fandomhigh | Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

Today was a discussion class with Cindy, so the students had been sent emails reminding them to come to the classroom, rather than the Danger Shop. The usual coffee and pastries were on the sideboard; Cindy figured that sooner or later, people would figure out they were for sharing. If not, more for her.

She didn't bother with greetings and niceties this time around. There was learning to do. "The Trojan War," she said, after the students had settled. "Most of you from this planet and this approximate time in history will have heard of it. The vast majority of what we know about that battle between the ancient Greeks and the Trojans comes from a bard named Homer. I'm not saying what we know is accurate--" that seemed an important caveat, based on some of their students "--scholars still aren't entirely sure whether the battle is historical or mere myth or even if Homer was one man or a group, so if your version is different, that's fair. But we're here to study literature, and that's what can be found right here, in The Iliad."

There were handouts on each desk so they could follow along. "The Iliad starts off with a party. Eris, the goddess of discord, threw a golden apple with the words 'For the Fairest' on them. Three of the goddesses claimed it, Zeus decided to let a mortal judge the impromptu beauty contest, and Paris eventually chose Aphrodite, after she promised him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. That woman was Helen, who, unfortunately for everyone, was already married at the time. That didn't stop Aphrodite or Paris, and eventually the two ran away together to Troy, where Paris was a prince. Meneleus, Helen's ex-husband, roused the majority of Greek kings and sped off after them, besieging Troy for nine years."

Since The Iliad was a story primarily about the ~~sulking~~ wrath of Achilles, Cindy went into detail about that, from his pouting over having to give up his slave-girl up through his vengeance upon Hector, for killing his ~~boyfriend~~ cousin Patrocles.

"The part of the story most familiar to people is not actually found in The Iliad, but take place after its ending. After Priam retrieved Hector's body, the Greeks decided it was time to end the war. They were not able to breach the walls, and so Odysseus came up with a plan. He had the men build a great wooden horse, which they left outside of Troy's walls as they sailed away. The Trojans, believing it was a tribute to Athena, pulled down part of their walls to wheel the horse inside. After the Trojans went to bed, the forty soldiers inside the horse snuck out, altered the Greek ships that hadn't sailed all that far away, and began the Sack of Troy."

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"I don't know if the Fates respect cultural borders," Cindy replied. "So, why go home? There probably wouldn't be a line of people waiting to feed you grapes if you don't have kleos."

"Eh, that's alright, no one's ever around to feed me grapes as it is. Still get to just lie around, though."

"Is that all to life?" Cindy asked. "Just lying around? There's still work and school and everything else, isn't there?"

"Yeah, I guess. But it's not like you can do that stuff when you're dead."

"Too true," Cindy said. "So, how would you go about finding kleos, assuming that dying in a war wouldn't win it for you?"

"Becoming rich and famous on the internet."

"But fame on the internet comes and goes," Cindy pointed out. "How will you make yours last through the ages?"

"By being really, really awesome on the internet." What? Her internet fame had already lasted her, like, four years.

Okay, by internet standards that was pretty impressive. "Would you give that up? Say there was some reason you couldn't have both internet fame and your homecoming. Which would you give up?"

"That depends, you mean home to Seattle in general, or home to my actual mom?"

"Whichever, for you, is home. Real home, somewhere it will hurt to never see again."

If Sam didn't want to specify which it was, Cindy wasn't going to pry.

"I don't really care about the place," Sam said. "I just need the right people around, ya know?"

"Home can just as easily be people as places."

"So you're saying I'd have to lose the people to stay a star?" Sam thought about that a moment. "Well, we could probably stand to ditch Freddie. But Carly's as much the big deal of the show as I am."

"People have split up before and remained famous," Cindy pointed out. Hell, there were probably a dozen different musicians she could name that fit that bill. "Carly and your family and your friends...how much would you be willing to lose to keep your kleos?"

Sam . . . was starting to lose track of what the Greek words meant. "My family sucks, but Carly's my best friend."

Bringing Literature To Life--Through Violence! [Tuesday, Second Period]

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Re: Class Discussion: Kleos & Nostos

Re: Class Discussion: Kleos & Nostos

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Re: Class Discussion: Kleos & Nostos

Re: Class Discussion: Kleos & Nostos

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Re: Class Discussion: Kleos & Nostos

Re: Class Discussion: Kleos & Nostos

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Re: Class Discussion: Kleos & Nostos

Re: Class Discussion: Kleos & Nostos

Re: Class Discussion: Kleos & Nostos