Week 2: Famous Last Words

Week 2: Famous Last Words

This week was the first week that we actually did readings and got to get a feel for what this class will be like for the rest of the semester. I am realizing that I am definitely going to need to manage my time well to do well in all of my classes. Every one of my classes is very demanding of my time this semester! I have fun with this class, though, because we really get to put a lot of our personalities into everything we do. We really get to control what we do for this class and that is nice. We get to pick which stories to read and which of those to retell. I really liked how some of the stories we got to choose from this week had an audio we could listen to. I do so much reading as it is that it was nice to have someone else read to me. The good thing about this class is that you have to be involved every day and that keeps you in touch of what needs to be done. Some online classes only make you do work once or twice a week, and it is really easy to get behind or to forget to do things. 

OU FOOTBALL

I am really excited for this weekend because it is the first OU football game of the season! Norman has a really fun vibe when there is a game going on. All of us Normanites love us some OU football so it should be a great weekend! I do not ever go to the games because I am usually working on Saturdays which is really unfortunate. I have probably only ever been to five OU games in my whole life. On top of football starting up, it is also a holiday weekend which I think most of us students are very ready for. We have had a long two weeks of classes and it will be nice to have a tiny break. 

Week 2: Essay

Essay Option 3: First Memories of Writing

I remember when I was going into third grade and I was so excited because we were going to learn how to write in cursive that year. I was so excited because I felt like knowing cursive made me a grown up or something. We would learn one letter at a time, and we had little workbooks to write everything in. Cursive was definitely more difficult than I had thought initially, but it was really fun. I always thought as a little girl that I could not read cursive until I could write cursive! So once I learned I thought I was so cool and of course wanted to use cursive all the tine! I still love to write in cursive today because it is fun to play with, and I can always get creative with it. 

Cursive Alphabet

I also remember learning how to type in school. I already had developed my own typing style at home, but we had to take classes in elementary school. I liked typing so I did not think it would be that bad. Little did I know, typing class was so much different and more difficult. We had to use certain fingers for certain buttons. I was not used to this so it was good to take a class to learn a more proper way of typing. 

Keyboard

I remember when I was in grade school, middle school, and sometimes high school when we wrote poems or short stories. I always thought it would be really hard, but I always usually ended up with something pretty good. We almost always had to share our stories in front of the class. I am very shy with my writing so I always was so terrified to do this. It was very, very hard for me. We had to write an "About Me" paper for our senior year of high school and it was not only something I had written, but something that was extremely personal. I was so scared to read it out loud at the podium, but I faced my fears and did it. Surprisingly enough, it up being a really fun experience. Throughout middle and high school I realized I liked English class the best, and it was also my best subject!

Week 2: Storytelling: How the War with Troy Began

Storytelling for Week 2: How the War with Troy Began

Long, long ago there once was a beautiful young woman named Helen. Helen was the daughter of the mighty King of Sparta. She had long blonde hair and bright green eyes. All of the Princes in the land of Greece wanted to marry Helen because of her beauty. The King of Sparta had all of the Princes in the land promise to always be friends no matter who his daughter would choose to marry, and also to help get Helen back if she were ever to be taken by some other wicked man. 

Beautiful Helen

Helen had a very large group of men to choose from. There was ugly men and handsome men, short men and tall men, powerful men and less powerful men, young men and older men, and muscular men and plump men. Helen, of course, wanted someone who was handsome, tall, powerful, young, and muscular. She believed she deserved the most handsome of all the men in Greece because she was the most beautiful woman in all of Greece.

Helen went on many, many dates throughout the spring, but did not find anyone worthy of her. Finally, the last date she went on was with Prince Menelaus. Menelaus was chief of all of the Kings of Greece, and was also very good looking. Helen decided Menelaus was worthy of her love so they got married that summer. They lived very happily together until a man named Paris made his way to Sparta. 

Prince Paris was son of the King of Troy. Helen had never seen such a beautiful man in her life. She could not keep her eyes off of him. He was taller, more handsome, and more muscular than Menelaus.  Paris was also very funny, smart, and extremely charming. He was everything Helen had ever wanted in a man. Helen captured him with her sparkling green eyes, and they instantly fell in love. 

Helen and Paris

That night, Helen convinced Paris to leave with her. She did not want to be with Menelaus anymore because she realized she had never known what love was until she met Paris. She wanted to be with Paris forever and forget her life back in Sparta. They were going to run away together to Italy so that no one would ever be able to find them. Since they were running away, they needed money. Helen robbed her palace of all of its gold and precious jewels. Helen and Paris then left the lives they had known in Sparta and Troy behind forever. 

When Menelaus woke up to find Paris, Helen, and all of his riches gone, he gathered up his army of men who had previously promised to help fight to get Helen back from any man who would steal her away. They would soon be on their way to Troy to fight the Trojans. He hoped to find his love Helen and bring her back home safely. 

Author's Note: In the original story of How the War with Troy Began, Helen is beautiful, but is not conceited. She chooses Menelaus as her husband and loves him. She does not instantly fall in love with Paris, he takes her away along with the jewels and gold. They do not go to Italy, they go back to Troy. The fact that she left with Paris is what causes the war in both stories. I decided to change it up because in the original story it did not elaborate on what happened when they left. It just said that Paris carried Helen away. So I thought it might be fun to add some details, and to make it all be Helen's idea. 

Bibliography:

Book: Homer's Iliad

Author: A.J. Church

Year Published: 1907

Web Source: Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook

Week 2: Homer's Iliad

Week 2 Reading Diary: Homer's Iliad

Reading A
The King of Sparta's daughter, Helen, chooses to marry Menelaus who then becomes King of Sparta when Helen's father dies. When Helen is carried off by Paris, the King of Troy's son, the men of Sparta are supposed to help her husband get her back.

The men cannot seem to get through the walls of Troy and they spend nine years trying. Agamemnon, Menelaus' brother, takes the daughter of the priest of Apollo and he refuses to give her back. This causes Apollo to be angry and to kill dogs, beasts, and men.

Achilles draws his sword at Agamemnon telling him that since Apollo is angry they will now have to give back the daughter, and without any money or anything in return. Athena appears to Achilles and says that if he puts his sword down, Agamemnon will ultimately end up paying Achilles back three or four times.

Now, angry, Agamemnon wants to steal the woman Briseis from Achilles. Briseis was a gift to Achilles from the Greeks, and he is not happy. He thinks that Agamemnon is very greedy. He allows her to be taken by the heralds in order to let them know that Agamemnon is evil, and to have a reason not to help him when he may need it.

Achilles then asks his mother Thetis to go talk to Zeus about helping the Trojans. He wants him to cause a war to start and to let the Trojans win. Zeus agrees even thought he knows it will cause a wife between him and his wife Hera. She asks him to prove to the Greeks that they cannot win a battle without Achilles, and this will be to prove his honor.

Thetis and Zeus by Ingres

Zeus then sends a false dream to Agamemnon to show him a battle in which he can win so that he believes the dream to be true and go and fight the Trojans.

Hector, Prince of Troy, goes to his brother Paris to ask him to help in battle, but Paris refuses.

The Greeks come to Achilles and talk to him about being scared of Hector, and tell him it is as if the gods are on the Trojans side. He will still not help them because of what Agamemnon had done. He would not take the money from the wealthiest city, or the daughter of Agamemnon even if she was as beautiful as Aphrodite.

Sarpedon was killed by Petroclus after Petroclus kept the ships from being destroyed by the Trojans.

Apollo tells Petroclus that it is not his or Achilles' job to take Troy. Apollo and Hector attacked Patroclus. Hector talks of slaying him, but Petroclus does not give him the glory and says that Apollo is the one who truly brought him to his death.

Reading B
There was a fight for Petroclus' body once he was dead. Menelaus wanted it, but was not going to go against Hector because he knew he would not win in a fighting match against him. Hector took the armor that Achilles had given Patroclus.

When Hector was dragging away the body to the Trojans, Ajax came to defend the body from the Trojans.  Hector drew back when he saw Ajax. Hector's men started to shame him for not standing up against Ajax. He told them he was not scared, and went to get the armor of Achilles from the men who were taking it back to the city. He put on Achilles armor and made Zeus angry.

The battle continues and is getting more brutal. They are fighting for the body of Patroclus.

Menelaus orders Antilochus to go tell Achilles that Patroclus is dead, that the Trojans prevail in battle, and that Hector has the arms. They hope that Achilles will come to battle and that they will be able to still save the body.

Achilles decides to go to the battle only when he has arms. Zeus sends Iris with a message to AChilles. If he just shows himself, the Trojans will back off, giving the Greeks some breathing room.

So Achilles ran to the trench and Athena put a shield about his shoulders and it shone like a flame of fire. Achilles shouted across the trench three times causing the Trojans to fall back three times. This allowed the Greeks to be able to take the body of Patroclus.

Agenor tried to stab Achilles below the knee, but the greave turned the spear because it was made by a god so it was very strong. Achilles tried to slay him, but Apollo lifted him away to a safe place. Apollo then took the shape of Agenor. Achilles then pursued him.

Apollo tells Achilles that he has been chasing one who cannot die while all the Trojans become safe in the city.

Hector's mother and father beg him to come inside the gates so that he is not killed by Achilles. Hector does not listen and wants to see who Zeus will give the victory to.

When Hector saw Achilles he got scared and started to run away with Achilles running after him.

Athena tells Achilles that it is Hectors fate to die, and that is he supposed to kill him. She tells him to rest and she will make Hector meet him.

When they meet, Hector tells Achilles that if Achilles dies he will give his body back to the Greeks, but he will keep his arms. He wishes Achilles will do the same. When they started to fight, Athena helps Achilles to kill Hector. Achilles drove his spear into Hectors collar bone where the armor did not cover.
Achilles tied Hector to his chariot by his ankles and went back to the Greeks. He did not take the body to Troy.

Hector's Body Dragged by Achilles 

Zeus makes Achilles give up Hector's body for ransom. Hector's father goes to Achilles to beg for his body. He asks for nine days of peace for a proper burial for Hector. Achilles leaves in the night so no one sees him there. On the ninth day there was a burial so grand that Troy had never seen one like it before.

Keyboard Tech Tip

¡Buenos días! ¿Cómo estás?

I decided to use Spanish for the keyboard tech tip because it is the only language I have studied aside from English. I am not fluent by any means, but I know some! This phrase translates to "Good morning! How are you?" I really liked learning about this website that lets you type in any language because I have taken two semesters of Spanish and it was very hard to remember all of the codes to type out the letters with accents. I am taking my third semester of Spanish this fall and this will help me out a lot!