A View of The Odyssey

The purpose of this unit is to help students see themselves in the mirror that mythology holds up to us all. Times have changed and so has the pace of our lives; but people are confronted by the same basic choices today as when Homer decided to put the story of the wanderings, tribulations, and homecoming of Odysseus into his own words. Students who study this great epic poem which tells a fundamental myth of our civilization will read of witches, cannibals, and monsters as well as of Olympian gods, human princesses, and dead spirits out of the underworld. These students will also read a story about human beings, Odysseus, Telemachus, Penelope, and Nausicaa, as well as about others who have experienced many of the same difficulties around growing up, making choices and becoming mature that people of today experience as they leave their childhood and enter the world of adolescence and adulthood.