Constanze's+Reading+Journal

Part 1 from the Odyssey) In this first part of the Odyssey I especially liked the discription of odysseus character. Homer describes him as an extremly clever man, so I am sure that things will turn out to be positive for him because of his intelligence. Although Odysseus is a smart man, I think that his men will cause him many more problems simaler to having to fight a cyclops. I hope that Odysseus will not have to be alone in the end but I do not think that his men will be a lot of help for him. My favorite part of part 1. was when Odysseus saved his men from the Lotus eaters by tieing them to the rowing benches. The part I disliked most was when Odysseus and his men where captured by the Cyclops. I disliked it most because in my opinion it was written to brutal. Overall I like the story of the Odyssey very much and I am hoping it has a happy end for Odysseus.

Part 2 from the Odyssey)

= = When I read the first page of part 2) (page 858) I thought that Odysseus was very lucky that Circe warned him of all the problems of the future. But unfortunately his men ruin the luck they are in. My favorite part in this part is when Odysseus passes the sirens. I especially liked it because he solved the problem so simply. I very much disliked it when odysseus had to pass by Charybdis and Scylla because it was a bit confusing and once again Odysseus lost some of his men. After reading part1) and part 2) I liked part 2) more because the was a lot of adventure and action which was really exiting to read!

HI, Constanze. You are doing a very good job here. Some of the things that I like are that you make predictions when you read. You are very thoughtful and you bring your own ideas to the story. You analyze the degree of difficulty of Odysseus's solutions, when, for example, you evaluate his solution to the problem of the Sirens. I agree, too, that it is sad that Odysseus keeps losing his men!