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“A fatal plan, but it won my shipmates over.  They loosened the sack and all the winds burst out and a sudden squall struck and swept us back to seam wailing, in tears, far from our own native land.  And I woke with a start, my spirit churning-- should I leap over the side and drown at once or grin and bear it, clinging tight to the deck while heavy squalls blasted our squadron back again to Aeolus’ island, shipmates groaning hard.”

I think this is an important part in book 10 because instead of being much closer to home, Odysseus and his crew are now much farther.  This is very significant because now lots of the conflict that Odysseus faces after this incident may have been able to be avoided if they hadn’t set themselves back.

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"Once they’d drained the bowls she filled, suddenly
she struck with her wand, drove them into her pigsties,
all of them bristling into swine—with grunts,
snouts—even their bodies, yes, and only
the men’s minds stayed steadfast as before.
So off they went to their pens, sobbing, squealing
as Circe flung them acorns, cornel nuts and mast,
common fodder for hogs that root and roll in mud."

I chose this passage because it shows how much power Circe holds. She turned all of Odysseus crew into hogs. Even though she is considered a nymph which is lesser than a god I feel she is still very powerful.

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She’ll turn us all into pigs or wolves or lions made to guard that palace of hers—by force, I tell you— just as the Cyclops trapped our comrades in his lair with hot headed Odysseus right beside them all— thanks to this man’s rashness they died too!’

I found this passage significant because it shows the influence of Circe on Odysseus and his crew. Even though she is only a nymph and is against gods, she still has power against the men. I find it interesting to see her impact and significance at large.

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‘Heaps of lovely plunder he hauls home from Troy,
while we who went through slogging just as hard,
we go home empty-handed.’
‘Now this Aeolus loads him
down with treasure. Favoritism, friend to friend!’
‘Hurry, let’s see what loot is in that sack,
how much gold and silver. Break it open—now!’ (156-157)

I chose this passage because it shows that the crewmen weren't really thinking about getting home. They were being kind of selfish and thought that there was gold and silver in Odysseus' bag. The crew-mates were thinking about themselves instead of getting home. I thought this was pretty selfish of them. They always seem to be causing Odysseus more trouble than what they should. The crew-mates keep making this journey longer than it should be.

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“My message broke their spirit as they recalled the gruesome work of the Laestrygonian king Antiphates and the hearty cannibal Cyclops thirsting for our blood. They burst into cries, wailing, streaming live tears that gained us nothing—what good can come of grief?” (pg 161)

The last line repeats throughout the book and shows importance because Odysseus and his men are just given bad news after bad news and he has to be the one to tell them each time.

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"‘Away from my island—fast—most cursed man alive!
It’s a crime to host a man or speed him on his way
when the blessed deathless gods despise him so.
Crawling back like this—
it proves the immortals hate you! Out—get out!’

This passage is interesting because the king actually wants Odysseus to leave. In all other places they go, Odysseus is the one who has to beg to leave. They always have to fight their way out, but in this instance they are being forced out by the king.

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“Groan as I did, his curses drove me from his halls and from there we pulled away with heavy hearts, with the crews’ spirit broken under the oars’ labor, thanks to our own folly … no favoring wind in sight.”

I chose this quote due to it being the main idea of this story.  Odysseus feels as if he is constantly swimming upstream.  He constantly will get ahead only to be pushed back even further.

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"Straight away she began to swear the oath that I required—never, she’d never do me harm—and when she’d finished, then, at last, I mounted Circe’s gorgeous bed …" (166)

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"Straight away she began to swear the oath that I required—never, she’d never do me harm—and when she’d finished, then, at last, I mounted Circe’s gorgeous bed …" (166)

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I believe that this is a very significant passage because it describes Odysseus cheating on his wife with Circe.  This shows how ungrateful and selfish Odysseus is as his wife has been very patient and faithful towards him while he has not.

This could possibly foreshadow future regret from his wife if she is to find out.

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“‘Off we went through the brush, captain, as you commanded. Deep in the wooded glens we came on Circe’s palace built of dressed stone on a cleared rise of land. Someone inside was plying a great loom, and how she sang—in a high clear voice! Goddess or woman—we called out and hailed her … She opened her gleaming doors at once and stepped forth, inviting us all in, and in we went, all innocence. But I stayed behind—I sensed a trap. Suddenly all vanished—blotted out—not one face showed

again, though I sat there keeping watch a good long time.’”

This passage shows how much of an influence or a sense of leadership the Odysseus has on these men. His judgement is questionable, but these men continue to do what he asks. Due to this one man's thinking, he was able to sense a trap and help the remainder of the men along with Odysseus. Because of this, Odysseus was able to get help from Hermes.

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“At that report I slung the hefty bronze blade

of my silver-studded sword around my shoulder,

slung my bow on too and told my comrade,

‘Lead me back by the same way that you came.’

But he flung both arms around my knees and pleaded,

begging me with his tears and winging words:

‘Don’t force me back there, captain, king—

leave me here on the spot.

You will never return yourself, I swear,

you’ll never bring back a single man alive.

Quick, cut and run with the rest of us here—

we can still escape the fatal day!’

But I shot back, ‘Eurylochus, stay right here,

eating, drinking, safe by the black ship.

I must be off.  Necessity drives me on.’” (163-164)

This passage really stood out to me because it directly shows how good of a leader Odysseus was.  Odysseus would not leave his men behind, even if it seemed futile to try.  He deemed it necessary to go and fight to bring his men back or avenge them, and is a great trait for a leader. Understanding how much Odysseus and his crew cared for each other makes it even more upsetting when you realize he is alone when he tells about the quest later on.

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So I pleaded—gentle, humble appeals—
but our hosts turned silent, hushed …
and the father broke forth with an ultimatum:
‘Away from my island—fast—most cursed man alive!
It’s a crime to host a man or speed him on his way
when the blessed deathless gods despise him so.
Crawling back like this—
it proves the immortals hate you! Out—get out!’

This passage shows how chance is luck is confalted with the justice of gods. If a man like Odysseus is unlucky and is always being set back from his goal it is immediately assumed that he has the gods against him. His men's greed is what set him back from his goal which was not the doing of any gods.

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"Once on our way, I gave the men their orders:
‘You think we are headed home, our own dear land?
Well, Circe sets us a rather different course …
down to the House of Death and the awesome one, Persephone,
there to consult the ghost of Tiresias, seer of Thebes.’"

Here, Odysseus tells his men that they will be taking a different path home rather than going directly back to Ithaca.  This stood out to me especially because it made me realize that Odysseus is quite prone to letting people change his mind.  Circe easily convinced him to take a different path home, thus causing him to embark on a rigorous, dark journey that did not need to be taken. Maybe if he stuck to his plan and didn't consider any ideas from anyone else, he'd be able to return home quickly and efficiently.

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Eurylochus stayed back at Circe’s palace.  He claimed that he sensed a trap but it almost seemed as if he knew there was a trap because he could sense this so called trap before he was even inside.  After the fact, nobody made it back out and then Eurylochus went and told Odysseus, who was still on the ship, and Odysseus stormed in there to help them escape.

This stood out to me because it was almost as if he knew there was a trap set in place, and he just let Odysseus's crew fall right into the trap.  Luckily, after Odysseus was informed of this trap, he met Hermes who gave him a plant to eat so he couldn't be drugged by Circe and he made it out alive with his crew safe.

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“There was a man, Elpenor, the youngest in our ranks, none too brave in battle, none too sound in mind. He’d strayed from his mates in Circe’s magic halls and keen for the cool night air, sodden with wine he’d bedded down on her roofs. But roused by the shouts and tread of marching men, he leapt up with a start at dawn but still so dazed he forgot to climb back down again by the long ladder— headfirst from the roof he plunged, his neck snapped from the backbone, his soul flew down to Death." (Pg. 172)

This passage stood out to me because in the very next book after the Cyclops, Polyphemus, prays to his father Poseidon about Odysseus you can already see the prophecy being put into place. The prophecy told that Odysseus's journey home was to be very difficult and that he would be alone in the end. This proves that prophecy is real and can strike again in any moment.

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“When young Dawn with her rose-red fingers shone once more
I called a muster quickly, informing all the crew,
‘Listen to me, my comrades, brothers in hardship,
we can’t tell east from west, the dawn from the dusk,
nor where the sun that lights our lives goes under earth
nor where it rises. We must think of a plan at once,
some cunning stroke. I doubt there’s one still left.”

This passage stood out to me because it shows that Odysseus is good at increasing the moral of his crew-mates.  The rising moral of the crew helps lead to an increase in hope and unity.  Moral is very important in a crew because it helps keep the them happy and willing to do the things that Odysseus asks of them.