The Odyssey

Double-Entry Journal

For this assignment, you will be summarizing and responding to your reading in the following
boxes. For each daily assignment, you will write a detailed and thorough summary (4-7
sentences) of the events from that book in the left column. Consider the following guiding
questions for each book: Who did you meet? What challenges did the characters face? What
did you learn about the characters and/or gods? What did you learn about Greek culture?
On the right, you will respond to the book (explaining any emotional reactions, opinions,
comments, questions, etc, regarding the material from that section). Your responses should
resemble a journal or diary entry in tone in that you are expressing your opinionated reaction to
the text.

Summary of Reading (Books I, II) Personal Response

I find it interesting that Penelope tries to draw

n book 1 the gods discuss how Odysseus has out getting married to someone else because
been troubled and prevented from his this shows that she really cares about her
homecoming by Poseidon. After we learn husband and wants him to come home even
some more of the set up such as who are though she promised marriage to one of the
allies and enemies and that Odysseus is on suitors. I also think that the gods will help the
an island right now Athena decides to go and son to find Odysseus but they will not do it for
tell Odyssseuse’s son that he is trapped and him.
that he should remove the suitors from his
house and rescue his father. In the second
book Telechemos(the son of Odysseus) tells
the suitors to leave him and his mother alone.
The suitors disagree because Penelope(the
wife) has promised to marry one of them and
to feed and house them until that happens.
Penelope tries to draw out her marriage in
hope that her husband will come back.
Athena organizes an expedition to find
Odysseus’s father.

Summary of Reading (Book V) Personal Response

Book 5 starts on mount Olympus where I feel like Odysseus’s strengths and
Athena advocates for Odysseus. She asks weaknesses were accurately displayed
her father relentlessly for help and safe throughout this chapter. He is smart enough
passage for Odysseus. After their discussion, to build a boat but he still can’t avoid
Zeus sent Hermes the messenger of the gods Posieden.
to Calypso. Hermes tells Calypso that Zeus
orders her to let Odysseus go. When
Odysseus is freed he builds a raft that he can
sail away on. This is a display of his ingenuity.
Poseidon continues his wrath and destroy’s
Odysseus’s boat in a terrible storm.
Odysseus finds himself mostly naked along a
shore of a new island.
 Summary of Reading (Books IX & X)
Odysseus starts book nine after he has been
discovered by the Facians. He has to tell his
story to the king so he tells of when he and
his crew went to the Island of Lotus silk
where they got lazy wanted to go back home.
They then go inside a cave where the cyclops
Polyphemus traps them with a boulder and
eats a few of Odysseus’s men and some win
that they gave him. When the cyclops asked
the name of Odysseus he responded
“nobody” Later Odysseus blinded the cyclops
and when the other cyclopses came to help
they were dismissed because “nobody” is
attacking me. When Odysseus and his men
then escape the cave and are about to
escape the island Odysseus tells
Polyphemus his true name. Polyphemus then
prays to Poseidon that Odysseus does not
make it home. That ends chapter 9. In
chapter 10 Odysseus sails to the god of the
winds who can help them get back home to
Ithica. They set off to sail nearly a month later
and get close enough to Ithica to see it. One
of Odysseus’s crew members opens the bag
of wind that then blows them of course to an
Island of cannibals who fight and eat some of
the crew. They then land on another island
where Circe a lesser god feeds some of his
crew things that turn them into pigs.
Odysseus needs to find a plant to cure them
which he does. At the end of the chapter,
Circe tells Odysseus that he needs to go to
the land of the dead
Summary of Reading (Books XI & XII)
Book 11 starts as Odysseus ventures into the
land of the dead where he summons ghosts
of his friends, family, and Tiresias who tell
Odysseus and his crew never to eat the cow
of Helios. He also tells Odysseus that it will
be possible for him to make it back home but
he will need to make a sacrifice to Poseidon.
This is when Odysseus stops story-telling and
asks the king for a ship. The king makes him
tell more. In book 12 Odysseus goes back to
Circe's island where she tells him about the
sirens that he will encounter. When he does
encounter them he makes all his men put
Personal Response
Odysseus tells wild stories in these two
chapters that I can only assume are the first
of many. He tells them in a very extravagant
way that makes it seem like he was boasting.
This brings to mind the question of if he is
telling the truth and he was a great war hero
who creatively escaped death on many
occasions or someone trying to soak up
credit by making false claims. Assuming that
he is telling the truth and he is a great leader
of men (Although he lets quite a few get
eaten) he will find a way to evade Posieden
and get back home through more fantastic
stories and fights.
Personal Response
Odysseus’s great story continues in these
chapters and like I wrote above it makes you
wonder if this all happened or Odysseus is
making most of it up so that he can impress
the king who now knows his identity the story
that really stood out to me was how he got to
the underworld which is an incredibly
outlandish story. One of the traits of
Odysseus and his men is shown in these
chapters. That trait is susceptibility to
temptation. Odysseus couldn’t resist the
temptation of hearing the sirens sing and his
men couldn’t resist the cow of Helios.
wax in their ears so they can’t hear the
sirens. He tells them that he wants to hear
the sirens so to keep him tied to the mast of
the ship while he didn’t wear earplugs. Soon
after they sail past the Sirens they encounter
two beasts Sylicca and giant garbage
disposal named Charybdis. When they finally
get to the land they arrive on the sun god
Helios’s island where Odysseus's men kill the
cow that They were told not to in the
underworld. When they get back on their boat
Zeus destroys it and Odysseus drifts to
Calypso’s island where has been ever since.

Summary of Reading (Books XIII, XIV, & Personal Response

XIX)

Summary of Reading (Books XX, XXI, XXII) Personal Response

Summary of Reading (Books XXIII & XXIV) Personal Response