The Odyssey – Part One: The Wanderings
Test Review
• Know the Challenges
• Hospitality
• Leadership and Honesty
• Encounter with the Cicones
• Lotus Eaters – danger to crew
• Sirens - danger
• Calypso & Circe – Why did Odysseus stay so long?
• Helios – warning
• Polyphemus (Cyclops) – threats and curse
• Scylla & Charybdis – Odysseus’s leadership
The Odyssey – Part One: The Wanderings
Test Review
• Teiresias – role in the story
• Blindness in characters
• Elements of Epic Poems
• Elements of Myths
• Elements of Epic Heroes
• Description of gods, goddesses, and creatures
• Questioning
• Odysseus’s goals
• Character traits
• Vocabulary
Respond and Think Critically – page 1075
READING FOCUS
Quick Check
1. Whom does Homer ask to help him tell the story?
2. From what war is Odyssey trying to return?
What god causes Odysseus to lose course when he sets
sail for home?
3. What does Odyssey learn about his destiny from blind
Teiresias in the Land of the Dead?
Read with a Purpose
4. Based on what you have read so far, what makes
Odysseus and his journey so memorable?
Reading Skills: Reading an Epic
5. *Summary Chart
Respond and Think Critically – page 1075
LITERARY FOCUS
Literary Analysis
6. Interpret – What do you think the Land of the Lotus
eaters might symbolize? Cite lines form the episode to
support your interpretation.
7. Draw Conclusions – What conclusions about the
deceptive nature of beauty can you draw from the Circe
episode?
8. Literary Perspectives – What have you learned about
ancient Greek society from reading Part One of the
Odyssey?
Respond and Think Critically – page 1075
LITERARY FOCUS
Literary Skills: Epic Heroes and Conflict
9. Identify – What qualities does Odysseus embody? List
three qualities, and give one example from the text
that illustrates each.
10. Analyze – Which characters are FOILS, contrasting with
Odysseus? How does the use of foils heighten the
heroic character of Odysseus?
11. Evaluate – What sort of internal conflict does Odysseus
undergo while he is with Calypso? Does this make him
less heroic? EXPLAIN and DEFEND!!!
Respond and Think Critically – page 1075
LITERARY FOCUS
Literary Skills Review: Foreshadowing
12. Analyze – Foreshadowing is the use of clues to hint at
events that will occur later. Re-read the Cyclops’s
prayer to Poseidon.
• What other troubles for Odysseus are hinted at by these
lines?
• How does foreshadowing create suspense?
Respond and Think Critically – page 1075
READING FOCUS
Quick Check
1. Whom does Homer ask to help him tell the story?
He asks the Muse to help him
2. From what war is Odyssey trying to return?
What god causes Odysseus to lose course when he sets
sail for home?
Odysseus is returning from the Trojan War.
Poseidon causes him to lose course
3. What does Odyssey learn about his destiny from blind
Teiresias in the Land of the Dead?
He learns that Poseidon will cause the seas to
become rough, his men will be lost, he will be
gone for many years, he will appease Poseidon,
and he will die at sea when he is old
Respond and Think Critically – page 1075
READING FOCUS
Read with a Purpose
4. Based on what you have read so far, what makes
Odysseus and his journey so memorable?
It is memorable because a clever hero
outwits unique adversaries
Reading Skills: Reading an Epic
5. *Summary Chart
Respond and Think Critically – page 1075
Literary Analysis
6. Interpret – What do you think the Land of the Lotus eaters
might symbolize? Cite lines form the episode to support
your interpretation.
It might symbolize the danger of allowing ease and pleasure
to take away your identity
7. Draw Conclusions – What conclusions about the deceptive
nature of beauty can you draw from the Circe episode?
Physical beauty does not signify inner virtue; it is
unwise to be seduced by physical beauty
8. Literary Perspectives – What have you learned about
ancient Greek society from reading Part One of the
Odyssey?
The ancient Greeks honored strangers
and valued hospitality
Respond and Think Critically – page 1075
Literary Skills: Epic Heroes and Conflict
9. Identify – What qualities does Odysseus embody? List
three qualities, and give one example from the text
that illustrates each.
Odysseus is generous in giving to his crew, overly proud
when gloating to the Cyclops, and loyal to his crew
10. Analyze – Which characters are FOILS, contrasting with
Odysseus? How does the use of foils heighten the
heroic character of Odysseus?
Eurylochus is a foil.
He contrasts weakness to Odysseus’s strength
11. Evaluate – What sort of internal conflict does Odysseus
undergo while he is with Calypso? Does this make him
less heroic? EXPLAIN and DEFEND!!!
Odysseus longs for home. His emotion does not seem
heroic, but his willingness to give up immortality does.
Respond and Think Critically – page 1075
LITERARY FOCUS
Literary Skills Review: Foreshadowing
12. Analyze – Foreshadowing is the use of clues to hint at
events that will occur later. Re-read the Cyclops’s
prayer to Poseidon.
• What other troubles for Odysseus are hinted at by these
lines?
• How does foreshadowing create suspense?
It will be a long time before he returns home; he will lose
his companions and return under a strange sail.
Since the reader know what will happen, the anticipation
of waiting and wondering how things will happen creates
suspense in the story.