The Cyclops, The Lotus Eaters and Circe the Witch

            The situation that Odysseus and his men are in, in The Cyclops reminds me of how to end the Trojan War the Spartans built a wooden horse and hid inside it and waited until the horse had been taken inside the city of Troy. There the soldiers waited again until night when they snuck out and destroyed the city of Troy. This reminds me of the patience Odysseus and his men had. Instead of immediately attacking the Cyclops Polyphemus, they waited until he opened the entrance to the cave. Then they disguised as sheep and ran away. Odysseus told Polyphemus that his name was Nobody so that he would shout, “Nobody is attacking me!” and the other Cyclops would think anything of it.

            As I read The Lotus Eaters I wondered what the lotus is supposed to represent and I think it is similar to illegal drugs or alcohol.  It also reminded me of an episode of Star Trek where some of the ship members are sent to a planet to investigate it. The planet and the things on its surface appear to be real but are really holographs. The holographic people try to make visitors stay and forget their original mission.

            In The Witch Circe both Odysseus’s men and Circe violate the laws of hospitality. Odysseus’s men do so by barging into Circe’s house and eating her food. Circe does so by harming them and turning them into pigs. I think she chose to turn them into pigs because they were rude. In the movie clip of this passage that we watched in class Circe tells Odysseus that he would make a good lion. Presumably, this is because he is considered strong and brave. It made me wonder what the other people there were like before they were turned into animals. This passage reminds me of the anime Fullmetal Alchemist. An antagonist in the story turns people and animals into animal-looking chimera using alchemy. The main character however knows what the antagonist is doing but nobody believes him. The main character reminds me of Eurylochus.