In my story “A New School” there are many timeless elements that relate to the book The Odyssey by Homer. One timeless element is the enduring theme that is in my story; is, “try to be kind to everyone.” The Odyssey by Homer shows this by the chapter “The Princess And The Stranger.” In the chapter, Princess Nausicaa meets Odysseus who is in ragged clothes and starving. So she helps Odysseus get back into health and in return she got company for a while, he was not lonely. The theme of “try to be kind to everyone is represented in my story because Odessa has trouble talking nicely to people. She is shy. Eventually she talks nicely to a girl named Natasha. The enduring conflict from The Odyssey still exists in “A New School” is man vs. society. In The Odyssey the conflict was that princess Nausicaa is lonely and wants company and Odysseus is a stranger to this land. In my story, the conflict was that Odessa was an outlier and a stranger at her new school and Natasha is lonely. In “A New School” Odessa is a new kid and is really shy about talking to people and a bit protective of herself. Natasha is lonely because her friend just moved away from the city. This parallels with The Odyssey, in which Nausicaa is lonely and Odysseus is a stranger in the new land. In “A New School,” the character Natasha alludes to the character Nausicaa from The Odyssey. The setting in “A New School” is Toadstool High, which is a new school for Odessa. This references the setting of The Odyssey, which was the new land for Odysseus.
Modern day authors, filmmakers and artists also draw upon ancient stories to tell their own stories. I think they do this, along with me, to make their stories timeless and show morals and messages that can apply to modern day things. For example “Sponge Bob Squarepants: the movie” relates to The Odyssey because Neptune’s daughter gives Sponge Bob a bag of wind to sponge bob. He opens it and the wind can not blow sponge bob home. This is related to The Odyssey when Odysseus opened his bag of wind. If you read The Odyssey then you would understand what had happened and the movie would be more attractive to people who have read The Odyssey. Also, modern day authors, filmmakers and artists refer to ancient stories to tell their stories to have an idea of a moral for the story so if a person is reading it who has read stories from the ancient times, he will understand the story more and the story will sell better. Lasly, I think modern day authors, filmmakers and artists use stories from ancient times to give readers something they already understand in a book that they can relate to. I think this is attractive to people because sometimes you just want to read something that is familiar to you but with a new context.


A New School


Odessa, a new student at Toadstool High who has red curly hair with her face covered in freckles, was standing outside of the school trembling head to toe to be at yet another new school next to her mother, Athena. Athena said affectionately, “I know you have a hard time being new but tell me you’ll try to make some friends, ok.”
“Ok mother,” Odessa replied in an exasperated tone.
Athena doesn’t seem to notice and hugs a scowling Odessa and said, “Have a good day.” Odessa walked into the school and couldn’t help but notice the school she was going to was a big gray building with no color what so ever and Odessa thought to herself this is going to be one long dreary year.
Odessa walked into school and it was just what she expected, gray walls, dirty windows, and low dripping ceilings. She looked around and noticed that she was the center of everybody’s attention, and so timidly she speaks, “ Hi my name is Odessa and I just moved from Ohio.” She glanced around hopefully to see if anybody noticed her and saw that all the black and blood red backs of their school uniform had turned on her and were walking away so she glared at there backs instead of there faces. In homeroom she spotted people glancing at her and when they saw her look they hurriedly looked away.
They transitioned to there next class when the bell blared loudly and Odessa had no clue where she was supposed to go. Then a girl walked briskly up and drawled, “Yawl lost?”
Odessa, taken by surprise, answered quickly “Yes I am!”
The girl drawled again “Math class is the second class to the right on the third floor.”
Odessa yelled, “ Thanks!” but it was too late the girl was already running away never to be seen again. Three hours later, Odessa leaned back in her chair as the lunch bell rang out and echoed in the hallways. As student after student flowed out of the classroom rushing to lunch when Odessa saw one girl who stood out from the others. Suddenly, Odessa had a rush of bravery and walked up to her table.
The girl was sitting at an isolated table and was wearing neon green polka dot pants with a neon yellow t-shirt. She wasn’t in school uniform. Odessa asked quizzically, “Why aren’t you in school uniform?”
The girl let out an ear-bursting laugh and replied, “I got a dress down day for doing 100% homework last year.”
“Oh,” Odessa replied. Odessa introduced herself and said, offering her hand, “ My name is Odessa can I sit with you?”
The girl replied, “ Sure, my name is Natasha. Sit down.”
Odessa responded with a smile, “Thanks, do you want some lunch?”
Natasha interjected “Sure I’m starving” Odessa with a smile thought to herself that was not hard I should have done that earlier. Odessa decided that next time she should just be kind and be herself. Odessa decided that if she acts herself and was kind she would be rewarded with a friend.