Close reding - Admission/Application Essay Example

Nevertheless, this is because homer told the story of Odyssey, from a first persons perspective, in which Odyssey, was not narrating as he went but composed the story at the very end of his adventures. Ergo, as he takes the audience through his experiences he keeps giving snippets of future events and signposting to increase the suspense of the audience. In this case he was promising the audience there would be danger because he had made it clear the giants he was about to encounter were lawless brutes but makes them listen to the end so they can figure out exactly what would happen.

Another notable feature is the fact that Odyssey’s crew that went with him inland was consistent of 13 men, number 13, was held by many ancient communities, the Greeks included, as an unlucky one. 12 was considered the number of completeness and consistency while 13 was seen as confusing and unstable, as can be seen from the fact that even the Greek gods were 12 in number. Thus, it is likely that the poet was either giving credence to the unlucky nature of the number or influenced by it so that he assigned the deadly task of meeting the evil Cyclops to 13 men.

There appears to be a distinct inconsistency or at least vagueness in the numerical progression in the story, consider that after giant had killed two men for supper and two more for breakfast. That means there were only 9 men left when the lots were cast, four were picked for the task of blinding the giant, however before he slept, he killed two more men. If one excludes Odessy who it is clear was not going to be killed, both by virtue of the fact that he was promised to die last and the more obvious one that he was the narrator, it means the giant picked two of the men who had lost in the draw to blind him earlier of the remaining 8.

Thus would have seemed more logical for the lots to be