12/19 Blog Post

Out of my two years at POHS, this semester of ELA has been my favorite so far. The most meaningful thing to me so far has been seminars. I enjoy seminars in all my classes, but more so this year in ELA. The Alchemist and The Odyssey were challenging books for me, so participation in seminars helps me get a  better idea of the book. The most challenging thing for me is doing response projects, just because of how long they take to complete. Doing creative writing responses in particular are the hardest for me, as I'm not really a creative person, and I usually get better grades on analytical or research papers. There is nothing I would really want to change about ELA, except for maybe having verbal reminders in class before having vocal quizzes. I would like the consistency of our seminars to stay the same, because I really enjoy having them so often. Overall this semester in ELA has been amazing, and I'm excited to see what next semester holds!

12/8/14

Analyze the purpose of all of the violence in books 22-24. Do you think that this is necessary for Odysseus' successful nostos? Why or why not?

I think that the violence was necessary when it came to the suitors because they took over his house and terrorized his family, to an extent. In order to have a whole homecoming, it was necessary to completely get rid of them, not only to claim back his property, but also to get revenge for what they did to his family. I think when it came to the maids, the violence was unnecessary to complete his nostos, because the maids were not in the way of him achieving his homecoming successfully.