The Odyssey
Homer frequently uses the formulaic epithet "the man of twists and turns" to describe the clever protagonist. In Greek, this classic epithet is often translated by scholars as this.
Who is Odysseus?
Athena acted as a ____________ for Telemachus’s transformation, sparking his sudden decision to leave Ithaca and search for his missing father.
What is a catalyst?
Romeo’s melancholy and unrequited love for this character in Act I acts as a stark contrast to his sudden obsession with Juliet.
Who is Rosaline?
Juliet delivers a passionate _______________ on her balcony, unaware that Romeo is listening below.
What is a monologue?
In the Prologue, Jing-mei (June) Woo sits in her mother's chair to play this traditional Chinese game that requires four players.
What is Mahjong?
Hermes provides Odysseus with this magical black-rooted herb with a milk-white flower to protect him against Circe’s transformative potions.
What is Moly?
Antinous and the other suitors proved to be _____________, refusing to mend their ways even after numerous divine omens warned them of their impending doom.
What is incorrigible?
Despite his outward support for the young lovers, Friar Laurence offers a critique of Romeo's shifting affections with this famous line beginning, "Young men's love then lies..."
What is "not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes"?
The Nurse agrees to ___________ the secret marriage by arranging the rope ladder for the wedding night.
What is facilitate?
On Popo's deathbed, An-mei stopped being a ghost by doing this to atone for her mother, whose name she was forbidden to speak.
What is cutting her own flesh to put into the soup?
King Alcinous and Queen Arete rule over this seafaring nation, whose lavish hospitality (xenia) finally secures Odysseus a safe passage home to Ithaca.
Who are the Phaeacians?
Odysseus and his crew faced a ___________ journey through the narrow strait, squeezed tightly between the snapping jaws of Scylla and the roaring whirlpool of Charybdis.
What is perilous?
This term refers to lines written in unrhymed iambic pentameter, a style Shakespeare used primarily for noble characters.
What is a blank verse?
Romeo’s sudden _________ to Mantua leaves Juliet isolated and desperate in her bedroom.
What is exodus?
After showing a natural aptitude for this board game and becoming a local prodigy, young Waverly Jong used an "art of invisible strength" to win.
What is Chess?
This second-in-command cousin of Odysseus constantly undermines his authority, instigating both the opening of Aeolus’s bag of winds and the slaughter of Helios’s cattle.
Who is Eurycholus?
Penelope sat alone in her chamber in a ____________ mood, quietly weaving her shroud while reflecting deeply on whether her husband would ever return.
What is pensive?
A rhyme scheme that uses this specific 14-line poetic form that features an abab, cdcd, efef, gg. An Example of this is in The Prologue to Act I.
What is a sonnet?
Intense grief and anger _______ Romeo to challenge Tybalt to a duel to the death.
What is impel?
Ying-ying St. Clair recognizes a deep, passive numbness in her daughter Lena, a trait Ying-ying refers to as this hidden animal spirit.
What is a tiger?
To commune with the spirits, Odysseus had to dig a trench and make libations of milk, honey, sweet wine, barley, and this specific fluid, which he had to guard with his drawn sword.
What is sheep's blood?
The _________ suitors shamelessly slaughtered Odysseus's livestock, drank his finest wines, and disrespected his household without showing a shred of guilt.
What is brazen?
"Beautiful tyrant! Fiend angelical! / Dove-feathered raven, wolvish-ravening lamb!" Juliet uses these rapid-fire pairings to express her cognitive dissonance after which major plot event?
What is learning that Romeo has killed Tybalt?
Lord Capulet and Lord Montague erect gold statues to _______ for the deadly feud that cost their children's lives.
What is atone?
At the end of the book, Jing-mei travels to China to meet these two family members left behind by her mother.
Who are her twin half-sisters?