explain your creative and critical thinking digital media project:what meaning and/or commentary do you explore and express in your project? What aspects of your reading really caught your imagination? how does your project express your creative engagement with, and/or response to your reading?

My critical reading project was connecting the book to our world now. I talked about how the book taught us morals and how the characters in The Odyssey are just like the people in present day. Some aspects that really caught my imagination were the imaginary worlds Homer created, like the underworld and the characters like Circe. It was interesting to hear about the places and people that are almost exaggerations of the people and places that do actually exist now. My project expresses my creative engagement with my response to my reading by showing how I connected with The Odyssey on a personal level by connecting it to my life as well as lives of the people around me.

What inquiry questions did you ask as you read? What did your reading help you think/understand about the questions?

A couple of the inquiry questions i asked myself as i read were: do you believe in true love?, and What makes a true hero? The true love question was shown and answered in book 23. I personally do believe in true love and in The Odyssey Penelope and Odysseus show that true love exists. Odysseus is taunted by a lustrous goddess and Penelope is taunted by dozens of suitors roaming her palace. But they both stay strong and show that they only truly love one person in their life, and that is their spouse. The other question that i thought about was what it means to be a hero. All through out the story, we see Odysseus fulfilling heroic deeds and ultimately completing his goal of coming back home to his kingdom and family. Odysseus mainly thinks about other people and is always trying to do the right thing or what the gods tell him to do. For example, he goes all the way back to Circe's island just for his shipmate to have a proper burial. He also listens to all the dead people's stories even though they are so sad and depressing. We also see Odysseus carry out valiant deeds like kill off all the suitors and save his shipmates from becoming pigs for the rest of their lives.

My overall reaction on what i read. Did i make a good a choice? What did i enjoy or find?

I think I made a good choice in the books I read. They all interested me in different ways and were straight forward, making it easy to understand what I was reading. The first 2 books I read were book 10 and 11. These books were the most interesting because they were very unrealistic and brought me into a world that I would have never imagined. It was sad to hear all the stories from the dead people in the underworld. One of my favorite characters was Circe, the goddess. she was a powerful woman who ended up being actually a nice person when she knew who Odyssues was. The other two books i read were book 18 and 23. I did not find book 18 too interesting but i enjoyed book 23. Book 23 showed the love and passion between Penelope and Odysseus. At first Penelope did not truly believe it was Odysseus because she had been away from him so long, but eventually she realized it was her real husband. It was interesting to see how they apart for so long but were able to fall right back in to love again. They were also sympathetic to each other's problems.

What have you learned about an epic poem? If you were going to read another epic poem, what would you expect to find?

I have learned that an epic poem usually shows a journey of a hero showing heroic deeds and the trouble they go through to reach a certain goal. We also learn about greek culture through the belief of the gods guiding Odysseus. If i were to read another epic poem i would expect to see another main character like Odysseus who is valiant and goes through troubles and someone possibly guiding the hero to get to where he/she wants to go. I would also expect to read about an action scene where blood is shed and the main character wins a great victory. There would also be a little bit of romance where the hero finds or meets with his soul mate who is the most beautiful in all the land!

What do you notice and what are your thoughts about how visual artists and writers respond to The Odyssey?

I have noticed in the visual art that they have depicted Odysseus as a muscular man with curly hair and a beard. He looks like a very ordinary man, which was a surprise to me. I thought he would look majestic and great from what i have learned about him through the novel. The artists have also used very soft and rustic colors to paint their pictures. I think this shows the age of The Odyssey and the mood the book has been written in.  most of the art shows the people with minimal clothing on which I believe is just showing how they would have dressed in that time period. The poems that I have picked are also very interesting. One poem sort of takes us through a shortened journey of The Odyssey in a rhyming pattern. The other poem describes a man's thoughts of Circe, the woman who turns men into pigs. He explains how enticing she is but also how cruel she is. Both these poets have looked at The Odyssey in depth and have taken interest in the characters Homer has created.