Thursday, June 4, 2009

10A Homework

In the comments section of this post, I have posted the comprehension question answers for Oedipus the King p. 210-234 and the rest of the summary and answers for The Story-Teller. It is your responsibility to copy these into your notes.

In addition to this, you must do the comprehension questions for 'The Road Not Taken' and finish Oedipus the King.

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND!
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3 comments:

Miss Jones said...

9. When Jocasta warns Oedipus, how does he respond? Why does he think she doesn’t want him to find out the truth?
Oedipus ignores what she says and tells her that she must have courage, even if it means that his mother was a slave. He thinks that she doesn’t want him to find out the truth because she doesn’t want to know that she has married a commoner and not someone of royal descent. (222.1164-1169)
10. After Oedipus ignores Jocasta’s words, how does she react and what does the Chorus leader fear?
Jocasta becomes very upset and runs into the palace screaming that Oedipus is a man of agony, and once she goes inside, there is a long silence. The chorus leader fears that the silence is a bad sign that something horrible is going to happen or already has happened. (223.1176-1182)

11. According to Oedipus, who is his mother? According to Oedipus, why is it so important to find out the truth?
According to Oedipus, his real mother is the goddess Chance, who he says gives good things. He says he will never be disgraced or ashamed of his birth. It is important for him to find out the truth because he knows that it is his nature, his character, to constantly search to and discover the truth. Oedipus also seeks the truth because his pride blinds him from seeing that there could potentially be something disastrous waiting to be revealed. (224. 1183-1194)

12. Who does the Chorus think might be Oedipus’s parents?
The chorus thinks that Oedipus’ parents might be a nymph and one of the gods like Apollo, Hermes, or Dionysus. (224. 1205-1214)
13. When the shepherd comes and the messenger tries to help him recognize Oedipus as the baby they found, how does the shepherd react?
He gets very upset and he tells the messenger to be quiet and not talk about the baby anymore. (228.1260)

14. When the shepherd says that he doesn’t want to talk about it, what does Oedipus do to try and make him talk?
Oedipus decides to torture the shepherd in order to make him talk. He tells his guards to twist back his arms and threatens to whip him. He even threatens to kill him. (228.229.1261-1273)

15. After Oedipus has his men torture the shepherd, what does the shepherd finally tell him about the baby he found? Who gave him the baby? Why did the shepherd give the baby to the messenger?
The shepherd finally tells Oedipus that he gave the baby to the messenger, and that the baby he received was from the house of Laius, and that the child was actually the son of Laius (and therefore the son of Jocasta as well.) Jocasta was the one who gave the baby to him, and she actually had given him the baby so that he would kill the baby because she feared the prophecy about the baby, which was that he would kill his parents. The shepherd gave the baby to the messenger because he felt pity for him and hoped that if he was taken away from Thebes, he would be able to escape his fate and live in a country far away. (229.1276-232.1303)

16. After Oedipus hears the full truth from the shepherd, what does he say about himself?
Once he hears the full truth, Oedipus says that he was cursed in his birth, cursed in marriage, and cursed in the lives of the people he murdered. (232.1309,1310)

17. What is the theme of the Choral ode on pages 233 and 234?
The theme of the ode is about Oedipus’s great downfall and how even though once he was a hero who rescued Thebes, he is too monstrous to even look at. The chorus mourns his downfall and view him as if he is dead, even though he isn’t actually dead. The darkest part of this ode is how the chorus views all happiness in life as simply a temporary illusion waiting to vanish before the pain and tragedy that comes. (233—234)

Thursday, June 04, 2009
Miss Jones said...

A Summary of The Story-Teller
This poem is about a man who exaggerates the truth whenever he tells a story—in his stories, impossible things happen: calendars move backward in time, maps speak, ships move against the wind, and many other impossible things happen. The poet says that when this man spoke, he caused confusion within the minds of those who listened to him—and this confusion made it hard for them to distinguish between reality and fiction—so whenever the story-teller spoke, reality was in danger of being blurred.



1. Some examples of overstatements are “As he talked, wallpaper came alive, ghosts walked, four doors became five, calendars moved back in time, maps spoke, ships moved against the wind, trains moved up trees and then slowly came down into a town.” The truth that the poet is expressing using overstatements is that this speaker exaggerates the truth whenever he tells a story. So the poet uses exaggeration/overstatement to comment upon the speaker’s exaggeration/overstatement. This poem is also used to comment upon the nature of an excellent story teller—a person who can make everything seem real, even though there’s no chance that it is real.

2. When something is compared to the dripping of bee’s honey, it is referring to the slow pace that it is moving. Waking a worm in the world’s brain means that confusion is being created—that reality is being blurred.

Thursday, June 04, 2009
Paco Han said...

we just tried 'separate ways' and she said it's really nice. we also tried my favorite, 'rain'. Thanks for uploading all the songs i asked for. take good care!

Friday, June 05, 2009

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