The cattle of the Sun God

The Cattle of the Sun God

Symbols and importance

Epic Hero Traits

Odysseus is of noble character- he knows that it is wrong to eat the cattle of Helios because he is a god and gods should not be dishonored

Odysseus accepts challenges and sometimes creates disasters. He accepts the challenge keeping his men from eating the cattle by trying to keep his men from starving. Odysseus creates a disaster by sleeping and leaving his men unsupervised. If he hadn't slept, he could have stopped his men form eating the cattle.

Zeus's thunderbolt- This is what caused Odysseus's crew to drown and die. The thunderbolt symbolizes death and destruction.

By: Vishwa Patel, Rhet, and Leo

Epic Traits

Lord Helios's cattle- they symbolize divine attachment and love. Lord Helios loved his cattle so much that nobody was allowed to touch them, let alone kill or eat them. Such attachments lead to anger and death.

The journey tests over and over to prove the worthiness of Odysseus, usually by gods and supernatural creatures. Zeus caused a storm to occur which causes Odysseus and his crew to land on the island. Zeus wanted to see if Odysseus could resist the temptation of eating the cattle. He kept the storm raging so the men remained stranded on the island with limited food supplies for a prolonged period of time.

This journey is a quest for something valuable. Going home and regaining control of Ithica is the main thing that Odysseus wants accomplish on this journey.

SOAPSTone and DIDLS

Th author conveys the regretful tone through his word choice. "The tears of men could not wash away the oil that the earth had cried." and "death would count its worth" is an example of word choice that expresses the regretful tone.

One example of imagery in this poem is"Poison blood would cover the sea"this quote makes the reader picture a horrifying image of the sea, and regret the occurrence of such a disaster.

The author includes details like "caused by the man's own hands" to directly make the reader acknowledge that the situation was men's fault. This emphasizes the wrongdoings of men, adding to the regretful tone.

The author's language is emotional and descriptive with lots of figurative language.

The sentences are short and sometimes incomplete. The length ensures that the reader understands the main ideas, but is left thinking and reflecting at the end of the poem.

Epithets

Allusions

Epithet-Lord of Noon,Helios,- This is suggesting how most people commonly veiw Helios. It also informs the reader of the role/occupation of Helios among the gods.

Epithet-Father Zues- This suggests that Zues could be the "oldest" god and could have many children. It is also suggesting the power of Zues and the control that he has over everyone else.

Odysseus's men had not listened to Odysseus's warning and disobeyed his orders. This caused them to drown and die.

Harry Patter told Dumbledore not to drink the water, but he was really thirsty and drank the water anyway. Drinking the water made Dumbledore go crazy

The sun God became angry because his prized cattle had been killed and eaten. Something that he loved had been destroyed, and he killed Odysseus's crew for it. In Little Brother, Marcus's dad was really angry because he thought Marcus had been killed by the bomb. He started supporting the ridiculous safety policies because he thought he had lost his son.

Role of Gods/Goddesses

Helios: after discovering that his cattle had been eaten, he became angry and decided to punish Odysseus's crew. He took part in killing the crew indirectly by ordering Zues to destroy the men.(served as the Judge)

Zeus: supports Helios's anger and strikes his thunderbolt at Odysseus's ship. He directly caused the death of Odysseus's crew. Also, Zeus produced the storm which made Odysseus and his crew stay on the island din the first place. This was done to test the nobility of Odysseus.

Lampetia: informs Helios that Odysseus's men murdered his cattle. She serves as a messenger of the bad news to Helios. Devotion towards her father caused her to abide by the rules and inform Helios of wrongdoings.

Characters involved

Odysseus-The wise, noble Greek Hero

Helios-The attached sun god who owned the cattle and the island

Eurylochus- the selfish, foolish member of the crew that convinced the other men to eat the cattle

Zeus- the proud,powerful, egotistical god of the sky

Lampetia- the rule-abiding daughter of Helios who tells her father about the death of his cattle

Odysseus's crew- the foolish men that do not heed Odysseus's warning an eat Helios's cattle. Zues kills them at the end with his thunderbolt.

Main conflicts/Impact

Odysseus's men are starving and facing the decision to either starve and heed Odysseus's warning or eat the sun god's most prized cattle. They choose to eat the cattle, and Helios becomes angry, telling Zeus to strike the crew's ship with a lightning bolt and cause Odysseus's crew to drown.

Odysseus was driven to sleep by the gods, so he couldn't convince his men not to eat the cattle. He had no part in the decision because the gods used their powers to drive them to sleep. This conflict between Odysseus and the gods causes Odysseus to become angry at the gods for making him sleep while his men made such a dangerous decision.

Themes

Don't be selfish and let greed take over. Resist temptations

Examples: Odysseus's men could not resist the temptation of the cattle because they were so hungry. Eating the cattle to survive backfired and caused them to drown.

Don't be disobedient. Misfortune will befall you.

Examples: Odysseus's crew did not not heed Odysseus's warning of not touching the cattle. They killed and ate the cattle anyway. This caused harm to befall them later on.

Poem Analysis

We picked this poem because its main theme was similar to the theme of "The Cattle of the Sun God"

Both poems display how being selfish can cause harm to oneself. In both stories, men were greedy for either wealth of food. They did not stop to think about how their actions would affect others(whether it was Helios or the environment).In both stories, men suffered because of their greed. In "The Cattle of the Sun God" men suffered physically, and in the poem, the men suffered emotionally.

SOAPSTone and DIDLS

The speaker was a news reporter or an environmental scientist that was trying to inform the public about harm caused to the environment because of greedy men. The speaker wanted to prevent further oil spills by raising awareness.

This poem was directed towards oil drillers or men that had been part in an oil spill.

It was written in the modern day times after a recent oil spill in places that had been affected such as the Gulf of Mexico.

The author's tone toward the subject is regretful, sympathetic, and sad.

The Greed of Men

This poem is about men that are drilling for oil because they want to become wealthy. Their carelessness causes an oil spill. The oil spill harms the environment and many plants and animals die. It also causes the men emotional distress and sorrow when they find out what they have done.