Scholarly Article Evaluation: “Homeric Excuses”
	“Homeric Excuses” appears in Volume 53 of the Classical Quarterly Magazine originally published in the year 2003.  The author, Annette Teffeteller, attempts to convey that the use of excuses in Homer’s Epic tales, by both the narrator and the characters, does not indicate a lack of accountability for one’s actions or a undeveloped sense of “self” as other writers have argued.  The explanation offered for this pattern of blaming the gods is, “Homeric people do this because people do this” (Teffeteller 31).  This simple statement makes the concept of an undeveloped “self” ludicrous because we would not claim that modern people lack a sense of self when they exercise the same patterns of blame.  The author did not adequately support the original statement and therefore the subsequent argument about self is unfounded.  In addition to this oversight in content, the style of writing and organization used made this article difficult to understand. 
The author spent considerable time on exploring the discussion of “Homeric Psychology” (Teffeteller 15).  This umbrella term covers a debate by several authors about how human psychology applies to Homers characters.  This information was overpowering and did not support the author’s thesis.  The “Homeric Psychology” argument should have been introduced only with comparison to modern society in order to draw a clear and concise link between the behaviors and rationale of both groups.  The author also included an extensive discussion about the word “arn” (Teffeteller 17) and its different meanings.  This in depth exploration is unnecessary considering the author’s thesis and the fact that most readers will not contest that Homer’s characters blame the gods for their ill fortunes.      
4There were several issues with the writing style of this article, that when added to the lack of supporting content, made the article dysfunctional.  The author’s use of technical writing, without providing definitions for words the common reader would not understand, made deciphering her intention difficult in some passages.  Add to that an extremely long sentence structure and it became very difficult to follow the author’s train of thought.  Shorter sentences with clear and concise statements would have given me a sharper sense of the author’s direction.  The uses of a passive voice during some segments of this article and footnotes that directly contradicted the thesis left me feeling that the author was not convinced in the solidity of her argument.  And the excessive amount of footnotes used in this article was disruptive to the natural flow of reading.
The authors point is basic, Homeric characters make excuses because human beings make excuses.  I do not find fault with this statement.  I do object to the way the author chooses to support this thesis and the writing style used in the article.  Together these issues make the article dysfunctional and a very frustrating to the reader. 

Work Cited
Homer.  Iliad.  The Norton Anthology of World Literature Vol. A.  Ed.  Peter J Simon.  W.W. Norton & Company, 2002.  120-225.

Teffeteller, Annette.  “Homeric Excuses.”  Classical Quarterly 53.1 (2003): 
15-31.  ContentSelect English.  EBSCOhost.  UTD, Dallas, TX.  22 Sept. 2005.