Question

What can be inferred about the Cyclops in this excerpt from Homer’s Odyssey? The land of Cyclops first, a savage kind, Nor tamed by manners, nor by laws confined: Untaught to plant, to turn the glebe, and sow, They all their products to free nature owe: The soil, untill'd, a ready harvest yields, With wheat and barley wave the golden fields; Spontaneous wines from weighty clusters pour, And Jove descends in each prolific shower, By these no statues and no rights are known, No council held, no monarch fills the throne; But high on hills, or airy cliffs, they dwell, Or deep in caves whose entrance leads to hell. Each rules his race, his neighbour not his care, Heedless of others, to his own severe.
a. The Cyclops is warm and hospitable toward his guests.
b. The Cyclops cares for his neighbors’ well-being and advice.
c. The Cyclops does not follow typical rules of the civilized human world.
d. The Cyclops can survive only in the deep, dark caves on the island.

Answer 1

The correct answer is C - the Cyclops does not follow typical rules of the civilized human world. It says here that they have no ruler, that they are very crude and savage, uncivilized.

Answer 2

The answer comes easy in the first couple of lines that are in the excerpt…

“The land of Cyclops first, a savage kind,
Nor tamed by manners, nor by laws confined:
Untaught to plant, to turn the glebe, and sow, [...]”

The words ‘savage,’ ‘nor tamed by manners,’ and ‘nor by laws confined’ all clearly prove that he does not follow rules or laws, and he is not civilized.

This proves that the correct answer is c )  The Cyclops does not follow typical rules of the civilized human world.


- Marlon Nunez