Reading Diary A: Homer's Odyssey

The Odyssey is about Odysseus's journey on his return home from the Trojan war. The first four readings are about the encounters of Odysseus and his men along with the troubles encountered and their escape. The main cyclops mentioned is Polyphemus. Odysseus and his men enter the cave of Polyphemus where they are captured by this cyclops that eats multiple men. The men create a scheme to escape the cave of the cyclops by gouging out his eye so that he will open the cave for them to escape. Polyphemus is a large vicious man that doesn't have any civilized traits about him. The next reading is the curse of Polyphemus. Polyphemus calls on Poseidon to curse Odysseus and his men to where they will have troubles and not return home safely. The next four readings are about Circe and Odysseus's encounters with her. Circe enchants half of Odysseus's men and turns them into pigs. On the way to rescue his captured me, Odysseus encounters Hermes who gives him a drug to make Odysseus resistant to Circe's enchantments. Circe is a conniving woman who lures men into her home to turn them into various animals. Odysseus takes the drug given to him. This leads Circe to believe Odysseus is unable to be persuaded. Unable to take over Odysseus, Circe sleeps with Odysseus and lets his men go and treats them well where they stay for a year. The last reading is about Circe telling Odysseus he must go to the House of Hades and speak to Persephone about his future.

Polyphemus the Cyclops