(Free) Agency (3)

AgencyYCN graphic, designed by Oscar & Ewan

The topic of agency has come up in class on numerous occasions, mostly in regards to the relationship between gods and human beings throughout The Odyssey. The burning question seems to be whether or not humans do or do not have agency. Can mortals make their own decisions? Do the gods determine destiny? Do the gods merely tinker with destiny? Do the gods really even care about destiny? Or are the humans merely pawns for the gods, toys they can maneuver, move, manipulate, and play with at their own leisure? 

This question of agency/free will versus destiny is one that many people continue to ask today - though perhaps with different terminology and a different purpose - and the ensuing discussion often ends up arriving nowhere, caught up in a cycle that can be difficult to detangle. These discussions are probably worth having, but for the sake of this discussion space, I'd like you to reflect on these topics only as they pertain to The Odyssey.To what extent do the gods control the destiny of human beings? To what extent (if at all) do human beings control their own destiny? To what extent do gods control the destiny of other gods (begging the question of who, if anyone, is actually in charge of things)?

Certainly Odysseus is an easy target in this discussion since his interaction with the gods is often painfully apparent throughout the text. But I'd like you to set Odysseus aside and instead focus on another character, commenting on that mortal's/immortal's relationship and interaction with the gods, being careful to note specific references to personal agency, divine intervention, and the like. Make special note of references that might seem to contradict one another, offering a theory about how the two can co-exist peacefully in the text. In the end, what observations and conclusions (if any) can we as readers draw about the intersection of humanity and divinity, and the intersection of agency and destiny, in The Odyssey?

Remember to include pertinent book and line references.

The Main Event: Plot v. Character (2)

In his essay "On Stories" C.S. Lewis says:
"...the Story itself, the series of imagined events, is nearly always passed over in silence, or else treated exclusively as affording opportunities for the delineation of character."

There are two main schools of thought when it comes to what drives a narrative and what causes it to pull on the human imagination. One - that the events are the most important element. Two - that the characters are the most important element. (You may remember that our working definition of 'narrative' is a story plus narrative discourse, and that our working definition of 'story' is that which has both an entity (character) and an event.)

Of course, it's not as simple as either A or B, i.e. it is not ONLY characters which drive a narrative or ONLY events which drive a narrative. Still, most of us are enamored and engaged by one or the other to a greater degree.

Now that you are almost halfway through The Odyssey, do you find yourself leaning towards the character camp or the event (plot) camp? What keeps you engrossed in the book (besides the fact that it's required for the class) - wanting to know what happens next, or wanting to know more about a certain character? Please provide some specific examples from the text (book.line) to explain your position.