Dialectic Journals Book 2

Ch.8, pg. 80
"Alexandros was ordered to piss into his shield. It was a training shield, yes. But Dienekes knew as he looked down with the other peers from the slope above that this particular aspis, patched and repatched over decades, had belonged to Alexandros' father and grandfather before him."

Wow I really felt pity for Alexandro that he was ordered to piss on a shield and not just a shield but it was something sacred to him that was passed down to from both his grandpa and father. It would suck if someone disrespected an item of your that was important to you but for someone to put shame on his own loving item it's just sad. I felt angry and sorry for him, it's so cruel. I think the author was trying to say that back then if you made a small mistake like ignore your shield for even a minute as Alexandro did, there would be consequences something that valuable shouldn't be ignored especially if it was passed down to you.
I can relate to this because I had an item that was passed down to me and it was special to me I would always carry it with me where ever i went, and one day I was so careless and lost it I felt ashamed of myself and angry. However I found it and I would never loose it again I couldn't trust myself holding it only because of the fear of loosing it so I kept it at home.



Ch.9, pg.95
"Alexandro's beautiful broken face." (This is actually suppose to be a long sentence but I only wrote down the part that struck me.)

I really love this oxymoron. Normally when something is broken you wouldn't praise it and call it beautiful. Not only that but Alexandro had just finished fighting and his face was covered with bruises and a broken nose. I remember when I was small my brother would say always use the word, "Pretty ugly." I never knew which when he meant and I would always ask wait what do you mean are you giving someone a compliment or insult? He would always laugh. I finally knew what it mean and it was just a way to describe someone in a different way of ugly like if someone says, "It's pretty hot." there describing how hot it is. An other example is "jumbo shrimp." you don't actually think of shrimp as large you think of them as small but it's just another way to say shrimp that's bigger than most I assume.
An other one I use a lot is "Same difference."
Anyways I really liked that the author used an oxymoron I don't really hear those any more.



Ch.10, pg. 101
"The pirate accepted his fare, grinning like Charon on the ferry to hell."

I smiled reading this I just pictured it very clearly a pirate smirking at two young kids taking them to a destination to hell. I was really interested to learn more so I looked up the word "Charon" and found it a meant a ferryman who carried the souls of the dead. So I really liked how the author showed and not tell I could see it very nicely. I feel like it can somewhat relate to me because when I was hiking at the grand canyon I asked a guy how much longer until I reached the Indian gardens and he said like two hours and said I wouldn't make it and I would faint he gave me an evil smile and his attempt to try to scare me failed. :)