The odyssey book 9 study guide. 1. How does odysseus identify himself when the king asks his identity? Also, what does he tell the king about himself?

The odysseybook 9

study guide

1. How does odysseus identify himself when the king asks his identity?

Also, what does he tell the king about himself?

i am laertes’ son

i am odysseus

formidable for guile in peace and war

famous

home is in ithaca

has been detained by calypso

longs for home

2. reread lines 24-26. what does odysseus value most highly?

“Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass his own home and his parents? in far lands he shall not, though he find a house of gold.”

home and family

3. what happened in the land of the lotus eaters? why didn’t they stay

there?

they live all day eating the honeyed flower lotus

but those who eat this plant never care to report or return

they become forgetful of their homeland

4. how does Odysseus describe the cyclopes people?

giants

louts

without a law to bless them

they don’t plow or sow, everything grows untended

no muster or meeting

5. in lines 80-86, what did osysseus see as they approached land?

a cavern

with many rams and goats

inside a sheepfold made from slabs of stone

6. How does odysseus describe the cyclops?

a prodigious man (meaning remarkably great in size)

a loner

savage and brutish

he seemed more like a shaggy mountain than a man

7. odysseus has been referred to as “the strategist”. How does he reveal

that trait in lines 96-115?

he plans for potential conflict

he takes a select group of his best fighters

he leaves guards with his ship

he takes maron’s irresistible drink to use as a possible weapon against the giant

8. what did odysseus’ men plead with him to do?

to take the cheeses

and the kids and the lambs aboard their ship

and to quickly escape by setting sail once again

9. how did he respond and why did he respond that way?

he knew that was sound advice

but he refused because he wanted to see the caveman and what he had to offer

10.how is the rock described that the cyclops used to close off the cave?

a slab of solid rock

so large that two dozen (24!!)four-wheeled wagons, with heaving wagon teams, could not have stirred it

11. reread lines 163 - 169. Agamemnon was the greek king who

led the war against the trojans. consider what odysseus says about

agamemnon. What point is he making about himself by claiming this

association?he is making sure that the cyclops knows he was integral to the greeks great victory at troy

he is suggesting that he is a warrior to be reckoned with

he may not be humble but what he says is true! the three greatest warriors for the greeks in the trojan war were achilles, ajax, and odysseus

12.what is odysseus warning the cyclops about at the bottom of page

1115?

the concept of honoring strangers and seeing to their needs even before any questions are asked is of utmost importance in this culture

he is warning the cyclops not to defy zeus by not seeing to the needs of the strangers in his home now (meaning odysseus and his men)

13. how does the cyclops respond to this?

he tells odysseus “you are a ninny...coming here from the other end of nowhere telling me to mind the gods!”

14. reread lines 185-190. Why does odysseus lie to the cyclops about his

ship?

he thought he’d find out, but i saw through this,

and answered with a ready lie:

‘my ship?

poseidon lord who sets the earth a-tremble,

broke it up on the rocks at your land’s end.

a wind from seaward served him, drove us there.

we are survivors, these good men and I,’

14. reread lines 185-190. Why does odysseus lie to the cyclops about his

ship?

odysseus now knows with certainty that the cyclops has no qualms about mistreating his guests or their property

so he lies to protect his ship and the men on it

15. how does the cyclops respond to what odysseys told him in the previous

question?he didn’t say anything, but...

he grabbed two men like squirming puppies

beat their brains out (which splattered on the floor)

dismembered them and had them for his meal

gaping and crunching like a mountain lion

16. what is odysseys contemplating in lines 203-210? why does he not do it?

he took out his sword and was going to stab the cyclops in his midriff - right where the liver is

but he doesn’t do it because he realizes they would perish if he did because...

they could not move the ‘ponderous door slab’

17. identify the simile in lines 214-224. what does this tell us about the

cyclops?

the cyclops opened the door slab to let the sheep out, and then

‘reset the stone as one would cap a quiver’

meaning: the cyclops reseals the cave with the massive rock as easily as an ordinary human places the cap on a container of arrows

18. what three things happened in lines 225 - 255 that indicates that luck

is on the side of odysseus?

first: he found the olive tree in the cave

second: the four men odysseus would have chosen to help him all won the toss

third: the cyclops brought all the rams into the cave, not just the youngest

19. why does odysseus offer the cyclops the liquor he brought from the

ship?

he offers the wine, knowing that cyclops won’t be able to resist

and counting on its sleep-inducing effect

20. what question does the cyclops ask odysseus in lines 264-65? how does odysseus respond? what can the reader infer about the plans of odysseus

based on this response?

he asks his name

odysseus responds ‘nohbdy’

the reader knows this is not his name

the reader could realize that nohbdy sounds like nobody

so, the reader could infer that he purposely planning ahead, concealing his identity, and possibly setting a trap for the cyclops

21. what happens to the cyclops in lines 282-299? how does odysseus demonstrate characteristics of

a hero in this section?

odysseus and his men heaved a burning hot spike in the eye of the cyclops thereby blinding him

odysseus ‘cheered my men along with battle talk to keep their courage up’

also, he joined his men in the maneuver

he leaned on the spike himself, rather than removing himself from harm’s way

thereby he is acting as an inspiring role model and leader for his men

22. find the epic similes in lines 292-297 and lines 299-303. what two things are being compared in each case? what are the effects of this figurative

language?

292-297 odysseus compares pushing and turning the spike in the cyclops’ eye socket to a ship carpenter turning a drill in a plank on a ship’s deck

299-303 he compares the hissing of the cyclops’ eye to the steam given off by a white-hot axe head that is dipped in a cold tub of water

discuss effects of this figurative language

23. “then he sent up a howl for Cyclopes who lived in caves on windy peaks nearby” Who sent up a

howl? WHy? what happened when the neighboring cyclopes come to him? how does this reinforce the

idea of odysseus as epic hero?the cyclops sent up a howl

he sent up a howl because he was gravely injured and wanted help

when the neighbors came they were on the outside of the cave and calling to him saying ‘what ails you? why do you cry? no man has tricked you or ruined you?’

he responded nohbdy

as a result the neighbors left

this reinforces the idea of odysseus as epic hero because his lie about his name paid off

24. what is learned about polyphemus (cyclops) from the allusion in lines 321-322?

“let it be your father , poseidon lord, to whom you pray”

the reader learns that the cyclops is the son of poseidon

25. how does odysseus again demonstrate qualities of an epic hero in lines 325-336?

odysseus and his men are at a stalemate with the cyclops

the have now neutralized him but not defeated him

odysseus again thinks of a trick this time to deceive the cyclops

once again his clever planning will fool a formidable foe

26. what plan does odysseys devise to escape the cave of the cyclops?

the rams of the cyclops were handsome, fat and had heavy fleeces

so he used twines of willow to tie them together, three abreast

then slung a man under each middle one to ride there safely, shielded on the left and right

27. explain what is happening in lines 358-374. Why is this ironic?

this is the part where the rams were going out to pasture in the morning

the last ram to go out was the wooliest one, the choicest one, the leader

the cyclops patted him and speaks to him saying, why are you the last one to go out? that’s not like you. are you grieving over my eye? well i swear that nohbdy will not get out alive! If only you could speak and tell me where he is! he would not escape my fury!

this is ironic because odysseus is escaping under the belly of this very ram!

28. how does the crew react when odysseus and his men at last return?

we saw, as we came near, our fellows’ faces shining

then we saw them turn to grief tallying those who had not fled from death

29. explain who says the following and why: “Godsake captain! why bait the beast again? let

him alone!”

this was the crew of odysseus speaking

they are saying this because odysseus keeps taunting the cyclops shouting things like “How do you like the beating we gave you, you damned cannibal?”

these taunts so enraged the cyclops that he broke off the top of a hilltop in heaved it after them as they set sail causing a spuming geyser and giant wave that could have easily sank the ship

30. notice that odysseus used the warlike epithet “raider of cities” in his second boast to the cyclops.

What trait is displayed here?

in revealing this information, odysseus displays his pride

but in this instance it is a rash foolhardy action because the cyclops might use this info to cause odysseus trouble with his father, poseidon, who is already angry with the greeks

31. what is revealed in lines 421-430?

the cyclops tells of a prophecy made long ago by a prophet named telemus

telemus predicted that the cyclops would lose his eye at the hands of odysseus

the cyclops said he always thought that this odysseus would be a giant, armed in great force, not someone small, pitiful, and twiggy like odysseus

32. reread line 437-452 and explain them. How is odysseus responsible for this?

this is where the cyclops beseeches his father poseidon to curse odysseus

so that he will never see home again

and if he does return home, he prays that it will be a day far far from now and the time in between should be dark

and if he ever comes home may it be strange and chaotic

and may he be alone

32. reread line 437-452 and explain them. How is odysseus responsible for this?

odysseus had brought this curse on himself by provoking the cyclops with his boasting

not once - but three times!

and despite the warnings of his men

33. what did odysseus and his crew do after they landed?

they evenly divided the cyclops’ flocks

they gave odysseus the prize ram

he slew it and offered it to zeus as a peace offering

34. what is foreshadowed in lines 470-473?

“but zeus disdained my offering; destruction for my ships he had in store and death for those who sailed them, my companions.”

this lets us know that zeus is angry with odysseus

it foreshadows that the things the cyclops prayed for might actually all come to pass