Wednesday, October 31, 2012

22 May 1789,
      It is official now, the Revolution against our King has commenced. Even Father has taken arms with our friends and has gone off to fight against King Louis XIV. Mother and I wish Father comes home in one piece, for life without him would be very hard. I am not sure whether or not I should help the Revolutionaries. I feel an obligation of some sort due to the fact Father is participating. If I help, hopefully this war will end sooner. However, if I help, the patrols in the town would surely find out and have me executed. This truly is a time of hardships and difficult decisions. Next week I will be the age needed to fight in the war, which seems like the best option. Life in a country split in two would be very hard, so if I go and help Father, our friends, and the rest of the Revolutionaries, maybe life could go back to what is was like before Louis XIV had declared war. 
      Fighting seems like he best option for me. Currently, Mother and I have just enough food to care for both of us, yet I can see the prices going up more. If I were to fight, I would get a good pay for it as well as a decent amount of food. As good as all this seems, my life would be put on the line everyday. I am not even sure if we can win against a King, let alone against the nobles. Such talk like that would be considered treason. In fact, yesterday I saw someone killed on the street because of saying something similar. I have to go and eat dinner, but before I go, I must write down the major question which is:

Will I join the revolutionaries in hopes of defeating King Louis XIV?

      If anyone is to read this while I am away, ask yourself the same question and debate whether or not you will fight for your country. I think I have my answer, but I will still ponder it for a couple days since signups end in 3 days. Maybe, just maybe, when I go to fight, I will able to see Father, and he will be very proud of me, for fighting for my country.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Revised Hero Comparison of Odysseus

      Most modern heroes have very similar qualities or characteristics to each other; They are smart, strong, handsome, and rich among other things. Overall, they posses their society's perfect traits. The ideal traits of the Greeks can be seen easily in the character Odysseus. Odysseus is smart, and always debates with himself of what decision is best for the situation. He is strong because he has long endured pain, sorrow, and sadness. He is also very rich, because he sacked the city of Troy, even before he wen to war, he already held a lot of money. Lastly, he is handsome because even the Goddess Calypso wishes to marry him. Odysseus however has flaws too. Since Odysseus is very smart and strong, he becomes cocky. When he becomes cocky, he causes his own demise. All of these traits can also be seen in many recent heroes, like the Avengers.
      In The Avengers, the main heroes are the Hulk, Ironman, Captain America, and Thor. All four of these heroes have some, if not all, of the traits listed above. The Hulk is strong, smart, when he is not angry, and handsome. The Hulk however, is not rich. In fact, he runs away for most of his life, going to poorer countries, like India and South America. Ironman has all four traits listed, and as well as Thor. Captain America is smart, strong, and handsome. However, like the Hulk, he is not rich. These traits relate to society because most people wish to have these traits and so this is reflected into the heroes. Though these traits have stayed the same over many years, heroes are beginning to change. Now, heroes have superpowers or use technology to fight crime. The Greeks did not believe in fighting crimes but instead focused on adventures and how the Gods played important roles. Recent heroes fight crime with technology(Batman) or with superpowers and the reader cheers them on. In the Greek society, the reader, or in this case the listener, would cheer on the hero as the hero faces many trials and enemies.
      As one can see, overtime, the main traits of heroes and movies have changed. In this case, the traits might have changed due to the fact that in The Avengers, there are multiple heroes. In The Batman series, Bruce Wayne has all of these traits but that is because he is the only hero whereas in The Avengers, there are four heroes. The paths that heroes undergo have changed as well. In ancient history, heroes went through many strange adventures. Modern heroes go through adventures, but not the same way. Modern heroes usually have to fight the villain that has escaped from jail, like Batman fighting the Joker. The adventure is the hero fighting evil, losing at first, learning something new about themselves after they lost the battle, and then having a major battle which decides the fate of the hero and the villain.
      It is evident that the journeys heroes now and in the past take are quite similar. Th only difference is that the evil, the final battle, and the mind changing experience for the hero, are now much larger, and therefore much easier to identify them. Odysseues is fighting evil all the time, surving from the God's wrath and constantly at war to not give up and to keep fighting to see his family. In conclusion the traits and events that occur in the hero and their journey have become more emphasized.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

      Odysseus is portrayed by Homer to be a hero who is supposed to show the ideal characteristics of Homer's society. Odysseus shows that he is smart, sneaky, strong, and more through out his journey. However, he also shows his flaws when he barely escapes the cyclops. When they are sailing, Odysseus calls out to the cyclops and tells him Odysseus's true name, "Cyclops, if any mortal man ever asks you who it was that inflicted upon your eye this shameful blinding, tell him that you were blinded by Odysseus, sacker of cities(Homer 150). Here, Odysseus brought his own demise. When he told his true name to the cyclops, he became the only sailor/fighter left alive from his crew. With this, he also stalled his journey home by another eight to ten years.
      However, his other traits were able to keep him alive and help him get home. Through his strength, he was able to survive the attack done be Poseidon on his make-shift boat. He is smart because he always debates on which option is the best for that specific situation. he is sneaky because he was able to trick the cyclops and with that he was able to survive. I believe Odysseus is not an ideal hero because he gets many of his comrades killed on his trip from Troy. However, he can be seen as an ideal hero from the Greek perspective because of his traits, his hamartia, and him doing well in sports.