My English Literature Class assignment, and how I tied it in to FIRST & ChiefDelphi.

[Elgin Clock]

In my English Literature class that I am currently taking (summer course), I had to write a reader response paper for the short play Oedipeus The King by Sophocles. Basically a reader response paper is not a summary, or a discussion of anything to do with the story itself, but rather what the story reminded you of.

For all who have not read the story, I suggest you READ THIS little summary of the play before you continue reading my post.

OK, now that you know what the story is about, read my Reader Response Paper and see how I tied in Classic Greek Tragedy with FIRST and this website.

“Oedipus the King” Reader Response

In Sophocles’ tragedy entitled “Oedipus the King”, I found a familiar name in a certain aspect of the story. This aspect of the story, which at first I just recognized as a name of a location, became more and more similar to my own experience with a web page forum of almost the same name.

In “Oedipus the King”, there was a place that people went to seeking knowledge, and prophecies. This place was called Delphi (pronounced DELL-fee). In my understanding of the text, Delphi is a place where Apollo; god of poetry, the sun, prophecy, and healing, resided. He was among a land of many gods, but was the main god that we were introduced to in this story. When someone needed knowledge or wanted to know how to solve a problem like the plagues that effected the city of Thebes in “Oedipus the King”, they would go to Delphi, and speak with the mighty Apollo and he would divulge information to them that they needed.

In my personal life, I am a mentor on a High School Robotics club. The club participates in a robotics based game every year that is put on by an organization called F.I.R.S.T. (For Inspiration of Science and Technology). Since this is a non-profit organization, many teams who participate in F.I.R.S.T. provide many resources to help the other teams. One of these resources is an internet based forum that is sponsored by a team called Chief Delphi, located at http://www.chiefdelphi.com . The reason for the team name is because the High School’s mascot is the Chiefs, and since this program is a non-profit program their main sponsor is Delphi Automotive Group, hence the collaborative name Chief Delphi.

In shorthand, the forums have just come to be known as the Delphi forums, or just “Delphi”. In my personal experience with Delphi as an internet based forum, I gain much knowledge from the site, and the people there who are always willing to share ideas. If we were to liken the Gods in “Oedipus the King” to the organization F.I.R.S.T., and the Delphi web forum to the location of the same name in “Oedipus the King” one would find many similarities. For one, both act as “middle ground” for knowledge that is passed on from a higher power to a lower one, so to speak. For example, when Oedipus sets forth to the shrine of Delphi in the story he gains knowledge of what his destiny is to be. When I log onto the forum of the similar name, I gain knowledge of things to come as well. When F.I.R.S.T. releases news letters, or other important announcements, I usually see it on the web forum before I see the actions that are written about come to be in the competition, whether they involve fees that are going up for the next year or other similar notices of things that are coming.

I know that this belief between the similarities between the shrine known as Delphi, and the forums which have come to be known as just as the “Delphi Forums” or just “Delphi” is sort of a stretch and kind of hard to see from an outsiders point of view, but the more and more I read the story of “Oedipus The King”, the more I realized that there were more in common with the two Delphi’s than just a name.

Shoot.. I hate when I see a mistake after I handed in a paper.. I forgot to include the pronunciation of "Delphi" that we use.. (DELL-fi).

Oh well......

Other than that, what do you think of it??