In this commentary, select a passage from The Odyssey, briefly put the passage in the context of the work as a whole, and connect it to an idea, principle, or example from Jonathan Shay’s book, Odysseus in America. Feel free to agree or disagree with Shay’s idea or principle and its connection to The Odyssey. Please quote both from The Odyssey and from Shay’s book. You’ll find the complete bibliographic information about Shay’s book below.

Shay, Jonathan. Odysseus in America: Combat Trauma and the Trials of Homecoming. New York: Scribner, 2002.

Note: I meant to put only the book titles in italics here.

Criteria for Evaluating Your Connection Commentary
(4 points earned for each item below, for a total of 20 possible points)
1) You identify a specific passage, element, theme, or quality of the work that surprises, pleases, confuses, amuses, dismays, or simply strikes you as noteworthy, and explain why you chose it.
2) You make a convincing connection between that passage, element, theme, or quality of the work that you have chosen and some particular element or experience from your own life, from contemporary culture, or from another time and culture in World Lit.
3) To keep your comments specifically rooted in the text, you quote at least once from the work within your paper (in addition to quoting a passage at the beginning).
4) You write in grammatically correct, clear sentences. You proofread carefully and
there are a minimum of grammatical or other errors in your paper.
5) You show your mastery of language by going beyond clear, correct sentences to write graceful, concise, and varied sentences, with virtually no errors in your paper.