Sequoyah's Opinions on the Odyssey
Homer’s The Odyssey is the book all Sequoyans read, the “highlight” of ninth grade Humanities. Since this long poem, or epic, is so impactful, The Barefoot Times interviewed numerous Sequoyah students and teachers in order to answer the burning question: what does Sequoyah really think about The Odyssey?
Humanities faculty Hannah Karmin loves both reading and teaching The Odyssey she studied ancient Greek at a graduate level and has read it numerous times in Greek. “[It’s] very haunting to read it in its original language,” she said.“It's always got something more to give.” Along with its value in teaching literary analysis, Karmin noted students are able to use The Odyssey to expand on their intellectual skills and dive into interesting conversation about history and life. She says that she doesn’t read the same paper again and again because the book allows for them to explore deeper and more varied topics.
Sophia Schafer-Wharton ‘26 shared she learned literary analysis and annotation skills while reading, observing, “I learned a lot about close reading and how to annotate a book and that's definitely one of the humanities skills, which is not something I particularly like doing, but is definitely something I’ve had to do this year.” She does not think The Odyssey was very good, but feels glad that she read it because she has been able to understand references to the epic in other books or forms of media.
Lucy Pettit ’26 expressed similar opinions, but believes the assignments that go along with The Odyssey allow for engagement. “If you get assigned three books [chapters of The Odyssey] to read a night,” she said, “you're probably not going to enjoy it because it just becomes more work and you come to associate it with a creeping sense of dread… there are some things that can be done to make it more enjoyable.”
Pettit was not a fan of The Odyssey and thinks it's overread, repetitive, and hard to read. She shared a puzzling experience she had one night: “I read a book ahead in The Odyssey and annotated it and went back the next day and was, like, ‘wait, did I not do any annotations for it?’ No, I had just skipped a book and couldn't even tell!” Sometimes the routine can become a little too consistent to the point where it's all kind of brain mush.
Karmin believes The Odyssey is a good book to get in the practice of reading nightly. Hart Lippsmith ’27 agreed and noted, “With actually reading it, it wasn’t so bad after you got into the routine and sometimes still wish we had that routine.”
All of the students interviewed agree The Odyssey was not their favorite text. “Our time can be better spent in better places,” claimed Pettit. It did, however, bring important topics to class that did improve students' perception of history. Lippsmith shared they thought it was okay. “It wasn't the best book ever,” he added, “but it was really important and brought up really interesting discussions. I think that it was a little questionable, but also different time periods have different views, and it's important to learn about those because they have shaped our modern society.” This is a very important aspect of The Odyssey to remember and focus on while reading it.
The students also discussed how the translation they read affected their experience. Schafer-Wharton and Pettit both read the Emily Wilson translation while Lippsmith and Quinn Calof ’27 read the Samuel Butler translation. “It really depends on what translations of The Odyssey you have,” said Calof. “If you have the Samuel Butler one, absolutely not, but I’ve seen other translations that other people liked.” Pettit thinks the Emily Wilson translation had some very poetic descriptions, which she appreciated.
In conclusion, Sequoyah students acknowledged that, while The Odyssey allowed for improvement in close reading and for deep in-class discussions, the fact that it was disengaging and frustrating overshadowed the positive aspects of the text.