Annotated Critical Paragraph
Check this out for the overall structure of a body paragraph as well as what a good body paragraph looks like. The paragraph is republished without the colored sections at the bottom of the page.
Critical paragraph components
Odysseus’s crew faced many dangers and difficult conditions on their voyage home such as hunger, temptations, and death. Odysseus was a leader of a fleet of ships and hundreds of men coming back from Troy. He is trying to get back home to his family and to take back his throne as king of Ithaca. In one scene of the Odyssey, the crew, which is only one ship at this point, has to sail through a cave with a bloodthirsty monster called Scylla. When they reach the monster, it eats up some men right off the boat. “Then Scylla made her strike, whisking six of my best men from the ship.” (1010, l. 809-810) The attack of Scylla devouring multiple shipmates causes death and terror among the crew. Scylla eats a chunk of the few men Odysseus has left which shows that the crew faced death everywhere they go. Another difficult condition the crew had to face was extreme hunger. One time in the story, the crew got caught in a storm and blown into a grotto with cattle, but they couldn’t eat the cattle even though they were starving because they belonged to Helios, the sun god. “Hunger drove them to scour the wild shore… lean days wore their bellies thin.” (1011, l. 850-853) This quote shows that the crew is in dire need of food, and that they will do anything to get any. This part of the story shows that the crew has to face many difficult conditions because they are food deprived that they are at the brink of not surviving. Other dangers the crew had to face were temptations. In one story the crew sailed up to an island. On this island there are flowers that when ingested will make you want to stay on the island forever. “Those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotus… longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland.” (985, l. 97-100) This quote shows that the crew had to refuse the temptation or their journey would be over, because if they ate the Lotus flower they would have fallen under its mysterious trance. This scene of the story shows that the crew had to face dangerous conditions because if they ate the innocent and fragile looking flower they would have been sentenced to a lifetime on the island and never would have made their way back home.
Odysseus’s crew faced many dangers and difficult conditions on their voyage home such as hunger, temptations, and death. Odysseus was a leader of a fleet of ships and hundreds of men coming back from Troy. He is trying to get back home to his family and to take back his throne as king of Ithaca. In one scene of the Odyssey, the crew, which is only one ship at this point, has to sail through a cave with a bloodthirsty monster called Scylla. When they reach the monster, it eats up some men right off the boat. “Then Scylla made her strike, whisking six of my best men from the ship.” (1010, l. 809-810) The attack of Scylla devouring multiple shipmates causes death and terror among the crew. Scylla eats a chunk of the few men Odysseus has left which shows that the crew faced death everywhere they go. Another difficult condition the crew had to face was extreme hunger. One time in the story, the crew got caught in a storm and blown into a grotto with cattle, but they couldn’t eat the cattle even though they were starving because they belonged to Helios, the sun god. “Hunger drove them to scour the wild shore… lean days wore their bellies thin.” (1011, l. 850-853) This quote shows that the crew is in dire need of food, and that they will do anything to get any. This part of the story shows that the crew has to face many difficult conditions because they are food deprived that they are at the brink of not surviving. Other dangers the crew had to face were temptations. In one story the crew sailed up to an island. On this island there are flowers that when ingested will make you want to stay on the island forever. “Those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotus… longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland.” (985, l. 97-100) This quote shows that the crew had to refuse the temptation or their journey would be over, because if they ate the Lotus flower they would have fallen under its mysterious trance. This scene of the story shows that the crew had to face dangerous conditions because if they ate the innocent and fragile looking flower they would have been sentenced to a lifetime on the island and never would have made their way back home.