week 1 Discussion

Before attempting this discussion, make sure that you review the following sources.  All can be accessed by clicking on the "Course Materials" tab:     1.    Homer. (n.d.). The Odyssey abridged (I. Johnston, Trans.). Retrieved from http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/homer/abridgedodysseyweb.htm (Links to an external site.).     2.    Cracknell, C. (2014). Women in Greek theatre [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frfP386zxvA (Links to an external site.).     3.    White, C. [Director]. (n.d.). An introduction to Greek theatre [Video file]. https://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/file/1981/view (Links to an external site.).     4.    Johnston, I. (2004). Lecture on the Odyssey. Retrieved from

http://johnstoniatexts.x10host.com/lectures/odysseylecture.html (Links to an external site.)

 (Links to an external site.) DISCUSSION ASSIGNMENT: Whenever Odysseus arrives at a new land, he asks whether its inhabitants practice good hospitality toward strangers: “In this country I have reached, what are the people like? Are they violent and wild, without a sense of justice? Or are they kind to strangers? In their minds do they fear the gods?” (Book Six, lines 85-89; very similar lines are repeated throughout the poem. See Book Eight, lines 111-114; Book Nine, lines 126-129; and Book Thirteen, lines 63-66).   Odysseus’s meeting with the Cyclops in Book Nine is portrayed as an encounter with bad hospitality (See especially lines 215-231), whereas his meeting with Eumaeus when he returns home in disguise is portrayed as an example of good hospitality (Book Fourteen, lines 30-44).  Conversely, hospitality applies to being a good guest as well as a good host.  The suitors who want to marry Penelope are portrayed as bad guests (Book One, lines 154-158; compare the incident with the Cattle of the Sun in Book Twelve.)  Analyze the portrayals of hospitality in the Odyssey.  In your discussion, you might consider the following sorts of questions.  (Don’t try to answer them all in one post!  Discuss them over the course of the whole week.)  What are the fundamental qualities and practices that make someone a good or bad host/guest in the Odyssey?  What does his representation of hospitality tell us about how Homer understood the human condition?  Why might Homer have believed hospitality was so important?  Does his viewpoint still ring true today?  What might we learn from Homer’s concept of hospitality? Fully discuss any quotations you employ.  Remember, quotations do not speak for themselves.  If simply dropped into a discussion, it might appear that you are trying to take up space.  Allow your thoughts and ideas to mold and focus the passages you have selected. Respond to your instructor’s questions and to your classmates’ responses. Attend discussion on at least four separate days, and post a total of 800 words. There is no required word count for individual posts as long as all your posts together total 800 words. Nor is there a minimum number of posts, but you must post on at least four separate days by Day Seven. The goal of this discussion forum is to have a single conversation about the topic, not a series of 30 separate conversations. This means that every post should be in response to another post. In other words, not every student will directly answer the question in the original discussion prompt. Most students will address issues raised by other students. Only start a new thread if you want to address a whole different theme within the topic. And only post after first carefully reading what others have written. Do not repeat what your classmates have already said, and do not ignore them if they ask you questions. Try to keep the conversation moving forward.

The purpose of the conversation is to help each other reach a better understanding of the issues. To that end, you should respectfully critique your classmates’ reasoning. Identify and challenge their assumptions, question their reasoning, and push them to be the next level. Push yourself, too. You may not understand the material at the beginning of the week, and that is okay. But you should use the discussion to help you understand the material by the end of the week. Do not be afraid to ask questions in the discussion! Take charge of your learning.