Reading Notes: Homer's Odyssey Part B

Homer's Odyssey, translated into English by Tony Kline. (2004).   

    At this part, several things have attracted my attention. It is very interesting when Odysseus meat The Ghost of Teiresias. The seer talked about the future and the homecoming journey with Odysseus. His predictions are detailed and complicated. This information is definitely very useful for Odysseus since they could make sure that this brave man gets prepared for the following challenges. After I read this part of the storybook, I found there are a lot of prophets in many different kinds of mythology. The prophet looks like an important factor to the ancient authors when they tried to create their works. In my opinion, the power to predict the future comes from reality. In myths, ancients writers magnified the ability of people in reality in order to create a fantastic world. 

    I always like to think about why mythologies or folk myths are so impressive? Why they could exist for hundreds, even thousands of years? For me, I discovered my first answer after I read Homer's Odyssey (I think there are many different answers for those questions, I would keep finding them during this semester). There are many unrealistic or fantastic characteristics in myths such as monsters, seers and ghosts. These things give the story a mysterious phenomenon. When people feel weary about the realistic world, or they just want to have a rest, read these amazing story would always be a good choice.

    Besides, let us see the excellent description of Odysseus' adventure in Part B. When I read this part of the story, I indulged in the plot. Sailors meat the Scylla, brave Odysseus spoke to all his men in calm words, encouraged them to face the challenge. Then, the author mentioned how powerful the Scylla is: she swallowed the sea, and she attacked each ship when they sailed to the narrow channel. These wonderful depictions are in sharp contrast to the description of the characters. 

The Scylla. Web Source: Study.