Book Gray Jones Review Sheet

Book 12: The Cattle of the Sun

Summary: The chapter begins right after Odysseuscomes back from the city of the dead. Immediately returning to Circe’s island to bury Elpenor (he was drunk and fell off a roof) and rest his spirit, the men are greeted by Circe. Circe then offers a much-appreciated meal to the men. Later that day, Circe takes Odysseus away and informs him of his coming trials: encountering the Sirens, Scylla (a six-headed beast), Charybdis (a massive whirl pool that swallows anything and spits it back out), and the cattle of Helios, the sun god. Upon encountering the Sirens, Odysseus plugs the ears of his men and the men tie Odysseus to a pole so that he would be the only one who listened to the song of the Sirens. Next, doing as Circe instructed, the men sail close to the cliff in which Scylla lives rather than sailing near Charybdis. However, Scylla eats 6 men. The men then camp out at Helios’ island, much to Odysseus’ dismay (Circe instructed them not to stay there). Unfortunately, the winds changesand they cannot set sail the next day. Moreover, although Odysseus instructed the men not to slaughter Helios’ cattle, they do so anyways because of their hunger (they ran out of food); but while they chose to eat the cattle, Odysseus was put to sleep by the gods. Eventually, the winds change and they set sail. However, because they killed Helios’ cattle,all of the sailors except for Odysseus were killed as punishment. Odysseus survives by floating on a piece of wood. However, the winds change again, and Odysseus is pushed back past the Scylla and Charybdis and onto Calypso’s island, Ogygia.

Important Themes: 1. The protection of the gods, especially of Zeus, over Odysseus exemplifies his favor among some gods. “And the father of men and gods did not let Scylla see me” (line 482). 2. However, because Zeus did not kill Odysseus after his men killed the cattle, he has gained the hatred of yet another god: Helios, the sun god. 3. The Siren song is simply an argument that offers something favorable to someone. In the Sirens’ case, love was offered. Another version of the Siren song appears when Eurylochus, one of Odysseus’ companions, attempts to get men to slaughter the cattle with him (line 366-378). Men will always fall into this temptation unless they are held back as Odysseus was from the Sirens. 4. Even though Odysseus is in the cultural mythology, he is not perfect. Not even Odysseus could endure the power of the Sirens even though he knew that they would ruin him. “And the heart inside me throbbed to listen longer” (line 209).