The Odyssey (A Graphic Novel)

The Odyssey (A Graphic Novel)

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7. 9.4(E)

LessonStandards

1. 9.1(A)

2. 9.1(D)

8. 9.4(F)

3. 9.2(B)

9. 9.6(B)

10. 9.6(D)

4. 9.3

5. 9.4(B)

11. 9.9(C)

12. 9.9(B)(i)

6. 9.4(C)

What will our learning look like today?

Success Criteria

Language ObjectivE

Learning Intention

• Students can identify key graphic elements in "The Odyssey" graphic novel and explain their significance.
• Students can describe the plot and themes of "The Odyssey" based on the graphic novel.

I will analyze and interpret the graphic novel adaptation of The Odyssey, identifying key literary elements and themes.

I will explore The Odyssey (A Graphic Novel) and analyze its theme, language choices, and impact on the reader. Through discussion and writing, I will deepen your understanding of this epic tale and develop my interpretative skills.

Do Now:

• Describe what you see in the image. What details and elements stand out to you?
• What emotions or moods do you think this image is trying to convey?
• How do you think this image contributes to the storytelling in a graphic novel format compared to a traditional text?

In Gareth Hinds’s vivid retelling of the Odyssey, words yield to wordless illustrations the way oarsmen might yield to a strong current. This excerpt, mainly from Book XII, covers the same events as the SyncTV episode of the Odyssey. Odysseus is telling his hosts, the Phaeacians, about his seven-year homeward journey from Troy. He has just finished recounting his escape with his crewmen from Scylla and Charybdis, a deadly whirlpool and monster. Next, he tells about their ill-fated stay on the island of Helios, where the sun-god’s cattle tempt the starving men into a decision with disastrous consequences. *Watch StudySync Video

The Odyssey Graphic Novel

Prior Knowledge

As you recall, The Odyssey is an epic poem by the ancient poet Homer about Odysseus’s ten-year quest to return home to Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. Zeus is the leader of the Greek gods, who reside on Mount Olympus. Circe is a nymph; Tiresias is a blind prophet. The selection you are about to read is a graphic-novel retelling of the famous epic poem.

Background

Prior to the events presented in this excerpt, Odysseus and his men encounter the witch goddess Circe. After initially transforming Odysseus’s men into pigs, Circe is charmed by Odysseus, and she ends up becoming an ally. She provides Odysseus and his men with supplies and crucial advice about how to survive encounters with the six-headed monster Scylla and the deadly whirlpool Charybdis. She reminds him of how the blind prophet Tiresias warned Odysseus to avoid the island of Thrinacia, where live the sacred cattle of her father, the Titan sun god Helios. No matter what, Circe says, Odysseus and his men must never touch these sacred cattle.

clamor

immortal

mutinous

to insist on something in a noisy manner

not subject to dying; eternal; living forever

having a desire to revolt against authority; rebellious

nymph

omen

a minor goddess in the form of a beautiful young woman who lives in seas, rivers, mountains, trees, and other places in nature

sign of an event that will happen in the future

Summary

Although Odysseus warned his men to avoid the island Thrinacia, the exhausted crew could not resist the sight of its ample meadows and cool streams. However, after they beach the ship, a storm begins to blow for thirty days, and the crew is stranded. The starving men break their promise and slaughter the sun god Helios’s cattle, earning the wrath of the gods. As the men feast, the hides of the cattle begin to crawl and the meat on the spits starts to moan. When they sail again, a storm tears their ship apart. Holding onto a piece of keel, Odysseus manages to survive, but the winds drive him back toward Scylla and Charybdis. He manages to avoid a whirlpool by holding onto the branch of a fig tree until the sea spits out his makeshift raft. From there, he drifts upon the ocean for nine more days and washes up on the island home of the goddess Calypso, where he stays for seven years.

A reading

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