The Odyssey: Book 9, Lines 288-630

C) One thing I was confused about was the actions of the Cyclops. Why did the Cyclops only eat two of Odysseus’ men at a time? This Cyclops was a pretty large figure so I was just wondering if he was evenly spreading out his meals. Also, it says that Odysseus and his men prayed to the Gods when it says: “We flung our arms to Zeus, we wept and cried aloud, looking on at his grisly work-paralyzed, appalled. But once the cyclops had stuffed his enormous gut with human flesh, washing it down with raw milk, he slept in his cave, stretching out along his flocks.” (Book 9 Lines 331-335) I was just thinking that why would the Cyclops take the chance of allowing Zeus to hear the prayers of Odysseus’ men?

D) There was a part in the story where the Cyclops is responding to Odysseus when Odysseus says where he came from and why he is in the cave of the Cyclops. Odysseus had previously mentioned that Zeus was a protector of them and that they had the Gods on their side so the Cyclops should be friendly to them. To Odysseus’ surprise, the Cyclops has a different opinion of the Gods: “‘Stranger’ he grumbled back from his brutal heart, ‘you must be a fool, stranger, or come from nowhere, telling me to fear the Gods or avoid their wrath! We Cyclops never blink at Zeus and Zeus’ shield of storm and thunder, or any other blessed God, we’ve got more force by far.” (Book 9 Lines 306-311) Here, Odysseus tries to use the Gods as protection and it works in the opposite way.

F) One thing I noticed was the relationship between Odysseus and his men. Although they all listen to him and his commands, they should be upset with him. After all, it is his fault that 6 people died. Odysseus wanted to meet the Cyclops but the men wanted to leave the island before he ever knew they were there. Odysseus refused, and it ended up resulting like this: “Lurching up, he lunged out with his hands toward my men snatching two at once, rapping them on the ground he knocked them dead like pups, their brains gushed out all over, soaked the floor and ripping them limb from limb to fix his meal.” (Book 9 Lines 324-328)

E: I found the Cyclops, Polyphemus, a very interesting character. He was a lawless brute/ruthless brute, meaning he had no morals or guidelines in his life. Obviously being a giant, he is dead set and lives in his cave. He is a loner and separates himself from the rest of the Cyclopes. He has no problem with picking up Odysseus' men and throwing them to break their necks and crush their heads, after this he eats the men, he continues on his routine after eating two humans.
B: I find Odysseus' use of the name "nobody" very clever and interesting. He says to the Cyclops, "Nobody-that's my name. Nobody-so my mother and father call me." Later on when the giant tries to tell his friends who stabbed him he says, "'Nobody', friends-Polyphemus bellowed back from his cave-'nobody's killing me now by fraud and not by force!'" This gets Odysseus off the hook because the other giants think that he is crazy and don not take the statement seriously.
C: My question was why did Odysseus need to go out of the cave on the sheep, why couldn't he and his men simply walk out since the they had blinded the giant?

D. “With that he toppled over, sprawled full-length, flat on his back and lay there, his massive neck slumping to one side, and sleep that conquers all overwhelmed him now as wine came spurting, flooding up from his gullet with chunks of human flesh-he vomited, blind drunk” (page 223 lines 314-319) I liked this quote because I thought it was very funny. I can’t even imagine a drunk Cyclops that fell straight to the floor with wine and human body chunks coming out of his mouth. If I was watching this in real life, I would probably be laughing more than I would be afraid.
E. Now I know the significant of the wine that Odysseus brought into the cave. It helped them escape! The wine was the biggest part of Odysseus’s plan. He got the Cyclops drunk from the wine and executed the rest of the plan perfectly. “Here Cyclops, try this wine-to top it off the banquet of human flesh that you’ve bolted down” (page 222 lines 388-389).
I. I agree with Kyle’s statement when he asks, why would the Cyclops take the chance of allowing Zeus to hear the prayers of Odysseus’s men? I don’t understand either. Maybe it has something to do with being Poseidon’s, but I’m not exactly one hundred percent sure. If Zeus would have heard the cries and prayers of Odysseus’s men, there would be a good chance that the Cyclops would have a lot of problems coming his way, just like the problems that Odysseus had when he was sailing away from the island of Calypso.

C) I was really confused about why did the Cyclops eat the men was it that he was just really hungry or was he trying to prove a point or is that just the Cyclops nature in doing that. I also wanted to know why did he guard the sheep os much why didn’t he just eat them too and not eat the men.

H) The scene that I am going to talk about is when the Cyclops takes one of Odysseus men and just east them like nothing. If I was the director or if I was in the play I would imagine a very bloody scene and I just picture a big tall giant that just rips into the human like someone would eat a steak. You can hear the bone crushing from when the Cyclops chops on the mans lifeless body.


F) One thing I want to point out is that the relationship between the Cyclops and the sheep. How is it that a docile and small little animal is being defended by a big, strong, tall Cyclops that is killing men. Why if he does all that to the men why cant he just do that too the sheep if that is his nature or is just e man eating machine.

B) In this reading, we finally find out why Poseidon hates Odysseus. This book is important because it fills us in on what has happened up to this point. Without this book, we would have no clue what happened before the Odyssey. This book is the uprising of the Odyssey because we finally hear about Odysseus' experience at Troy and his relationship with Poseidon.

C) What really seems to perplex me is when Odysseus and his men pray to Zeus. It says, "We flung our arms to Zeus, we wept and cried aloud, looking on at his grisly work-paralyzed, appalled. But once the cyclops had stuffed his enormous gut with human flesh, washing it down with raw milk, he slept in his cave, stretching out along his flocks.” (Book 9 Lines 331-335) This is not the action that confuses me, it is when the Cyclops does not stop Odysseus and his men from praying to Zeus, the most powerful god. Why would the Cyclops take the chance of allowing Zeus to hear the men's prayers?

F) The one thing that I noticed was Odysseus' men's loyalty to him. They still stay loyal to Odysseus and follow his order despite the fact it is his fault they are with the cyclops. It is Odysseus' fault that six people have died. When Odysseus' men want to leave the island of the cyclops, the situation ends up like this: "Lurching up, he lunged out with his hands toward my men snatching two at once, rapping them on the ground he knocked them dead like pups, their brains gushed out all over, soaked the floor and ripping them limb from limb to fix his meal.” (Book 9 Lines 324-328)

C. FIrst of all I highly enjoyed this last half of Book (. I believe it is one of the best parts of the book. I like how action packed and detailed it is. My first and main question is why Polyphemus eats two men at a time. Based on the details that the books gave us Polyphemus is a very large Cyclops. I think that he did this so that he doesn't upset his stomach. It reminded me of eating cookies. You don't eat the full pack in a day you eat a size able portion everyday. I just thought this was sort of a human characteristic or action that Polyphemus did.

D. THe best line in this story along with one of my favorite parts of this entire book is when Polyphemus asks Odysseus his name. He cleverly replies that his name is nobody. So when Polyphemus called to the other Cyclops he had call out for help and say that nobody is attacking him instead of Odysseus. THis was obviously funny because nobody came to help Polyphemus. This line is in my opinion one of the most clever in the entire book. It shows Odysseus' wit. THe line that Polyphemus said was priceless also. I didn't think he would actually say it but he did.

E. I liked the Cyclops in this story because he is big and dumb. He reminds me of the typical high-school jock. WHo might be big and tuff but is not the sharpest tool in the shed.

Book 9, Lines 288-630

If I had the opportunity to be Odysseus, I would do many things differently. The first that I would do differently would be to not stay in the dark, creepy cave where a giant lives. I would have listened to my men, taken the items in the cave, and left. Odysseus decided to stay and risked his life and the life of crew members. The other thing that I wouldn’t have done was told the giant my name. By telling Polyphemus his name, Odysseus caused the giant to pray to his father Poseidon for revenge upon Odysseus, which essentially caused him to be trapped on the island for 10 years.

One thing in the book that I was confused about was why did Polyphemus turn so hostile so quickly? Why did he eat the 2 men? He was being hospitable and kind to the men and Odysseus and then he “turns around” and eats them. Another thing that confused me was why Odysseus told Polyphemus what his name was. That was the reason that Poseidon was so mad at Odysseus for this long and why he was trapped on an island.

Regarding Kyle's question I believe that he only ate two of the men because he wanted to make an impression and show that he will eat them if they do not cooperate. Obviously his plan does not work because Odysseus is extremely smart and comes up with a plan to escape the Cyclops.