The Cattle
of The Sun God
By Billy
McGee
Wilkinson, Aj Uhl, and Eoghan
Setting
Agea sea cave, a grotto
On the island of Thrinacia
Owned by Helios and his cattle
Later onto the Mediterranean sea
Then arrives at Calypso's island
Characters
Motivation
•
•
Odysseus is motivated to return
home to see his son and his wife,
Penelope.
Helios' motivation is to punish
Odysseus and his crew for
feasting on his sweet cattle.
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•
•
•
Storyline
Odysseus arrives at Thrinacia, the island of the sun
god
Eurylochus persuades him to rest on the island
a storm arrives and holds them there for a month
the crew survives on the food and supplies in the
ship
•
•
•
•
•
•
without listening to Odysseus the crew
members slay the Sun god's cattle while
Odysseus is sleeping
when the Sun God finds out he is furious!
he asks Zeus to punish them
once they set sail Zeus creates another storm
which kills the entire crew except Odysseus
the storm brings Odysseus back to Charybdis
which he escapes again
while sailing on the broken timbers of his ship
he eventually reaches Calypso's island
Literary Elements
Symbolism• Cattle- show temptation
• Eurylochus- is the source of mob mentality and how the
shipmates choose not to listen to Odysseus when nobody
else does
Resolution- Zeus destroys their boats and Odysseus is
washed up at Calypso's island
Major Conflicts
Odysseus vs. Crew- His crew thinks that they
should eat the cattle, but Odysseus disagrees.
Odysseus vs Helios- Helios is mad with Odysseus
and his crew for eating his cows.
Zeus vs. Shipmates- Zeus kills all of the crew and
the boat.
Odysseus vs. Environment- Odysseus sails along
the remains of the ship to arrive at Calypso's
island.
Lesson Learned
• Odysseus and his men
•
•
hopefully learned about the
true power of the gods.
Odysseus realized that with
poor actions comes
punishment.
Helios learned that Zeus can
help him
Helios
Zeus
Odysseus
|
V
Billy Wilkinson
Significant Passages
"The cattle here are not for our provision, or we pay dearly for it"
-Odysseus line numbers 839-840
"To this my fighters nodded. Yes..."
-Odysseus line number 843
"Now on the shore Eurylochus made his insidious plea:
'Comrades' he said, you've gone through everything; listen to
what I say. All deaths are hateful to us, mortals wretches, but
famine is the most pitiful, the worst end that a man can come
to"
-Eurylochus line numbers 863-867
"And the lord Helios burst into angry speech amid the
immortals: O' Father Zeus and gods in bliss forever,
punish Odysseus' men!"
-Helios line numbers 905-908
"When Zeus Cronion piled a thunderhead above the ship,
while gloom spread on the ocean. We held our course,
but briefly. Then the squall struck whining from the west,
with gale force, breaking both forestays,..."
-Odysseus line numbers 938-943
"A backstay floated dangling from it, stout rawhide rope,
and I used this for lashing mast and keel together. These
I straddled, riding the frightful storm
-Odysseus line numbers 959-962
Discussion Questions
• Do you think Zeus's punishment was fair?
• What do the sun god's cattle represent?
• What is Helios' position in the gods?
• Do you believe Zeus is the ruler of all the other
gods?
• Do you think Odysseus' curse will carry on to his
next crew?
• Will Odysseus' curse ever disappear?