Greek Myths and The Thief

So far we have discussed how the world of the Thief connects to Ancient Greece in its setting and stories, and we have also made connections between Gen's story and the hero's journey. For our next blog post, everyone will choose a Greek myth that they like and connect the myth to Gen's journey by using the Hero's Journey. You can use the same part of the Hero's Journey that you explored before, or you can choose a new part.

Here is an example of the kind of blog posts we will be writing:

The myth of Hermes and Argus to connect to the Thief because in both stories, the hero uses cunning instead of strength to achieve his goals. In this myth, Argus is chosen by Hera, queen of the gods, to guard Io, a woman who was turned into a cow. Hera wants Argus to prevent Io from escaping because she is jealous that Zeus preferred Io over her. Zeus wants to free Io, so he sends Hermes to help her escape. Hermes cleverly bores Argus to sleep by telling him a long story, allowing Io to flee.

This story connects to the Thief because both Hermes and Gen use unusual methods to achieve their goals. In The Thief, Gen's special weapon is thievery, which he uses to steal the Gift and to keep it hidden from the magus until the group reaches Eddis. In the story of Hermes and Argus, Hermes does not fight Argus, but instead uses his wits and bores him to sleep. Neither Gen nor Hermes act like traditional heroes, since they use trickery instead of fighting, but they both manage to achieve their goals. 

In this post, I made sure to include several important elements:

1. I started by stating the connection between the two stories.
2. I summarized the myth in a few sentences.
3. I connected both stories to a part the hero's journey (in my post, I used the Special Weapon, but you can use whichever part you want).

Your challenge is to make a post that incorporates all three of these elements. In your post, please write at least 1 paragraph. I will help you find connections with whatever story you choose. 

Is Gen a Hero?

Last time we discussed the book, we discussed whether or not Gen could be considered a hero. We found that he had some heroic traits, but mostly, people thought that he was not really a hero. Some points that people had were:

Heroic

• He stole Hamiathes' Gift
• He was the hero of Eddis (although not of Sounis)
• The story is through his point of view, so the readers are rooting for him
• He felt bad about stealing the Gift from the gods
• He works for the greater good
• He chose not to kill when he had the opportunity

Not Heroic

• He steals things
• He is not smart (although some people disagreed with this point, and we will come back to it later!)
• He uses betrayal to his advantage
• He has bad or no morals
• He went to jail
• Heroes aren't scared of fighting
• He hid the Gift from the Magus

However, Gen's story maps almost perfectly onto The Hero's Journey. For your first blog post, choose a part of the Hero's Journey and find a part of The Thief that matches that part of the journey. Together, we can parallel the entire Hero's Journey to Gen's journey in The Thief.

And if you want to, add your own thoughts about whether or not Gen is a hero. What are the requirements for a hero? How does Gen compare to other heroes you know?

Introduction

Welcome to the Thief Response Project!

We will be writing a series of blog posts, starting this week, in response to Megan Whalen Turner's novel The Thief.

Last week, the group shared their thoughts about the book. Generally, people felt that the beginning moved a little too slowly, but by the end it was very exciting. Ms. Turner used a storytelling strategy where she only revealed a little bit to the reader at a time, which some people found frustrating.

Some people also found the names in the story difficult to pronounce. Since the world of The Thief is based on Ancient Greece, some of the names sounded a little bit foreign. I created a pronunciation guide for us to use so that we don't stumble over the names in the future.

Eugenides – you-GEN-i-dees
Ambiades – am-bi-AH-dees
Sophos – SO-fos
Hephestia – he-FES-ti-a
Hamiathes – ha-mi-AH-thees

If we come across more difficult Greek words, we can add them to the list.

Have fun blogging!