Gilgamesh Entry #5

"How long is the Eye able to look at the sun?

From the very begginning nothing at all has lasted" Pg. 64

I liked this piece of text a lot for the amount of truth it talks about , it shows Gilgamesh the error in his fears, and it makes him realize that even though the old man has lived as the gods do, inmortaly, nothing is made to last eternally and that is the beauty of everything, things must not last forever or else there would be small beaty in living them. I've suffered from this syndrome , when vacations seem never too end and I get tired of doing things I normally enjoy.

I wonder if this will put an end to Gilgameshs fear, or if he will be satisfied by this answer to his question after traveling for so long, on such a dangerous quest.

Gilgamesh Entry #4

Hero's are alwyas the same, some has to die for them to realize that they were selfish. In Hercules, Megara has to die in roder for him to turn agaisnt Hades. In Tarzan, his gorila father dies and he realizes Jane made him ignorehis family. In Gilgamesh Enkindu died in order for Gilgamesh to realize how mush he had risked by angering the gods. but thtas true human nature, we dont realize we did something wrong until we or someone close to us suffers, then comes the remorse. I mean it, happens to the best of us, I've done it, youve done it when will we ever learn? Gilgamesh Tablets 7 to 9.

• 
  
  What will happen next?


• 
  
  Will this story be alike all others or will it be different?


• 
  
  Will gilgamesh rescue Ekindu from the underworld?


• 
  
  Will he die tryng?

Gilgamesh Entry #3

Gilgamesh is as much as a modern superhero as anybody during his time could be, He defeated a demon with the help of enkindu, he spoke against a goddes and survived her wraith, and moreover he killed the bull of the heavens. This guys to good to be true. The end of Tablet 6 was the closest thing to a cliffhanger ive found in this epic. It makes you feel as if you were watching an action movie on tv and suddenly they cut the scene in the middle of the most exciteing and go to comercials. The thing is that the end of the chapter leaves you with questions such as :

• What will happen next?


• Will there be a consequence for Gilgamesh and Enkidu?


• Will they continue to thwart the gods in thier attempts to put an end to thier glory?


• Why are the gods meeting in council?

I think its going to be the most exciting part of the book, or if it isnt at least its the most exciting part up t'ill now. Pgs 20-36 Tablets 4, 5 and 6

My Opinion of Gilgamesh

I think this epic tells a tale not different from he tale of Heracles son of Zeus, and that of Tarzan. In both tales the men are supposed to be supernaturaly strong, either by living as ekindu among the wild animals, or by being born a son of the gods like Gilgamesh. This makes me wonder how the rest of the epic might turn out, for in the tale of Heracles, heracles decides to stay in the world of the mortals for a woman he loves, and at the begging of his tale, he like gilgamesh looks for glory that will return him as a god. Ekindu is a wild man like Tarzan becoming strong by being born in the wild, both of these are men who until meeting with the woman are more animal than man, this I think women have a special purpose or meaning in both storys that escapes me just now but i think i will grasp it as I read deeper into the epic.

I sometimes feel separated by my freinds by a girl I like, its as if i try to behave differently to win the girl over and then my friends notice it and bug me about it. I think women have a way of changing men both in the epic and reality. I'm not kidding! My dad has behaved differently in occasions to please my mom! He changes the channel from Espn sports to E! enttretainment so that she will be pleased with him!

Gilgamesh Pg 1-20

I wonder what will happen next:

Will women play a great part further on in the epic?

Will the two partners be seperated by greed or other dark intentions?

Gilgamesh Entry #1

"Stormy heart struggled with stormy heart

as Gilgamesh met Enkidu in his rage.

At the marital threshold they wrestled, bulls contending;

the doorposts shook and shattered; the wrestling staggered,

wild bulls locked-horned and staggering staggered wrestling

through the city streets; the city walls and lintels

shuddered and swayed, the gates of the city trembled

as Gilgamesh, the strongest of all, the terror,

wrestled the wild man Enkidu to his knees.

And then the rage of Gilgamesh subsided.

He turned his chest away. Enkidu said:

"You are the strongest of all, the perfect, the terror.

The Lady Wildcow Ninsun bore no other.

Enlil has made you sovereign over the city."

Then Enkindu and Gilgamesh embraced,

and kissed and took each other by the hand." Pg 15, Gilgamesh

This is the first time I read an epic and i ame somehow confused by the format this kind of reading, none the less I notice that they tell the reader that this text is not to be read fast or normaly like any book , but as an epic , a poem with pauses and a rythm. In the passage from page 15 above the two men meet each other none besting the other for they are equal, they are the same , but different to everybody else, they are the two of thier kind , the two strongest of the race of men. at the same time they are different. One, Gilgamesh, comes from the city and the life of a domesticated man but wild all the same, the other, Enkidu, comes from a wild upbringing but is domesticated and seperated from the wild by a woman. I think the reason they fight at first is to prove thier strength to each other, and by fighting they each find and equal in the other, and as they see that none seem to overpower the other they are convinved that they have found another like themselves. Them rejocied by the fact that they are not alone as they thought, they love each other. I was kind of confused at first but realized that in the time the epic came by other mentions of homosexuality had occured, in the city-state of sparta where men loved their comrades a little too strongly. My first read of gilgamesh is different as my first read to any book would be for this is an epic and I think im not understanding it as I should, or maybe I am but not completely.

The Blog

I'm kinda new at this blog thing, well I think most of us are, but I'll give it a try. This blog's purpose is to show my opinions and interpretations of the books we will read this semester in 9th grade english, I somehow think im gonna like this system way better than having to write interpretations on a piece of paper and having them pile up. The first book in the long list we will read in this class is Gilgamesh, they gave it to us in class today, it looks short but at the same time may be a challnege for us to interpret as it is the first epic we read. Over the summer we read the book Ishmael which was an excellent read, it really makes a person think about how he contributes to end the world everyday and gives us the basis or the theory of how to pull back before its too late. So keep on reading for some more entries on books, the first of which will be Gilgamesh.