Please try to give a plot summary for pages 163-175 (only!) in exactly five, relatively simple statements. For example, if I were giving a plot summary of the Psyche story, I might say,
1. Psyche is so beautiful Eros wants her for his bride, even though she is a mortal, but his mother, Aphrodite, disapproves.
2. Psyche and Eros marry, and live happily in their wonderful house, but Psyche never sees Eros; at night he joins her but it is always dark when he does.
3. Psyche's sisters talk her into looking at Eros in the dark, which he has forbidden, and as a result she is cast out from their house and must begin a life of wandering.
4. Aphrodite gives Psyche impossible tasks, like sorting out the seeds, or retrieving the casket of beauty from the underworld; with the help of others, Psyche always succeeds.
5. Eros asks Zeus to ask Aphrodite to cease her anger toward Psyche and allow Psyche to live with him as a goddess on Olympus, and he agrees.
1. Psyche is so beautiful Eros wants her for his bride, even though she is a mortal, but his mother, Aphrodite, disapproves.
2. Psyche and Eros marry, and live happily in their wonderful house, but Psyche never sees Eros; at night he joins her but it is always dark when he does.
3. Psyche's sisters talk her into looking at Eros in the dark, which he has forbidden, and as a result she is cast out from their house and must begin a life of wandering.
4. Aphrodite gives Psyche impossible tasks, like sorting out the seeds, or retrieving the casket of beauty from the underworld; with the help of others, Psyche always succeeds.
5. Eros asks Zeus to ask Aphrodite to cease her anger toward Psyche and allow Psyche to live with him as a goddess on Olympus, and he agrees.
Note that this is an example. You're figuring out the plot of Lavinia, pp. 160-173.
If you can't come up with five statements come up with at least one.
If you can't come up with five statements come up with at least one.
Once you've agreed that you have a good five-statement plot summary, please comment on the behavior of any of the characters. Thank you!
29 comments:
1. Aeneas discusses the last day of the war with Lavinia
2. Lavinia describes when the Trojans and the Latins made their treaty.
3. The death of a swan is taken as a sign to "attack the attacker."
4. The war restarts, and Amata kills herself.
5. Turnus is killed by Aeneas and the war ends.
Amata's death is particularly striking in this section, and her motivation for killing herself is also very interesting. She implies, right before her death, that she feels that the war, and Turnus' actions are her "fault." If Amata hadn't been so keen on making Turnus her daughter's husband, would this war not have happened? Lavinia still is grapling with her disapproval of the way the Latins have handled themselves. While the rest of the people just want war, and don't think about their actions, she has surprising objectivity.
Checking in . . .
1.There is a flash forward showing Aeneas and Lavinia discuss the day that Aeneas kills Turnus and how he was previously wounded to his fight with Turnus.
2. The scene flashes back to that very day, and Lavinia describes her experience at the altar where the supposed peace treaty was made.
3.The treaty is broken by Rutulian common people when a bird quarrel overhead is taken as an omen meaning that the people need to defend their king.
4. Lavinia escapes from the fighting scene with her father and describes her view of the war from her house as she has previously done (i.e. what she can here, what news messengers and wounded men bring.)
5. Amata, the queen, is found by one of the women in her room having hanged herself, outside the walls of the house the noise quiets down, and Lavinia knows this to mean that Aeneas has defeated Turnus in combat and the war has ended.
I agree with Jake about Amata's feelings. She, previously in the story, has appeared as the "bad guy", or uncooperative woman who no one can deal with because she is queen. When she kills herself after expressing a disguised concern that this might be the case, her trouble is, in a way, made up for because people must pity her.
It's Rosamund.
Aneas and Lavinia talk and He tells her about the last day of the war.
Their talk is over and Lavinia wakes up the last night of the war.
There is some activity wit birds overhead and it is seen as an omen...
Into that silence Tolumnius shouted out, "An omen! An omen! Rutulians, Latins, obey the omen! Attack the attacker! Close ranks, defend your rightful king!"
From page 167
...The war starts again
Amata is found and has hanged herself: Aneas has killed Turnus.
There the screaming and the high wailing rang and echoed so... I followed her to my mother's rooms. I saw Amata hanging from the noose she had made of twisted cloth and tied over a beam.
From page 172
I'll be checking in...
Lavinia talks about the last day of war
Lavinia wakes up after the talk
Aneus kils Turnes
The kills her self
Lavinia Finds her mom dead
1. Lavinia and Aeneas talk about the last day of the war.
2. Lavinia wakes up.
3. There is a fight with a bird, which is an omen.
4. Turnus is killed in thw war.
5. Amata was found dead, she had hung herself.
I agree with Jake. The question he brought up..."If Amata hadn't been so keen on making Turnus her daughter's husband, would this war not have happened?" I think that is a great question. It makes you wonder. Lavinia was a little turned off by her mother's desire to make Turnus her son-in-law. It brings up the typical question you feel when you read a book, those "what if...?" questions.
1. Aeneas talks to Lavinia about the last violent part of the war.
2. The Kingdom has a ceremony and makes sacrifices. Before this, Lavinia's dad swore an oath that if he lost, they'd leave, and if he won, Latinus would still be king of Lantium. Turnus' people broke the truce.
3. Amata kills herself.
4. The Trojans held people off while Aeneas was off killing Turnus.
5. The war ends, but was left unfinished according to her poet.
this is HUNTER by the way...
1. Aeneas and his son come to talk of the war with Lavinia and her father
2. They commerce/quarrel
3. resolutions...more battling
4. Amata comits suicide
5. Aeneas kills Turnus, ending war (that was a awesome scene...seriously like a movie...oved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
WOW.....Amata is incredibly obsessed with Turnurs...its a bit creepy actually!!!!! I feel a bit bad though for her though
hey it's rosamund,
nice spelling austin:)
checking in...
Checking in...
checking in...although it's a bit early :)
1. They move forward randomly to the future when Lavinia and Aeneas discuss the war and death of Turnus.
2. Then it goes to back before that when there was a treaty made.
3. The treaty is broken and war begins
4.Because war began Amata kills herself.
5. Then it goes again, but in the present, when Turnus dies and the war is ended.
I am not surprised that Amata killed herself because she is mentally instable and I figured someday she would finally cracj and reach her limit.
I agree with Renee and Jake. Naturally I get the idea that the wwar is caused by Lavinia. But if you look deeper it seems that if the mother did not seem to be so unstable and want Lavinia to marry Turnus this may not have hapened. But of course I am sure that can be said fpr every character and that some way or another every charcter could be blamed.
checking in
My summary...
1. The Trojans and the people of Latium make a peace treaty over an alter.
2. The fighting begins again after the people witness the death of a swan which is seen as "an omen".
3. Chaos/confusion in the street, no one really knows who started the fighting, rumors swarm that the trojans broke the peace treaty (even though they didn't).
4. Lavinia fights with her mother about what is going on, begs for their to be peace between them, the argument ending in both of them crying and the mother killing herself.
5. The women try to create order (before they know the mother is dead), the dead Amata is found hanging from a noose in her bedchamber, and the war ends, because turnus had died.
Their are some signs of communication, and possibly some interest between Aeneas and Lavinia in this chapter that I think are adorable...and in the midst of war no less...
On pg. 164 when Lavinia handed Aeneas the bowl of salted meal:
"It was the first time I was ever close to him. He was a big man, all bone and musle, tanned dark, his face seamed and weathered, worn and fine. He was the man I knew and had known since the poet spoke his name in the glade of albunea. I looked up at his face and he looked down at mine. I saw him recognise me."
On pg. 165 when Aeneas said:
"Let the sun be witness to what I say, and this land also, to which I have come through much suffering. Let Mars who rules the war, let the springs bear witness. If Turnus is the victor, my people will withdraw to Evander's city in defeat, and my son will leave this land, and never return to it in war. But if I am, as I may be, given the victory, I will not make the Italians my subjects, nor claim rule over your land. Let both our peoples, unconquered, pledge eternal treaty. With me come the gods. Latinus, my father-in-law, will keep his sword and his rule. My people will raise up a city. And Lavinia will give it her name. (lavinia speaking) He looked directly at me as he said that, not smiling, but with a brightness in his face and eyes. I looked back at him and nodded once, very slightly."
And on pg. 168:
"Beyond them, for an instant, I saw Aeneas, taller than the others, his hand up, calling out in a great dark voice."
These three instances show that Lavinia definately likes Aeneas. She has heard about him before- from the poet. He is a good man, a strong man a handsome man. She is noticing the small details about every encounter she has with him...which is something that people tend to do when they really like someone.
I'd also like to explore the role of women in this chapter...
On pg. 168:
"Women stood up on the walls screaming insults and throwing down clay bricks and whatever they had to throw at men fighting in the ditch and the rampart."
I found this detail quite interesting. The women were involved in the fighting, as it is shown here. But they weren't getting dirty or dangerous. They weren't going to get killed. But they were involved. Because no man was going to kill a women that was high above him throwing rocks at him, because a) it's not easy to reach her and b) it's just not civil (at least at that time).
Lavinia and the other women try to restore order (at least to the palace) in the last few pages, they talk about what they will do while the men fight- how they will get firewood, and where they will stay. They also cleaned up the blood and other remains from the battle as much as they could.
The women were trying to restore their city from utter chaos. They didn't understand why the men were fighting. They didn't know when they would stop. They knew that they couldn't stop the fighting, but they tried to do everything they could to keep things in order.
I think this is quite interesting...
M' statements:
1. We experience a flash forward at which point Lavinia and Aeneas are talking abou the true happenings to Aeneas during the last day of battle.
2. The present again - Lavinia and her father walk outside at dawn to preform the ritual of truce; Aeneas and Turnus are present.
3. A sudden oracle - a flock of swans flying overhead, the lead killed by an eagle - is read by Tolumnius to mean that the Rutulians/Latins must "attack the attacker".
4. Lavinia and her father hurry away back to the Regia for safety, where Lavinia continues her care for the wounded/dying and reports an indirect account of the happenings of the war.
5. War breaks out again, and the Trojans begin to siege the gates of Latium when Turnus is killed by Aeneas; the war ends.
M' behavior commentary:
I must say I found most interesting Lavinia's interaction with Amata after Amata blames the Trojans for the breaking of the peace. It's as if an emotional well within Lavinia has been broken and years of pent up tears and thoughts and feelings are let forth. Also, this marks Amata's final breakdown before she takes her own life. The once mighty, stolid woman loses it in the face of realization that this terrible calamity is the result of her stubborn, childish actions. Lavinia can't take it any more either - that's why she bursts - but I think it was a god thing for Lavinia to experience. A purgation of the soul, in essence...
just checking in...and to comment on what matt said about the argument between Lavinia and Amata. I'm not going to lie, this is a typical woman fight. Where they blow up at each other what they have been holding in for ages and both end up in tears. I know that I have found in my experience that it is typical for women to hold their feelings inside for a long time, and then let them out when something bad happens. Surely this chaotic war was something that would let their feelings loose! Usually everything turns out all right, and in a fight people make up after a while. But sometimes it does end in something bad, destructive behaviors, tragedy...like in this case when Amata kills herself (a very extreme example of this theory).
1. Aeneaus talked with Lavinia of the last day of war.
2. Lavinia talks about the treaty between the Trojans and the Latins in detail.
3. Amata kills herself during the war when it returns to that time in the book, as it goes back and forth between times before and after.
4. Aneneas kills Turnus and the war then ended.
5. Lavinia was confused with that was to happen next because the poem that the ends when the war ends and that means her life is over.
hmmm very interesting?!?!?!
This is Alison Remmers! <3
checking in.
1 lavinia talks about the end of the war
2 lavinia's dad says that if he loses the war then he will leave
3 amata is found dead
4aeneas kills turnus
5 the war ends
i think it is surprising that amata kills herself because she usually seems so self-righteous.
By reading the others' blog comments, I realized that since it is a summary, a lot of them are similar. So my five statements might be similar too but sorry...
1.) Lavinia is talking about the last day of the long war with Aeneas as if she knows what is happening in every moment.
2.) All the people of Aenead (the setting I'm not sure if this is the correct name..) have a ceremony where they sacrifice animals and eat them.
3.) They all see a flock of birds and interpret that their rivals are coming because usually people follow birds.
4.) Turnus and Aeneas starts to fight in front of the gates of Aenead.
5.) They both become very weak but at the end Turnus dies, and this ends the war.
Some of my statements may not be the best ones or the important ones...
checking in! i dont like Lavinias mother!!!!! just saying!
Just checkin in...
Wow Rachael... I didn't realize your very long comment...
checking in
This is Sofia...
That was one intense chunk of pages! So much seemed to happen so fast...
1.The two opposing sides prepare a ritual/treaty together.
2.An omen involving an eagle killing a swan and having the entire flight of swans chase after the eagle cause The Rutulians and Latins to "attack the attacker."
3.The war begins yet again, and Turnus is all over the place ("doesn't stay in one place").
4. Verus dies, and Amata is found having hanged herself.
5.Turnus is killed and the war is over.
I was surprised at how bold Lavinia is with her mother in this chapter. Looking back, I know that she never would have dared speak to Amata like that. Maybe over time, Lavinia watched Amata become more and more pathetic, which boosted her confidence. Even more surprising was the fact that Amata kills herself-I wasn't expecting that at all! If I had only read the beginning's descriptions and actions of Amata and then skipped to the part of her death, I never would have believed it.
Aeneas describes the last day of war.
Trojans and Latins made their treaty.
Swan dies. They attack.
Amata dies.
Turnus dies...war is finished.
1. There is a ritual and a following a peace treaty
2. After a an eagle attack a swan and then is attacked my multiple swan, it is seen as an omen and the fighting begins again
3. There was much confusion after the fighting started with massive chaos and blood
4. Amata and Lavinia argue about the cause of the new uproar preceding Amata hanging herself
5. Turnus dies
In a way I almost expected something like the treaty to be broken. Turnus throghout the story has presented himself as a man obsessed with violence and war; a kind of way to lead up to the climax of his own actions in his story would seem appropriate to help start war again. I though it was interesting how the author had a group of untrusted characters gather together, following the spear breaking the peace treaty. Even though it made it quite plain that, "something was going to happen" because there were many people in the group gathering together each one of them could've done something.
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