[ENGLISH] Text Response on Ransom - Chance

[DisaFear]

Hey guys

Chance is my weakest part of Ransom, was wondering if someone could help me improve this theme a bit
Somax part was a bit too short, but shrug, the word limit was met
Was done at 11pm, not the best


“I come as a hero of the deed that till now was never attempted” What part does chance play in Ransom?

Fate played a large role in Homer’s The Iliad, as well as in Greek tragedies in general, alongside the power of the Gods in controlling human actions. David Malouf’s Ransom, however, appealing to a more modern audience, gives preference to human actions by showing that there may be another way to interpret what is called the will of the Gods; chance allows Priam to undertake the “deed” that allows both him and Achilles to step out of their defined roles and experience what it is like to be just a “man”. While the ending of every hero was already pre-recorded, how they got there was still variable, and hence chance offered them a way to leave a story of their own, to leave a lasting legacy. Priam is also aware how his life could have taken another path at the time when Hercules invaded the city of Troy, if he had not been saved by his sister Hesione. Somax the carter plays a large role in introducing the elements of chance to Priam, as he is an ordinary man, less restricted by fate and his role in the world.

In Homer’s The Iliad, the role of the Gods is much more pronounced than in Ransom, and it is clear that man’s fate is already determined. Both Achilles and Priam have predetermined fates that they are aware of; Achilles knows “it will end...on the beach in the treacherous shingle or out there on the plains” while Priam knows that dogs will “gnaw at [his] skull and misshapen feet” as Troy burns around him, his people carried off as slaves. However, although a person cannot control their fate, they can control how they deal with their fate or how they get there; although Priam knows how it will end, he does not “want that to be the one sad image of [him] that endures in the minds of men”. In this way, Priam leaves a “living image” with his actions and a positive legacy in a world where “a man’s acts follow wherever he goes in the form of a story”. Priam interprets chance as “another way of naming what we call fortune and the will of the Gods” insisting that it “offers a kind of opportunity...to act for ourselves” which might be able to “force events into a different course”. Both Priam and Achilles are aware that they are characters in stories; Achilles know that he will be remembered as the “most boldest, most ferocious, most unpredictable of the Greeks” while Priam knows he will be remembered as the “ceremonial figurehead”. However, neither want to be remembered by their roles, hence Priam taking a chance allows Achilles to “break free of the obligation of always being the hero” and Priam from “always being the king”.

Priam is continually reminded of the young Podarces, and how his life could have been significantly different if Hesione had not intervened to give him a second chance. While everyone has heard the general tale of Priam “over a hundred times”, Priam has kept parts of the tale secret to all but himself, these parts including the journey of “his other self” into slavery, the part which Hecuba feels “repugnance” about. Priam recalls the “foul smell that he cannot rub off him” which “no matter how much [he] scrub[s ] himself” he cannot forget it. It is this experience that prompts Priam to carry out his “deed that was never attempted”; he himself was ransomed and given a second chance by the Gods, else he would have gone down “the other path”. Because Priam knows that it was a “mockery intended” by the Gods to “show what was in their power to do so”, he feels insulted that he was just set up as an “ancient doll”, hence, by taking this chance, he is breaking free of that restraint and lets the “man inside” show. This is also evident in the Patroclus case, where Achilles views the life when the son of Amphidamas was still alive, but instead, was “casually struck aside” to make way for him.

Somax plays an important role in the novel, in that he is an agent for introducing elements of chance to Priam, as he is less confined by his role, being an ordinary man. Somax’s tales during the trip to the Greek camp reveal to Priam the “prattling world” out there full of “interest”, something he has not experienced locked up in his “royal sphere”; these tales, of “griddlecakes” and his sons introduce the world to Priam and begin his metamorphosis from king to man. This transition to being a “plain man” allows him to forge his own path, the success of his path dependant on chance. Where everything in Priam’s environment is tightly controlled and “representational, ideal”, everything in nature is “just itself” and occurs by chance, as shown by Somax.

David Malouf’s Ransom evinces that the will of the Gods can also be interpreted as chance, and it allows Priam and Achilles to step out of their bound roles and act as “men”, where Priam is largely introduced to chance by Somax.

[REBORN]

I know nothing about the book but a one line conclusion is....bad?

[DisaFear]

Yea, I was in a rush to hand it in before midnight, so my teacher would mark it

[pineapple21]

In the Somax paragraph, relate it more strongly towards the prompt. Highlight the fact that Priam's inspiration to embark on the journey may have been partly because of the divine, but it was never written or fated that he would return with his humanity restored etc.