Usually, the best discussion
questions come from your own thoughts, feelings and concerns as you read, which you can list
below, during or after your reading. Think of THICK questions (as opposed to THIN ones) because
they generate deeper thought and discussion and do not have quick answers that can be found in
the text. Some words that can be used to start a “puzzler” or “open” questions are: “Why…?
How…? Have you wondered…? In what ways…? Can you think of an example of…? What if…?
Could/should/would…? If this story happened…? Does s/he mean that…?”

Possible Discussion Questions:

1. Why do you think that Odysseus wanted to talk with the dead heroes?
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2. Why do you think that Odysseus says bad things about the gods in some parts of
the text, while he says good things about them on the other parts?
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3. What do you think is the reason why Odysseus did not kill Eurylochos when he first
talked back to Odysseus?
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4. Why do you think that Odysseus kept taunting the Cyclops when they were
escaping?
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 LITERATURE CIRCLES
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5. Why do you think Hermes helped Odysseus in defeating Circe?
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