World Lit Test 1

How can we use wisdom when we read?

Try to find the wisdom in what we read

What is God gives good things to us because of His goodness?

Common grace

What is a way we can read literature in a discerning way?

Look for truths in the text since Christians are called to be discerning (Matthew 10:16)

What chapters of Job are poetry?

3-42

What is poetry in the Hebrew tradition based on?

Parallelism

What is parallelism in Hebrew poetry?

Saying something, then restating it in a different way

What are the three forms of parallelism?

Synonymous, antithetic, and synthetic

What is synonymous parallelism?

The different lines are synonyms, they have the same meaning just restated differently

What is antithetic parallelism?

Stating something, then contrasting or opposing that statement with another statement

What is synthetic parallelism?

The first line starts the though, then the second line finishes it

What makes Job an anomaly in the Bible?

It does not involve Israel and it is poetry

What is a theological work that tries to explain how God is working to people (Why does God do this)?

Theodicy

What is omnibenevolence?

God is good

What is omnipotence?

God is all-powerful

What is it called when the audience knows things that the main character does not know

Dramatic irony

What do the Greek gods do that then explains why bad things happen to good people that God does not do?

Show partiality

Why does Job wonder why God is making him suffer?

Because God is not behaving in the way that Job expects and knows Him to act

What is a main question that is talked throughout the book of Job?

Is God good, or is He just powerful?

What does Job say in Job 31?

God has the right to punish him if he is not innocent, but Job does not know what he did wrong to be punished like this

What does Job know about God?

That it is right for God to punish those who disobey Him.

How does God respond in Job 38?

God tells of how He is all-powerful

Why does God not just tell Job why he was going through was was happening to him?

Answers will vary

What animal does God spend extra time on in Job 39?

Ostrich

Why does God talk about an ostrich so much?

To show how God cares about His creation so much

What does Job do in Job 42?

He repents about having too small of an understanding of God

What are the main characters in Job?

Job - the righteous sufferer

Job’s wife - the voice of despair

Eliphaz - says that Job must have sinned to deserve what he was going through

Bildad - says that Job’s children must have sinned, and that is why Job was being punished

Zophar - says Job deserves more suffering (retributive justice)

Elihu - appears after the three friends fall silent and says that suffering can be discipline and that God is just

God - who allows Job to suffer and appears in a whirlwind at the end

Satan - says Job is only righteous because he is blessed and wants to test him

Where does the Odyssey begin?

In the middle

What is the term for the story beginning in the middle?

in medias res

Why did Homer start the Odyssey in the middle?

Because people already knew the story because it was told orally for years before Homer wrote it down

What do the Greek gods do that Job’s God does not?

The Greek gods change their ways. Job’s God is stable

Why is it hard to please the Greek gods?

You have to please all the different Greek gods and they all have different agendas and favorite people so you can never please everyone at once.

What makes Odysseus special?

He knows how to network so most of the gods like him

Because Telemachus does not know who his father is, what does he not know?

Who he is

What is very significant in Greek culture that you are expected to do?

Show hospitality

Why does Homer not introduce Odysseus until later in the story?

It makes the reader anticipate him more, but also the Greek people already knew the story

When Odysseus decides to leave Calypso, what is he essentially turning down?

Paradise

How do the gods show favoritism to Odysseus?

They help him a lot!

Why does Odysseus stop and admire the Phaeacians’ city?

He longs for his own home and it provides safety, abundance, and it is familiar

What does Homer tend to use a lot of in his writing?

Epic similes

What is an epic simile?

A long simile

Where does Odysseus find his identity?

In where he is from

What does a civilized person have in Odysseus’s mind?

Ships, farms, buildings

What examples could show that the cyclops is more civilized than Odysseus gives him credit for?

The cyclops has well-crafted bowls and can make cheese

Why does Odysseus taunt the cyclops as he is sailing away?

Because of his ego and if you want your name to survive past your death, you need to promote yourself so people can tell your stories.

Who is the prophet Odysseus goes to see in the underworld?

Tiresias

What is a reason why Athena helps Odysseus so much?

Athena is also known for her craftiness so she might of favored Odysseus because of their similarity

Who recognizes Odysseus because of his scar?

Eurycleia

What does Odysseus’s scar represent?

His identity

What does Odysseus’s name mean?

One who is angry and makes others angry or one who suffers and causes others to suffer

What is the full name Odysseus’s grandfather gave him?

Odyssamenos

What is you did something to hurt me, I’ll do something to hurt you? For example, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and life for life.

Retributive justice

From Odysseus’s view, why did the suitors need to die?

Because they had done too many bad things that they and their whole families needed to die

What is the last test before Odysseus is revealed to Penelope?

The bed

What does deus ex machina mean?

God from the machine (Toy Story)

What does the Odyssey not have that Aristotle wants?

A logical ending

How does the Odyssey end?

Zeus and Athena take Odysseus and Telemachus and make everything right

When Odysseus finds his father, what does he decide to do?

Abuse and trick him

What is a change Odysseus needs to have?

To not be suspicious of everyone

What are the main characters and roles in the Odyssey?

Odysseus - main character

Penelope - Odysseus’s faithful wife

Telemachus - Odysseus’s son trying to find his father

Athena - god who helps Odysseus and Telemachus

Poseidon - god who gets angry at Odysseus for blinding his son the Cyclops

Eumaeus - swineherd who shelters Odysseus while he is in disguise

Philoetius - helps Odysseus fight the suitors

Eurycleia - nurse who recognizes Odysseus by his scar

Laertes - Odysseus’s father who hides in isolation until Odysseus returns

Antinous - leader of the suitors who is the first to die

Eurylochus - Odysseus's second in command

Elpenor - dies accidentally and then asks for burial when Odysseus comes to the underworld

Circe - turns the men into pigs

Calypso - nymph who imprisons Odysseus

Tiresias - prophet in the underworld

Polyphemus - cyclops

The Sirens - deadly singers

Scylla - six-headed monster

Charybdis - whirlpool

Helios - sun god whose flock the men eat

Alcinous - Phaeacian king

Nausicaa - princess helper

Achilles - shade in underworld

What was Aristotle?

A poet

Who did Aristotle learn from and then teach?

Learned from Plato, taught Alexander the Great

What does Aristotle want to do?

Understand how things work

What is the study of purposes?

Teleology

What is an emotional release that brings relief or purification?

Catharsis

What are the two words that catharsis could mean and their meanings?

Katharian - to purge

Katharos - pure

What main characteristics will not make the ideal tragic plot?

• Not someone you can’t relate to because they seem too perfect

• Not an evil person who gains riches

• Not a wicked person falling from power

What type of main character would make the ideal tragedy?

Someone who is suffering undeservedly and someone who is between all virtuous and all evil

What does hamartia mean?

Tragic flaw

What does hubris mean?

Excessive pride, over confidence, challenging the gods

What is dramatic irony?

People know a bit about the story before seeing the play

What do people know about Oedipus before seeing the play?

1. He is the savior of Thebes

2. He killed his father and married his mother

What does Oedipus think he can change?

The god’s prophecy

What does Oedipus do when he is accused of killing Laius?

He becomes petty and calls the oracle Teiresias blind

What do all people in the three texts have in common?

Suffering

In Job, what role do God(s) play and how is suffering caused?

God is omnipotent and omnibenevolent and suffering is essentially caused by God

In The Odyssey, what role do God(s) play and how is suffering caused?

The gods are not all-powerful and not all good and suffering is caused partly by the gods, mostly humans and the gods prevent suffering

In Oedipus the King, what role do God(s) play and how is suffering caused?

The gods are all-powerful, not good, and gods are evil and suffering is caused by both humans and gods, but mainly the gods cause suffering

What does Jocasta tell Oedipus to do?

To not believe the prophecy because they did not know that Oedipus was Lais’s son

What are the characters and their roles in Oedipus the King?

Oedipus - tragic hero, king of Thebes

Jocasta - queen of Thebes, wife and mother of Oedipus

Creon - Jocasta’s brother, Oedipus’s brother-in-law

Tiresias - blind prophet

Chorus - voice of Theban elders

Antigone and Ismene - daughters who appear in the end

What does Oedipus’s name mean?

Swollen foot