Xenia Essay

The Iliad is a story of anger and war, honor and death, glory and fate, but most importantly, The Iliad is a story of Friendship. Believed to have first been composed by a poet called Homer sometime around 800 BCE, the actual narrative of the epic poem takes place 400 years earlier during the Greek Bronze Age. Over the course of The Iliad, many values of people in Homeric culture were reveled, including honor, glory, pride, and heroism. However, at some point in The Iliad, all of these are put…

What connections cans you find between the experiences of Niobe and Priam? What concerns does Achilleus have about Priam; seeing the body? What does he fear he might do? Who;s forgiveness does he ask? Note the adherence to the rites of hospitality (xenia) shown here. What are some of the ways the Trojans react to the return of Hektor’s body; what does it say about him? What future does Andromache foresee for herself and her son? What do Andromache and Helen have to say about him? Why does the…

GMO Title As we sit down to eat our lunch, we pause and consider the contents of our meal. In 1990, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act passed to include the nutritional value of our food. Yet, when examining the label there is no information on whether the ingredients have been genetically engineered. GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) have been integrated in our foods for over 20 years (McLure). Since the sale of genetically modified tomatoes which were approved by the FDA in 1994, the…

As a black African American woman, I have seen and heard about the pain and humiliation in our history. The legacy that is presented to us is slashed and torn into bits, but even with the dark lines of our ancestor’s anger and pain, we see their work through the numerous achievements. Mary Church Terrell was a powerful woman that helped to pave the way for blacks to speak out against racial prejudices. Terrell depicts characteristics of resistance in her life through protests and life tragedies.…

Introduction: Growing up is not easy and sometimes young-adults feel alienated from their peers. Many authors empathize with youngsters by writing books that help them face their pressures and embrace their differences. Young-adult author Judy Blume, tries to connect with her audiences real life struggles in the book Blubber however, some critics thought her use of profanity might set bad examples for her readers. • Childhood: Judy Sussman (Blume) was born on February 12th,1938 in Elizabeth, New…

The Odyssey is unique in that unlike most other narratives, which present only one possibility for a sequence of events, it provides alternative ways to interpret a scene or major plot point. These possibilities may be revealed subtly, through hints and careful word choice and details, or explicitly, with seemingly extraneous narratives that could fill almost an entire chapter. Such capaciousness in the narrative allows Homer to expand upon the basic themes present in the poem and provide a…

The Telemachy serves as a prelude to, or a microcosm of Homer 's epic poem, 'The Odyssey '. The entire narrative sequence of these first four books foreshadows the inevitable fate of Odysseus despite his adventures actually taking place twenty years before Telemachos ' cathartic experience with the suitors. The epic narrative serves as a bridge between the stories of Telemachos and Odysseus; Telemachos must partake on a quest to gain wisdom and will face many struggles on his way. Almost in a…

Compare how Homer and Zemeckis highlight the ways in which key characters survive through the challenges of their life. Entertaining survival genre texts like playwright Homer’s Greek mock-epic mythological poem, the Odyssey and director Robert Zemeckis’s American epic film, Cast Away portray the support mechanisms that even Herculean individuals rely on in every society. Noting that Homer starts the Odyssey in media res after his previous poem, the Iliad while Zemeckis starts from the…