Snow Storm Week
Humanities I Asynchronous Assignment
Please Read the prompt, complete the assignment and use the links below to submit to your course section. This is due at the end of the day Wednesday Jan. 28th. The submission portal will close at midnight. Make sure to submit to the right section
Speaking the Silence of the “Lord of Lies”
In Books 9–12, Odysseus is a performer. Sitting in the palace of Alcinous in Phaeacia, he tells the story of his journey to secure his passage home. The Wilson translation introduces Odysseus’s story by referring to him as a “lord of lies,” calling attention to his shaping of the narrative to ensure he looks like the noble, suffering victim of fate and his reckless crew.
When he meets Elpenor in the Underworld (Book 11), we see a crack in that mask. Elpenor died because he was forgotten—left behind on Circe’s roof, drunkenly falling to his death. In his own story, Odysseus gives Elpenor only a few lines to beg for a funeral. This assignment asks you to say what Odysseus refused to allow Elpenor to say in his public narration.
The Task: Write exactly eight lines from Elpenor to Odysseus in the Underworld. You are reclaiming the voice that Odysseus tried to silence or edit out of his story. Do the following twice for two different moments.
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Lines 1–2: Identify one specific moment in Books 9–12 where Odysseus’s story blames the crew’s greed or folly. Tell him exactly what he refused to say about his own role in that disaster.
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Lines 3–4: Explain how speaking this “hidden” truth challenges the portrait he is painting of himself. Why does he need you (Elpenor) to stay silent for his legend to survive?
The Constraint: Exactly four lines. This requires information density. You must edit and refine your lines until every word carries weight. Avoid generic filler; be as sharp as a ghost’s accusation.