A Penguin with a Book

A memoir of a Great Books warrior in the first regiment: A war was about to begin. This was not just any crusade, for it would be intriguing and require deep strategy. I was going to be training with the Great Books army. I knew before going into the class that it would require work, but that the toil would be worth it. Studying war tactics and strategy and planning my own attacks was, and is, very appealing. However, there was that worry (once again), if I would be able to connect with the other fighters. A troop of fifteen warriors was a lot more in my mind that the seven there had been in the Intro to Great Books military over the summer. I had also been the youngest in my class before, but that was in elementary school where the whole class was close in age. These people were full time members of the army, whereas I was only a part time member. Nevertheless, I was excited to enter the army and have the experience. It came as a nice surprise when I found one of my friends was ...

Orestes is placed on trial for matricide in “The Eumenides”, one of the worst crimes a person can commit in Ancient Greece. Part of the reason he did so is because Apollo convinced him he should avenge his father’s murder. The furies now want justice served to him, and so Athena holds the trial to determine if he is guilty or not. Apollo makes an argument in his defense of Orestes that seems to slander woman, but in reality is not. In his argument, Apollo states, “[t]he woman you call the mother of this child / is not the parent, just a nurse to the seed, / … The man is the source of life - the one who mounts. / She, like a stranger, keeps / the shoot alive unless god hurts the roots” (260). It sounds like Apollo is saying the mother is really no mother to the child at all, and the only purpose for which she exists is to bear the child. He then presents his reasoning behind his statement. “The father can father forth without a mother. / Here she stands, our living witness” (261). Ap...