Week 6 Reading Diary: Monkey King

Unit:  Monkey King

11.       Handsome King of the Apes-  This is the first fairy tale story that I have read this unit and it starts as any fairy tale should.  Also it seems like there is always hidden behind a waterfall.

22.       The Great Sea-  For a fairy tale, this touches on a fairly serious issue of mortality and coping with eventually dying.

33.       Sun Wu Kung Gets His Name-  Wu Kung has come a great deal from knocking out a fisherman and stealing his clothes.  It seems like many years pass also where Wu Kung does menial things.

44.       The Master- I feel like I am missing something that would come with living in the Chinese culture because a lot of this section did not make sense to me.

55.       Learning the Art-  I chose this unit because I heard that one of my favorite childhood shows, Dragon Ball, was based on this unit.  The resemblance is starting to show up in my opinion.  Also, while I don't know what they mean, I feel like the use of numbers such as three and 72 have significance.

66.       Sun Wu Kung Departs- Banishing Wu Kung is an awfully harsh punishment for turning into a pine tree.  I don't think I would have made it very long under that master because I would have pulled some sort of prank way sooner than that.

77.       The Devil-King- I've enjoyed how this unit doesn't start right off the bat into an action section like this but instead builds into it.  Also that must have been a gigantic cave if the Devil-King was that big.

88.       The Dragon-King-  This section is a little clunky to read as it jumps around very quickly. 

99.       The Dragon-Queen- At first I liked Son Wu Kung but he is turning into a jerk.  I can see now why the synopsis said that the Buddha decides to deal with him.

110.   The Nether World*- Usually trips to the underworld come with some trial and tribulation, but Wu Kung had none.  I don't like stories with a hero that doesn't struggle but this one isn't terrible since it is a bit more entertaining.

111.   The Lord of the Heavens-  Sun Wu Kung reminds me of the Clampetts from the Beverly Hillbillies, where he has no idea what the customs are and just does his own thing.  However, he is becoming more and more arrogant.

112.   The Great Saint- Are the devil-kings there to cause mischief or are they denizens of Wu Kung's island? 

113.   Notscha, Son of Li Dsing-  I keep reading these chapters and get more and more excited for Wu Kung to get smacked down.  However, I do like how the gods aren't all powerful like in Greek Mythology; it makes Sun Wu Kung's tales more enjoyable.

114.   The Queen-Mother of the West-  The more the main gods try to involve themselves in trying to prevent Wu Kung from mischief he only gets into so much more.

115.   Laotzse-  How many times can they become immortal?  It seems that the fruits and pills and such all grant immortality many times over.

116.   Guan Yin-  This is the second time it mentions someone being giant and having a black face, is there significance to this?

117.   Yang Oerlang-  This section reminds me of the fight between Merlin and the witch in the old Disney movie The Sword in the Stone, where the combatants keep changing into things that can defeat each other.

118.   Buddha-  This sections looks like its going to have a neat ending, where Wu Kung is not beaten by force but by someone who is wise.

119.   The Destiny of Sun Wu Kung-  I'm going to have to read up on how Buddha so easily handles Wu Kung because it doesn't make any sense to me that the Buddha is so much stronger than the gods and Wu Kung.

220.   Journey to the West (synopsis)-  I like how this section has a synopsis section for a conclusion for the conclusion of Wu Kung's journey.  I wish other sections (Iliad and Odyssey) had this as well.  Also this was the reason as to why I chose this unit, as many of the described characters here are the basis for many of the Dragon Ball characters.

221.   Journey to the West (conclusion)-  I found this section to be my favorite of all sections because you saw Wu Kung's rise to power, his arrogance, his punishment, and his salvation.  It also flowed very well from chapter to chapter and had a resolution.

Arabian Nights Tricksters Essay, Week 5

Tricksters in Arabian Nights

   What stood out for me in Arabian Nights was the large amount of tricksters found in the stories.  The heroine Scheherazade, the three old men who help the merchant, the fisherman, the physician, and the Sultan could all be considered tricksters.  I would consider these characters to be not foolish but rather wise and well spoken.  Scheherazade is able to trick her husband, the Sultan, into not killing her and she instead stalls him with elaborate and lengthy stories.  The three old men who help the merchant manage to convince the genie to spare the merchants life with what I believed to be made up stories, but I could be wrong.  The physician manages to kill the Sultan from the story within a story by tricking him into licking a poisoned book.  The fisherman tricks the genie into sparing his life by betting the Genie that he couldn't fit back into his lamp.  Finally, the Sultan from the fisherman's story manages to trick the enchantress into believing he was the slave, allowing him to change everything back to normal and to kill her.  The other characters generally have a poor experience when meeting these trickster; most of characters that interacted with the tricksters ended up dead or they were dissuaded from their original plan.  Also, the other characters generally don't realize what is going on until it is too late for them.  

Scheherazade.  Web Source:  Wikipedia 

   The latter half of Arabian Nights had a trickster, but it wasn't Aladdin.  I considered the magician from Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp to be probably the best trickster from the section.  He convinces Aladdin and his mother that he is a long lost uncle, he convinces Aladdin to retrieve the lamp, and he tricks the princess into trading the magic lamp for a useless lamp.  However, I found him to be foolish because he gives Aladdin a genie from the start since he gave him a magic ring and also leaves him with the magic lamp.  He could have easily overpowered Aladdin after he got him out of the cave.

Week 5 Reading Diary: Arabian Nights

Arabian Nights

1.  Scheherazade
 I enjoyed how this story unit begins, it introduces the characters in a much better fashion than the previous readings that I have done.
2.  The Story of the Merchant and the Genius
I wasn't fond of the word choice of genius for genie because although they might have similarities in terms of word origin, I found it to be distracting since in modern sense they are not similar in meaning at all.  Also why couldn't the Merchant just not return to the spot where the genie would kill him?  It seems like the genie didn't intend on hunting him down.
3.  The Story of the First Old Man and of the Hind
How there is a story inside a story reminds me of all of the Inception jokes that people made when they came out.
4.  The Story of the Second Old Man, and of the Two Black Dogs
Scheherazade does do a good job of making you want to read the next story.  I usually feel like I'm going through a checklist reading these stories but I haven't felt like that with this so far.
5.  The Story of the Fisherman
If I was the fisherman, I would try wishing for death by extremely old age.  On another note I like how Arabian Nights appears to be divided into 3 different stories told by Scheherazade, it adds different elements to the overall same theme.
6.  The Story of the Greek King and the Physician Douban
Not much to say about this story other than it is neat how polo was around back then and how there is another layer to this Inception-like story.
7.  The Story of the Parrot; The Story of the Ogress
While the story of the parrot made sense in how it compared to the king's situation with the physician, I found the story of the ogress to be confusing.
8.  The Story of the Physician's Revenge
This was a good story, but I wished that it kept to its non-magical tone that it had for a majority of the second layer story.  The dismembered head talking threw me off since it came out of nowhere.  I did find the way the physician killed the king to be clever and I am surprised some sort of Sherlock Holmes or CSI show hasn't ripped it off.
9.  The Story of the Sultan and the Fish
Its a little annoying how the stories are jumping around now, but it makes sense since Sheherazade is trying to buy time and is following tangents of stories and stall.
10.  The Story of the Young King of the Black Isles
Definitely a good ending to this subunit of Arabian Nights, although it did stray pretty far from where it started.
11.  Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 1
I found the dad dying from Aladdin not working to be a somewhat amusing way for the father to die.  Also I can see underlying similarities between the Disney and original versions.
12.  Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 2 
I wish it explained why the Sultan decided to forgo his promise to Aladdin's mother, hopefully it explains itself in a later story.
13.  Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 3
I could see how the story ending here would have a good ending.  I don't like Aladdin in this version though so I could see how things might change.
14.  Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 4
Aladdin isn't that bright if he left an all powerful genie's lamp out in the open, if it was me, I would have it locked up better than Fort Knox.
15.  Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 5
I guess I thought that something bad would happen since part 4 said if it ended there it would have been a happily ever after story.
16.  Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 6
I was a little confused by what the Roc's egg meant.  Do genies serve Rocs?  Either way I wish this unit had some conclusion on what happened to Scheherazade.

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Week 4 Essay The Voyages of Sindbad: Story Analysis

The Voyages of Sindbad:  Story Analysis

           For this essay analysis, I will focus on the topic of a recurring motif in The Voyages of Sindbad.  This by far, and in fact in probably all of my reading experiences during my life, has the most formulaic repetition of a motif.  My reading of The Voyages of Sindbad was definitely a roller coaster experience and especially my opinion of the story.  At first, I enjoyed the smooth writing style that was presented and the apt use of description.  I had previously read both the Iliad and the Odyssey and I felt like this was a superior story in terms of reading flow, description, and story progression in the sections.  However, my enjoyment of The Voyages of Sindbad quickly plummeted as I began to realize that the entire story had a formulaic pattern:  Sindbad travels to see, his travel is abruptly stopped, he and/or the people with him are placed in danger which results in his companions being eaten, he finds treasure which he takes with him, and then he is miraculously saved after which he returns home a rich man.  There were countless variations of this basic framework in The Voyages of Sindbad but much to my dismay it felt very monotonous reading. 

Sindbad and the Old Man of the Sea.  Web Source:  Stefanmart.de

        After I had time to get over my frustration of the reading, I tried to reason why the story was told as such.  At first I tried to find perhaps an underlying theme that links these tales together.  Maybe these situations were symbolic of an overlying theme or message.  I attempted to reason for this but I got nowhere.  Next, I thought maybe the stories were supposed to build up into a climax.  While one could maybe draw this conclusion since his situations get more convoluted and dire, I don't believe this is the case since he was in danger the entire time.  Finally, after much deliberation, I decided that my opinion was the The Voyages of Sindbad was written as such to show the helplessness of man.  Having read previously other Arabic texts, I've often seen this idea that man has little influence on the world and only survives.  I believe that this is the case for this story as well since Sindbad is just drug along the swift current of his circumstances.  Again, I don't have much support for this claim but that was the interpretation I came up with after reading this story.

Reading Diary Week 4: The Voyages of Sindbad

Week 4 Reading Assignment:  The Voyages of Sindbad

1. First Voyage [The Island]-  Right off the bat I like how Sindbad regales his adventures.  The beginning has a good start for an adventure as such, giving a little background but not too much.  Having read the Odyssey and having seen your comment of its similarity, I have to say so far Sindbad reads better due to it being in first person.
2. First Voyage (cont.) -Having read Arabic writings before in previous classes, you can feel the same overlying style of writing that I have previously read before in this tale.  
3. Second Voyage [Valley of Diamonds] -  You would think captains of ships would have some sort of passenger log or have someone make sure everyone on board.  If it was me, I would probably never get off of the ship due to their lack of concern for passengers.  Hopefully this theme of Sindbad getting lost doesn't keep recurring throughout the story.
4. Second Voyage (cont.)- It's funny reading this now and hearing the description of the rhino, which must have not been very know to the audience.
5. Third Voyage [The Giant]  What is the difference between a castle and a palace?  Sindbad seems somewhat disappointed upon realizing it was a castle.  Also, having no idea what the contents of this story was, I am someone disappointed to see that Sindbad is so reliant on chance.  Also the description of how the giant ate the captain was somewhat funny because it was written so nonchalantly.  I can see how the similarity to the Odyssey is beginning to shape out though.
6. Third Voyage (cont.) Now the similarities to the Odyssey really take place, everyone is eaten except the protagonist.
7. Third Voyage (end) Ok I am beginning to become annoyed with all of the luck Sindbad has, he avoids getting eaten by snakes and giants, he has been shipwrecked, he has been castaway, and he has been attacked by hairy dwarfs.  I can understand the idea of a hero having good fortune but this is ridiculous.
8. Fourth Voyage [The Wife] Oh goodness, I did not expect Sindbad to be shipwrecked....oh goodness, everyone was eaten except Sindbad...oh goodness, Sindbad becomes rich by some odd chance.  In all seriousness at least there is some novelty in that he teaches the country to make saddles and bridles, even though the sailors from that country were obviously in contact with Arabic culture and could have easily described these two things that make riding a horse much easier.
9. Fourth Voyage (cont.) After having Anatomy with human dissection and also been on a farm where you sometimes find decomposing animals, I could only imagine how terrible this sealed up cave smelled.
10. Fourth Voyage (end)*  I have accepted my fate of reading this story and I will begrudgingly continue reading this tale.  It should be renamed The Very Close Calls and Insane Luck of Sindbad, however, due to this being the main theme.  I came into this story expecting Sindbad to be some amazing captain who traveled the world having adventures and fighting monsters.
11. Fifth Voyage [The Old Man]  I actually found this one pretty funny seeing Sindbad's predicament.  You would think Sindbad could beat the old man up or something.  This adds to my already low opinion of Sindbad as he is so easily beat by an old man.
12. Fifth Voyage (cont.) Was the old man magical or was he just an old man?  Also I wish things were as easy now as just throwing rocks at monkeys to take their coconuts in order to make a considerable sum.
13. Sixth Voyage [The Raft]-  I feel like my comments now are not very good but these stories repeat the same pattern:  Sindbad decides to go on a journey, he gets lost or shipwrecked, the crew with him dies, he finds treasure, he finds his way home, and then rinse and repeat.
14. Sixth Voyage (cont.) It looks like the majority of places that Sindbad travels to is under the Islamic Caliphate.
15. Sixth Voyage (end) At least these sections paint a picture of what times might have been like during the times of the caliphate in Arabic areas.
16. Seventh and Last Voyage [The Elephants]  I am actually surprised Sindbad make it to Serendib without some weird experience.  If I was Sindbad in this situation I would try to buy back my freedom since he has a vast fortune back in Baghdad.
17. Seventh and Last Voyage (cont.)  Well this was an interesting story altogether but I am glad I finished it.

Week 3 Essay Assessment: The Odyssey

Assessment:  The Odyssey

  For this week's essay option, I decided to look back at my reading of The Odyssey and make an assessment for this unit.  I thought this was a well rounded and easy to read unit compared to most of the other units that I have gone through so far.  The majority of sections in  The Odyssey unit were very good and flowed together very nicely, compared to its Iliad counterpart which felt very disconnected.  However, I did find a couple of sections in the Odyssey unit unnecessary and should be replaced with others.  My main qualm was with the sections involving the ghosts.  While they are definitely an important part of the epic that Homer gives us, I felt like they could have been put as just as an introduction summary for another section.  We are given a long section over a fairly unimportant character who is only mentioned with by his unfortunate death prior to the trip to the underworld.  Also, the ghosts of famous women section, at least in my opinion, was pointless because the majority of these women haven't been brought up in previous sections or they are not commonplace names.  The sections over Agamemnon and Achilles were all right, they did bring some conclusion if you had read The Iliad, but they did bring in new information that didn't fit very well, such as Achilles having a son who fought in the Trojan War also.  The Ghost of Ajax was in my opinion decent.  My main problem was that it was extremely short and again brought in information that didn't further the Odyssey.  

Odysseus.  Web Source:  Hellenica

   In summation, I felt like these 6 or so sections took up too much of the reading and detracted from the total story.  In fact most of the information was summed up at the beginning of The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis, where it says that Odysseus got information on the Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis.  Instead, while I don't know whether this would have worked, but I would have preferred to have some information on when he returns home or even other adventures along the way.  I understand it might not have worked due to a large portion of the book remaining, but I felt like better sections could have been used.  When I finished the Odyssey, I felt like I had watched parts of, for example, the Lord of the Rings where Frodo is on his adventure to Mordor to destroy the One Ring, but never actually saw him destroy it and instead maybe stopped halfway through.  Sure, the majority of parts were good, but without the conclusion you are left somewhat wanting.

Storytelling for Week 3: A Lethal Detour

A Lethal Detour

    After finishing up a contracted operation from the United States Army back in 2006, my Blackwater Team, a private military contracting company, and I were to rendezvous back at the regional operation base 100 miles from our previous target in a small Afghani town.  We completed our mission successfully but my team suffered heavy causalities back at our mission to eliminate a local chief and also lost several of our SUV's to IED's (Improvised explosive devices) on the road.  The trip back that we were on would take a couple days due to problems with locals and poor road conditions.  We rode with poor spirits through this lawless countryside and found an seemingly safe place where we could treat our wounded and rest.  The area we were in was rocky and mountainous, and contained many caves and crevices.  I rounded up a six man team of my remaining healthy men with me to see if the locals were friendly.  While we didn't have food, we did have some good vodka  one of my men had procured from our previous mission to give as a good-willed gesture.  Also most of our larger .308 and .223 rounds were gone, so all we had were our Beretta side arms. We trekked up the nearby mountain with the little ammo we had and eventually stumbled across a vacant village with its back a huge sheer cliff.  After scouting a bit, we decided to make ourselves at home in the house at the back of this abandoned village right next to the cliff.  

     Not much time had passed when we heard a commotion outside.  We stepped out of the house to see several run-down trucks full of at least 20 or 30 armed men.  While we were not wearing U.S. troop gear, we definitely looked like we didn't belong in the mountains of Afghanistan.  Finally noticing us, the obvious leader of their band yelled out in broken English, "Who are you and what brings you to our camp?  You are not American soldiers but do you bring us trouble?"  Since I was in charge, I carefully spoke out, trying to avoid conflict since we were out-manned and outgunned:  "We are private contractors, not part of the U.S. forces and we just seek shelter and rest."  Their leader's eyes blazed with hate and said, "You people are just as bad as they, but I am not going to do anything, however, where are the rest of your men, are they close?"  Knowing that he would hunt down the rest of our injured group, I said, "It's just us, we're a small group and the others with us died from a roadside bomb."  After a silence that seemed to last forever, he lifted up his AK-47 and gunned down two of my men instantly.  We fled inside and watched as he mercilessly destroyed the remains of the two men.  Since the house we were in was backed by the cliff, we had to make due and hold out.  Their leader laughed, blockaded us in, and set up some of his men to make sure we didn't try anything, knowing we couldn't escape but not wanting to lose any men trying to get us out. 

(An Afghan soldier in Loi Kalay,  Websource: Vanity Fair)

     We waited for a while, posted up taking guard shifts, glancing outside to make sure they didn't try to advance.  As night fell, the two men on shift noticed movement outside and quick as a flash, the two of them were consecutively sniped by someone using an old Russian Dragunov sniper rifle.  After hearing the rifle shots and hearing my comrades' bodies hit the floor, I quickly realized the futility of our predicament.  Knowing that their leader was probably nearby, I shouted out as loudly as I could, "We are beaten and you could kill us, but if you spare us we can pay you handsomely in U.S. dollars and we even originally brought you a gift of good Russian vodka."  I opened the door a tiny bit and managed to roll out the couple bottles of vodka we had.  After what seemed like an eternity, we heard a voice from the dark, "Is that all you have?  Throw out the rest of what you have and we'll consider."  After throwing out what we had left, we waited in silence and after some time had passed, we heard the sounds of carousing and the majority of their men began drinking the spirits we had given them.  We glanced out the window and saw most of the guards had gone leaving only a boy too young to drink with his gun trained on the house.  

     Waiting until most of them fell into a drunken stupor, we quickly rushed and overpowered the inexperienced boy guarding us, knocking him out and taking his gun.  We stole our way to where most of the men were passed out from drinking.  We quickly pulled out our knives and began to quietly kill all of the men.  The last one we came across, their leader, was my target so I could enact revenge but against the urging of my men, I decided to not kill him but instead blind him so he could live out the remainder of his days useless.  As I slashed his eyes, he began to scream out in agony and realized his mistake in letting down his guard.  We left him there and made our way back down the mountain to the rest of our team.  At the sight of us, they were filled noticed our missing members and the pitiful state we were in.  We quickly packed things up and headed on our way, leaving that miserable mountain behind. 

Author's Note:  For this storytelling week, I used The Land of the Cyclopes, Prisoners of the Cyclops, and The Cyclops Defeated from Homer's Odyssey.  If you haven't read the original it is essentially Odysseus and his men are trapped by a cyclops in a cave where they are slowly being eaten.  After some time, they trick the cyclops into getting drunk and while he is asleep, they blind him.  They use the cyclops disadvantage of no sight to sneak out but in Odysseus's pride, he reveals his name to the cyclops, who in turn gets his father Poseidon to curse them so they won't return home safely.  I decided to use the idea of private military contractors in Afghanistan because I had just recently watched a Vice piece on their practices in Afghanistan and Odysseus's actions and relation to Agamemnon from both the Iliad and this made decide to use this parallel.  I tried to keep a majority of the story similar to the original but there are some major differences.  In the original, there is only one cyclops, Polyphemus, that Odysseus deals with instead of a group of soldiers.  Also, I decided to omit the play on words Odysseus tells Polyphemus that his name is Nobody.  I tried to make something like that work but I couldn't make it fit.  There are of course other differences but I felt like those were the major ones that would diverge my telling from the original.

Bibliography:  "The Land of the Cyclopes," "Prisoners of the Cyclops," and "The Cyclops Defeated" translated by Tony Kline, from Homer's The Odyssey (2002).  Web source:  Homer's Odyssey

Week 3: The Odyssey

 The Odyssey

1.                   The Land of the Cyclopes

   Right off the bat this retelling of The Odyssey uses much more description than the retelling of The Iliad.  As the reading, you are swept up into the story very quickly due to the description and it transitions very smoothly into the actual events of this section.  I found Odysseus to be somewhat daft though, since he described the cyclops as being giant and terrifying yet he decides to see if he was "cruel."  To me this is like sticking my hand in a obviously hot fire to see if it would burn me.

2.                   Prisoners of the Cyclops

  I like how the story is told in hindsight by Odysseus as he comments on his own actions, I never noticed how it was told like that.  The funniest part of this section was how the cyclops first asks Odysseus and his men intend on bringing evil and then when they tell him he instead brings evil to them.

3.                   The Cyclops Defeated

  I always loved this section of The Odyssey; I still find the play on words of Nobody to be hilarious and as I read it now the revenge on the cyclops is more than just.  The cyclops's hate of Zeus is odd to me since they say Zeus provides them with rain and essentially life.

4.                   Escape from the Cyclops

   I hate reading this section because it always drove me nuts how Odysseus gloats and essentially screws himself.  However, many of us would do the same if we were in that nightmarish situation.  At first I thought the cyclops hated humans all together but it seems like the seer Telemus was on good terms with the cyclopes so I guess the cyclops just really hates Zeus.

5.                   The Curse of Polyphemus

 I felt like this section should have been divided better since part of it involves Polyphemus and the other part involves Circe's island.  I enjoyed how this transitioned though, I said it before but this translation is much better than its predecessor the Iliad.

6.                   Circe's Magic

   The preface confused me, did Odysseus encounter the cannibal Laestrygonians before or after his encounter with Polyphemus.  Odysseus's men are getting eaten left and right.  I found Odysseus's journey to Circe's odd as well: why does Odysseus need to eat Hermes's herb when he can just not eat or drink?

7.                   The Moly Defeats Circe

  It makes sense now why Odysseus ate the herb, since Circe now thinks that Odysseus is more than just a man since he resisted the drugs. I wouldn't mind being a crew member at this point since they are made taller and younger instead of the usually being eaten part.

8.                   On Circe's Island

  What is the point of Circe saying “Odysseus, of many resources, scion of Zeus, Laertes’ son?"  Is there some sort of honorific that doesn't translate well or some sort of custom for all of the extra words.  Also it doesn't say why but why do they stay at Circe's for so long?  It doesn't appear to be the same as the lotus eaters where they are tricked into staying.

9.                   The Death of Elpenor
  Some of the word choices don't make any sense, such as "fill the Groves of Persephone" or "the moist House of Hades."  As I read this section, what purpose does Elpenor's death serve?  This reading has done better in not adding random things and not telling their purpose so hopefully this plays a significant part later on.

10.               Ghosts of Erebus
  This might be a cultural thing but why would Odysseus have guard the sacrifice from powerless ghosts?  Also this section was very repetitive of the last couple since they are doing what Circe told them to do so I don't have too much to say about this section.

11.               The Ghosts of Elpenor and Teiresias
  Why did they leave Elpenor unburied at Circe's island?  I doubt it would have taken long for them to bury them before they departed.  Also it seems like they didn't even know what happened to him and just left him.  While the purpose of the blood is explained, it still seems odd why the ghost would drink the blood.

12.               The Spirit of Anticleia
  Thinking back on it now, what is the point of going to hear another prophecy when Odysseus is going to screw it up anyway?  However, I guess a lot of foreshadowing along with background story explaining is done so I could see this as a tool to explain things that the reader wouldn't know if they kept the regular first person tone of the Odyssey.

13.               The Ghosts of Famous Women
   This section was kind of pointless because it is adding characters that are not only not in the Iliad or Odyssey, but also characters that the modern reader would have no idea who they were.  So far if I could trim down any section it would be this one.

14.               The Ghost of Agamemnon
  In death Agamemnon isn't nearly as pompous as he was in the Iliad alive, but I find his death fitting and agree with his wife for killing him if he had Cassandra there for other reasons.  I am glad this section is in here because I was wondering a couple chapters back what happened to him.  Also the time of all the events here are beginning to throw me off, mainly because Odysseus is taking so long to return home.  If Agamemnon had time to return home you would think that Odysseus would be close.

15.               The Spirit of Achilles
   Why was Achilles' son not part of the Iliad, or at least a mentionable part.  According to Odysseus he seemed to be a great warrior so it's odd to me that he wasn't mentioned.  Also how did Achilles not know that his son was fighting near him?  The only thing I can think of is that death makes forget.

16.               The Ghost of Ajax
  Its becoming hard to talk about these sections since they are so short and really only describe ghosts that Odysseus sees.  This section was a little more likable though since it explains what happened to Ajax and also includes ghosts that I have an idea who they are.

17.               The Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis
  I found this an odd place to end since Odysseus hasn't made it home yet.  However I am glad it ended with a somewhat essential part of the Odyssey instead of the part with the ghosts.  The preface was very useful for this section because it explains better why they had to go to the land of the dead.  After finishing this reading, I wish that it was made into two parts and included more and ended the epic with his return to Ithica.