Beowulf LRJ #2

Much like in the first portion of Beowulf, characteristics along the lines of immense physical strength, possessing a warrior's complex, fighting for the rights of men, warding off evil and that the only honorable way to die meant dying in battle are all highly valued among the Anglo-Saxons during the time Beowulf was written, which was around 1,000 A.D. All of these qualities can be inferred when Beowulf says, "I had a fixed purpose when I put to sea. As I sat in the boat with my band of men, I meant to perform to the uttermost what your people wanted or perish in the attempt, in the fiend's clutches. And I shall fulfil that purpose, prove myself with a proud deed or meet my death here in the mead-hall." (Heaney, 632-638)

As far as how unrealistic the story is, (as if a monster that was able to eat 30 men in one felled swoop was realistic in the first place) the story gets REALLY exciting when Beowulf gets to actually fight the monster who was able to eat 30 men in one felled swoop, also known as Grendel, the spawn of pure evil. Beowulf lies in waiting for Grendel to come close, "[Grendel's] talon was raised to attack Beowulf where he lay on the bed; he was bearing in with open claw when the alert hero's comeback and armlock forestalled him utterly." (Heaney, 745-748) I did mention before that Grendel was able to eat 30 men at one felled swoop, right? So the fact that one extremely valiant man is taking on a monster large enough to devour 30 men in less than a moment's notice makes this part of the story especially interesting, seeing how the first listeners of the story would've had reactions ranging from petrified, heart-rendering shrieks of "Holy crud!" to a more subtle and reflective, "...Whoa..."

Personally, my favorite quote in Beowulf is, "The captain of evil discovered himself in a handgrip harder than anything he had ever encountered in any on the face of the earth. Every bone in his body quailed and recoiled, but he could not escape." (Heaney, 749-753) from the battle scene between Grendel and Beowulf, which is by far my favorite imagery in Beowulf, as well. This is because the of impracticality it adds to the story as a whole and because of entertaining picture the paints in one's mind.

The Sundiata LRJ

I typed this yesterday, but as misfortune would have it, I didn't publish it. I hope I can get at least partial credit...

The Epic of Old Mali

The Epic of Old Mali has multiple similarities to The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Aeneid and even more differences. Similarities, such as honor, feats of physical strength, and devine intervention. Differences include characteristics of the main character, location, and the amount of gods.

All of these epics portray the main hero honoring a friend, family member, or the hero's homeland. In The Epic of Old Mali, the hero Mari Djatta wishes to wipe away the insult towards his mother, so he asks her, " 'Do you want just the leaves of the baobab or would you rather I brought you the whole tree?' " (Pickett 106-107) and, "with all his might the son of Sogolon tore up the tree and put it on his shoulders and went back to his mother." (Pickett 108). This was Mari Djata's first amazing feat of physical strength, as well. This was made possible by God, and Mari Djata's mother glorifies God by singing, " 'Oh day, oh what a beautiful day, of day, day of joy; Allah Almighty, you never created a finer day.' "

As for differences, Mari Djata is portrayed as humble despite his amazing physical strength,whereas Odysseus from The Odyssey is portrayed as a clever trickster. Also, The Epic of Old Mali takes place in what we know as Western Africa, whereas The Iliad and The Aeneid take place in the region of modern-day Turkey (that's where Troy was located) and The Odyssey takes place throughout various areas in the Greek-Meditteranean.

Antigone: Innocent or Guilty?

Sarita Beekie
Ms. Peifer
10 IB – Hour 5
25 November 2008

Antigone: Innocent or Guilty?
In the Greek tragedy Antigone written by Sophocles, moral aspects such as honor, obedience, and the justification of one’s actions can be seen throughout the ancient story of one fearless princess’ desire to honor her late brother, who bore the mark of shame for his hostile rebellion against his former kingdom. In the end, the princess would walk straight to Hades’ gates in the name of familial honor, which was her only crime, but does honor justify disobedience?

Our princess, Antigone, wholeheartedly admits to disregarding Creon’s proclamation when he asks as to whether she is guilty of breaking his law pertaining to the forbidden burial rights of her late brother, Polyneices, traitor of Thebes. He then asks, “‘And yet you dare to defy the law.’” (Sophocles) In her defense, she replies: “It was not God’s proclamation. That final Justice that rules the world below makes no such laws. Your edict, King, was strong, but all your strength is weakness itself against the immortal unrecorded laws of God.” (Sophocles) In saying this, she implies that Creon’s law is punitive in comparison to the judgment of the gods. She is also implying that she will be judged as innocent by the gods in the end.

It is true, when Creon says, “‘Disobedience is the worst of evils. This it is that ruins cities; this makes homes desolate; by this, the ranks of allies are broken into head-long rout; but, of the lives whose course is fair, the greater part owes safety to obedience. Therefore we must support the cause of order.’” (Sophocles) This would justify Creon’s condemnation of Antigone, had it not been for the vision of the oracle Teiresias, who tells Creon, “‘For the altars of our city and of our hearths have been tainted, one and all, by birds and dogs, with carrion from the hapless corpse, the son of Oedipus: and therefore the gods no more accept prayer and sacrifice at our hands.’” (Sophocles) In this statement, Teiresias tells of the gods’ displeasure, and then soon after proclaims:

“‘A time not long to be delayed shall awaken the wailing of men and of women in thy house. And a tumult of hatred against thee stirs all the cities whose mangled sons had the burial-rite from dogs, or from wild beasts, or from some winged bird that bore a polluting breath to each city that contains the hearths of the dead.’” (Sophocles)

Teiresias proclaimed of horrible misfortune that would befall Creon for punishing Antigone so unjustly, but instead of righting the error of his ways, he let fate come to pass, and inadvertently caused the deaths of his son Haimon and his wife Eurydice.

Antigone was guilty of honoring her brother and acting on what the gods (in the end) viewed as righteous behavior. Had Antigone’s actions not been viewed as such, Creon wouldn’t have lost two of the people of whom he held so dear to himself. However, in the end, even after her death, her actions were judged as if she was completely innocent, so therefore she must be innocent.

Works Cited
Sophocles. "Antigone." Literature Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes: World Literature. Trans. Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2001. 814-826
Sophocles. "Antigone." The Internet Classic Archive. Trans. R.C. Jebb. 4 Oct 2000. Classics. mit. edu. 25 November 2008 <http://classics.mit.edu/sophocles/antigone.html.>

LRJ #2

LRJ #2

There are multiple threads of repeated imagery and concepts that are weaved throughout the tragedy of Antigone. One consistently repeated concept is the imortance of a proper burial. This can be seen in Antigone's seasoned desire to bury the body of her late brother Polyneices. Ismene, her sister, argues, "We must remember, first, that we were born women, as who should not strive with men; next, that we are ruled of the stronger, so that we must obey in these things" (Sophocles). Ismene is referring to the lack of power and voice that women have in her and Antigone's society. At that point in time, Greece (and most of world, for that matter) viewed women and mens' lesser counterpart. Meant only for making and rearing Greek boys to go out and fight for their kingdom, or Greek girls to grow up and repeat the process of making and rearing Greek children. However, Antigone does not care about this social stigma in the slightest, and she replies, "If thou yet shouldst have the mind, wouldst thou be welcome as a worker with me. Nay, be what thou wilt; but I will bury him: well for me to die in doing that. I shall rest, a loved one with him whom I have loved, sinless in my crime; for I owe a longer allegiance to the dead than to the living" (Sophocles).

The obvious "fatal flaw" of the princess Antigone is her fiery and headstrong nature, which eventually would result in the death of her, as well as the death of several others. However, her death would have never occured had it not been for the ignorance of her uncle, Creon, king of Thebes. The ignorance of Creon is the very factor that drives the plot of Antigone and is what eventually brings about his anagnorisis, peripeteia, and catharsis.

The oracle Teiresias warns Creon of a most dismal fate for having condemned Antigone for honoring the dishonored, "A time not long to be delayed shall awaken the wailing of men and of women in thy house. And a tumult of hatred against thee stirs all the cities whose mangled sons had the burial-rite from dogs, or from wild beasts, or from some winged bird that bore a polluting breath to each city that contains the hearths of the dead." (Sophocles)

The peripeteia of Creon occurs at this point because it is Teirias' saying of the prophecy that makes it occur soon after. In an attempt to right his wrongs, Creon sets out to free Antigone as a means of avoiding the horrible prophecy. Instead, he finds that his son has killed himself due to Antigone's own suicide, and soon after Creon's wife Eurydice would stab herself through her heart. Creon's catharsis occurs after the finding of his newly late wife, when he feels as if he couldn't have lost anymore and he cries out, "Woe, woe! I thrill with dread. Is there none to strike me to the heart with two-edged sword?-O miserable that I am, and steeped in miserable anguish!" (Sophocles) In the end though, the tragedy is resolved through Creon's last statement of realization or his anagnorisis, "I know not which way I should bend my gaze, or where I should seek support; for all is amiss with that which is in my hands,-and yonder, again, a crushing fate hath leapt upon my head." (Sophocles).

Works Cited

Sophocles. "Antigone." The Internet Classic Archive. Trans. R.C. Jebb. 4 Oct 2000. Classics. mit. edu. 25 November 2008 <http://classics.mit.edu/sophocles/antigone.html.>

Letter to Antigone

My fairest sister Antigone,
You never cease to bring back the fondest memories of our late father. Headstrong and impulsive as he was, he was our father none the less, and is has become all too apparent that his blood runs through your veins, for impulsiveness and impulsiveness only would cause any mortal to go against a direct order of the king. Our deceased, rebel of a brother Polyneices was blessed by the gods and goddesses of Olympus to have received to sister like you, Antigone. For only you would even think to defy wishes of the ruler of our beloved Theban land. Brother or not, only a fool would bury a body left as carrion for birds and wild dogs! His soul may rest in peace now, but you will surely rest along side him in Hades' realm! Our uncle, Creon Rex, cares not at all of our familial relations to himself, but just that we are subjects that have purposely set out to go against his sovereign will. You knew all too well of the certain invocation of his wrath, and yet you went out to honor the dishonored, all for the sake of blood. I must say, you amaze me and I pray that in the end you will find it in your heart to forgive my submission, dear sister.
May the mightiest of gods have mercy on your soul, for the almighty Rex de Thebes most certainly will not.

Yours truly,

Ismene

Puntastic IM Convo

Since we're on the subject of technology and the multitude of ways of communicating through technology, I decided that this IM (also known as "instant messenger") conversation kind of tied in with it. I also felt like just making a random post since I was bored and had nothing better to do. [*There are a lot of references to Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta The Pirates of Penzance, so it would explain as to why some parts seem...weird, I guess.]

**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Poor guy
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: He's surely stray'd
Julian Something: Fred?
Julian Something: Ohhhhhhhhhhh
Julian Something: That was bad, Sarita
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Was it worse than Becca's "Ruthless" comment?
Julian Something: We are gonna have to start calling you the punisher, and god, please stop
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: PUNS!!!!!!
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: I'm not even good at them
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Why should I stop?
Julian Something: To spare me the punishment??
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: What? You think it's punny?
Julian Something: Nothing is the least bit punny about this situation, ma'am. But how do we stop?
Julian Something: I'm going to have to punder on this situation
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Geez...sometimes I punder about you Julian
Julian Something: Don't worry Sarita, I'm relatively safe. After all, they did lock up those criminals in the federal punitentiary
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Geez...sometimes I punder about you Julian
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Oops
Julian Something: LOL FAIL
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Poor Pund'ring One
Julian Something: Gosh that really was pretty bad, seriously
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: I know
Julian Something: I actually kinda have to shower, I really do smell pungent, and that's no pun
**Sarita** [[Margarita]] Ewwwwwwwwwww
Julian Something: I have a strange urge to "crank dat"
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Go ahead
Julian Something: Soulja Boy pun in and OH, watch me pun and watch me ROLL!!!
Julian Something: That was as bad, if not worse then yours
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Yeah
Julian Something: You can't stand the THUNDAH!!!!!
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Your...Punder Thunder?
Julian Something: EWWWWWWWWW STOP IT PLEASE! MY EYES HURT FROM READING THOSE!
Julian Something: Kidding, you are a really punderful pun artist
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Yeah no punder
Julian Something: That's pretty bad, really
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: I can make people's sanity go all apunder
Julian Something: Now I'm almost serious.
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Seriously?
Julian Something: Fo shizzle
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Awww...I was having a lot of pun
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Sorry sorry sorry
Julian Something: Ew
Julian Something: That was terrible
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: That was my last...one
Julian Something: You mean your last pun?
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: I was GONNA say that
Julian Something: Well no duh you were gonna say that
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Yeah
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: I'm having fun though
Julian Something: And its giving me brain trauma
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Don't like it that I'm better at puns than you?
Julian Something: No, puns always make me go "EWWWWW" and my head hurts. Probably because I haven't drank enough Kool Aid
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Go ye and plunder your kitchen then for some Kool Aid
Julian Something: Can't
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: Why not?
Julian Something: Pitcher is being used for ice tea
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: AAAAAHHHHHHHHH
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: NOT
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: COOL
Julian Something: I KNOW RIGHT????
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: This scenario is punthinkable!
Julian Something: I just slammed my fist into my desk right there
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: I'm sorry
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: I can't resist
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: You might wanna get used to it
Julian Something: It was really really good, so good it was bad
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: You said you PUNched your desk?
Julian Something: Yup
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: I'm so dang proud of myself right now
Julian Something: scary
Julian Something: I'm sorry, but you shouldnt be
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: But I'm puntastic! I call that an accomplishment!
Julian Something: Yes, you are
Julian Something: And Ashley's mom is weird
**Sarita** [[Margarita]]: How so?

Technology...

There are multiple things that come to mind when I think of the usage of technology in this current era. The first thing that comes to thought is the extensive use of the handy dandy contraption called the "cellphone". Although I cannot be entirely sure about the true statistic, I am willing to bet money that at least 9 out of 10 Central students can proudly claim possession of a cellphone. (Sadly enough, I just so happen to fall into the remainder 10% who can't claim possession of a cell phone.) One thing I've taken noticed to is the not-so elusive act of "text messaging" during class. Personally, I've gotten used to it and I could care less what any other student happens to be doing during class, but let's be honest, unless you honestly believe that there is some intrinsic value and/or interest about your thighs or your knee caps for that matter, then you really shouldn't be concentrating on anything under your desk...for really any reason at all.

I also begin to think about the new movie Eagle Eye, but I'll write more about that in a different post.