Jason and the Argonauts Answers

Question 1: I think That Jason and the Argonauts fits very well with the cycle of a hero but it is in a different order. First, he is born, and his uncle Pelias tries to kill him but he fails. Then, after being taught by Chiron, he sets off to to get his kingdom back from Pelias but Pelias sends him to get the golden fleece, which is the call to adventure. Before this, Chiron teaches him, which is the helper part. Jason crosses the threshold by building and setting sail on the Argo, his boat. One of the tests he faced on his journey was when he tried to get through the clashing rocks before the island which held the golden fleece, after he had recruited the Argonauts. Before this though, he ad to find helpers, which were the Argonauts he recruited through out his journey. The final battle was when Jason fought Medea to get the fleece, then, once he had retrieved the fleece, he escaped on the Argo. He then returns to his right full kingdom and shows Pelias the fleece, the return and elixir stage. Finally he becomes king of his home, the home stage.

Question 2: I think they have represented the hero accurately but in other myths I have read the hero was not so drippy; in the cartoon version of Jason and the Argonauts Jason was very dependent on other people, and like the documentary said, he was more normal than someone like Odysseus or Hercules. I think the helpers, or the Argonauts in this case, were smarter than in other myths like the myth about Odysseus. In that myth they just followed Odysseus blindly where ever he went.

Question 3: I think that the Argo and some of it's voyages could have been real. I don't think Jason and the Argonauts or the quest for the golden fleece were real though. But the documentary we watched in class proved that a ship like the Argo could be made, and the same materials used in the myth were found. Also many of the places the Argo was said to have travelled exist, such as Lemnos and the Clashing Rocks, so a great journey through those places could have existed weather it be an explorer, or a writer inventing stories about the places.

Curiosity, safe, or dangorous?

The African myth, Orphan Boy, and the Greek myth, Pandora, warn us of how curiosity can often challenge authority. In the myth, Orphan Boy, the boy could be described as the one with authority, and the old man could be humanity. The old man challenges the boys authority by following him even when the boy told him not to, he was just too curious, this led to the suffering of humanity. In Pandora, the god, Zeus, sent a box to Pandora to punish Prometheus' brother for being curious about humans. This myth shows 2 sets of evidence for my thesis because Pandora could not resist opening the box, and that led to the suffering of humanity as well. Why did those in power squash those with questions? Is it because they are afraid of rebellion? Or do they just not want to get suggestions from there followers?

My name

My Name

Why was I named Daniel? Because my mom and dad liked it that’s why! They had no idea that it meant, “God is my judge” in Hebrew, or “Attractive” in Irish. They just thought, “let’s name him Daniel” my sister on the other hand, who was 6 at the time, decided she wanted to call me, “Buzzy Bee” After 12 years, I still can’t imagine why.
From when I was about one, I was called “Foo” at home. I think it was my brother who home happily yodeling “Little rabbit foo foo” so I guess it just stuck with me but after 7 years I had had enough. I thought I was manly enough to be called Daniel at home as well as in public.
Now back to when I was named Daniel. Apparently my parents named me Daniel because it was common, but not that common and it sounded a bit conservative and smooth, not like “Brick” or “Thud”
What about my last name, Beaumont? Well for a start, Beaumont is French for beautiful mountain and I’m from New Zealand. I suppose way back when, I had a French relative who climbed a mountain. I think Beaumont is a nice, smooth name as well and I think Daniel Beaumont fits all right, not like Thud Beaumont.
Over the past few years I have really just started to think about my name, and I’ve realized that I quite like it. I think I suit it. And I think it suits me. So I think my parents made a great choice.

Common Elements in Creation Myths

Pictures by Alexandre Calame

As the Greek poet, Homer, wrote, “All men have need for gods.” This quote fits with a few of the common elements in myths. These elements are; good vs. evil, great sacrifices and the idea of a supreme being. These fit into many of the creation myths from around the world which is odd because all of these myths come from completely different places. Good vs. evil fits
in perfectly with a Norse creation myth with 2 opposite worlds waging war against each other. This myth comes from Scandinavia and the Vikings (the exact author is unknown) and there are many other creation myths with this same element further south such as a Babylonian myth which also has a war between 2 worlds. Phan Ku, a Chinese creation myth, deals with great sacrifices and a supreme being. It is about a giant scary supreme being who starts to create the world, and then sacrifices himself to finish it. This next myth also uses a supreme being, and it comes from Canada. That’s nowhere near China! It is an Inuit myth and has a kindly raven to create the world and man. In a way it is very much like Phan Ku but without the Supreme Being appearing giant and scary. This proves that the idea of a Supreme Being is truly a common element in creation myths. How did these common elements appear in so many different places? “All men have need for gods”. Well, why? I think Homer was right. It is human nature to be curious and ask questions so if man did not believe in anything, they would have no answers and in those days they did not have the science to explain their world. In a way, we still use myths to explain our world with religion because we are only just working out how everything came to be. I wonder if we will ever find the answers we need to live without myths or religion.

Why I chose the quote and the picture.

"There must be a beginning to any great matter, but continuing unto the end until it be thoroughly finished yields the true glory" Francis Drake
That is the real quote, but I had to cut it to get it to fit in the title.
The quote says that completing the journey is what matters. If you give up half way through, you will receive nothing, but if you complete it, you will get the rewards. Even if you don't get any physical rewards, you will get plenty of mental ones.
I chose this picture to go with the quote because it signifies a journey. This ship could be on a journey to get through the storm, but it is turning away because it thinks it cannot complete the journey.

Pills of the Giver

In class today we did a fishbole about the Giver so far, mainly on the pills Jonas takes. I think Jonas needs the pills to stop wanting to get married and have children, I think that is for everyone. Because the government gives you a child from the birthmother and you can't have your own, the government stops you from wishing you could have the certain feelings that you have when you have kids. I think Jonas' dream is kind of similar to adolesence because he had the feelings that you get when you are in puberty years. I think they have to share dreams and feelings to see if anything is different to what it is supposed to be, so that the other people there can alert the government about it.

How many kids should we have?

Today we said if we agree with the one child polacy or with everyone having 8 kids. I do not agree with having 8 kids or with being restricted to one child. Everyone having lots of kids will make the world over populated like it did to China when Mau was in control. But being restricted to only having one child will ruin the busineses and everyone will stop working as hard. I think everyone should be able to have up to 5 kids as long as they know what they are doing and are wealthy enough to care for them. The parents need to be educated enough to understand what they are doing so they can stop having kids after the number they want. People should be able to choose if they want to have children or not.

1 Child or 5, both have there disadvantages

Today we talked about China's one child policy and we came up with a headline for it. Mine was "1 child or 5, both have there disadvantages" I chose this headline because China's one child policy has a lot of bad things about it but it has some good things about it too. Having one child is one thing, you can choose if you want 1 or more, but having to have only one is completely different. You should be able to choose weather or not you have one child or 3. But if everyone has to many children China won't have enough resources to keep the living conditions stable and for everyone to have good work. I think that you should have the choice to have more than one child, but maybe no more than 4. That way there will be enough people to have good economy and sutible living conditions. China won't be under-populated but it won't be over populated either, so like I said, 1 child or 5, both have there disadvantages.

Interpritation of Sonnet 7

At first I thought this was talking about a king, then the sun and back to the king. It gives off the impression of it being a king many times with out stating it. When it says that he attends on his Golden Pilgrimage and unlooked on diest unless thou get a son. Kings tend to be rich and they tend to want sons (no offence to a king if he reads this). This is what I think happens in the poem, the king has climbed up a steep heavenly hill to look at the rising sun. It then implies that the king is strong, even though he is middle-aged but normal people still adore his beauty. But when he is at a feeble/old age, he dies, or reels from the day. I don't know what the next few lines mean but the last line could mean that before he did die he would have to have a son which he didn't. Maybe it was through some sense of pride that made him want a son, not a daughter.
This is my interpretation of sonnet 7... for now.

The MesMaps (The Mesopotamian Maps)

My headline for today's activity is; The MesMaps (The Mesopotamian Maps). This relates to the Maps of Mesopotamia we looked at. We looked at modern day Mesopotamia and ancient Mesopotamia. We used the "See, Think, Wonder" strategy to compare these maps. It was fairly easy to see which map was the oldest one. All you had to do was to look at the names of the places and if there were any borders. In Mesopotamia there were empires, such as Babylonia and Sumer. The empires reasonably close to each other so they would have had wars with each other but they still would have had cherished. You could see that Mesopotamia was one place and it covered that entire area however now that area consists of many countries.
This was my thinking for "The MesMaps."