The first part of Clouds is very interesting as we are introduced to Strepsiades, an old farmer who has gotten into terrible debt due to his son's Pheidippides addiction to buying horses. Strepsiades comes out very avoidant yet determined to clear this debt because instead of trying to pay it off, he tries to find the easy way out of it through whichever means. With this, we see Strepsiades try to enroll his son into one of Socrates' "classes" to see if he can help both parties figure out how to pay off the debt. In this instance, you can infer that the author, Aristophanes, is trying to convey the serious problem of avoidant, which could've been a common issue within Athens. Instead of facing your problems head first, people avoid them by involving themselves in more problems. This is seen in Clouds as Strepsiades tries to avoid paying off the debt by using his son to learn rhetorical questioning through Socrates. This is where the play jumped out to me as this interpretation of Socrates is completely different from how the famed Greek philosopher is described. In this play, we get a version of Socrates who comes off as a fraud who uses rhetorical questioning to persuade someone to avoid the issue. This can be seen on page 60 of the play, as Socrates dismisses the idea of the Gods by questioning Strepsiades’ beliefs about Zeus and implying that he isn't all that powerful. Being this is a comedic play, it's clear that Aristophanes' portrayal of Socrates is laughable. However, this makes me wonder how people react to this revelation of Socrates, did some people agree or disagree, or was this all inspired by the fact that Socrates was put on trial for spreading impiety and "corrupting the youth”?

One of the more striking passages in The Clouds comes when Phidippides, after having learned the teachings of the sophists, excuses his beating of his father through his particularly deftly constructed yet twisted logic. This scene illustrates the fear of Aristophanes that the teaching of the sophists will cause young people to disregard traditional morality and justify negative behaviors. Aristophanes warns in this case that new ideas about philosophical reasoning might harm the societal values of morality by showing how Phidippides uses reason in ways that would normally be thought by Athenians to be disrespectful. His portrayal of Socrates as a detached thinker further reflects the people's doubts about philosophers who challenged traditional belief systems.

Aristophanes likely intended to show that the Athenians were afraid these new kinds of intellectual movements would eventually dissipate the moral basis of society. The satire of the play would, therefore, intimate that fear exists that these teachings are encouraging the young to refute the gods and conventions of behavior, which, in turn, has brought about social disruption.

I would like to know if other eras of Ancient Athens or ancient societes placed there blame on the younger generation in general. Casting the blame on all thier problems to the new generations.

The first half of Clouds was interesting because it introduced us to Strepsaides and his son Pheidippides. Strepsaides is a character trampled by debt. One reason for his debt was his son's obsession with horses. Thus, he has resolved to go to the Thinkery, where he can learn false speech. Strepsaides wants to lie his way out of his debts, and Socrates, the head of the Thinkery, can help him do so. The first half of Clouds presents us with the current status of Athens in its ever-changing ways of thinking. Athenians during this period strayed away from their old ways of thinking and belief in the gods and instead believed in philosophical thinking. The Socrates presented in the play is an actual real-life philosopher and his character in the play is a character assassination of him. The author Aristophanes, was a believer in the old ways of the belief in the gods, and all their answers lie within the gods and not people themselves. It's fascinating, I would like to know what the intended goal was in slandering the character of Socrates.

As I was reading the second half of clouds , I was pleasantly surprised by the ending of the play . One detail in particular that stood out to me was Phidipedes telling his father that he would regret forcing him to get educated at the thinkery. This ended up being rather comical because at the end of the story after he learned rhetoric , he returned home and used rhetoric to justify beating his father .

I think the author was trying to communicate the hypocrisy in the ways men , we are willing to argue the unjust cause when it will benefit us selfishly ( abolish debts ) , but when someone uses that very same argumentation to justify exploiting us , we are able to see issue morally. The document is telling us that people in Athens , were becoming so invested in rhetoric and argumentation that they began neglecting the truth and the moral thing to do , instead option for the unjust cause and knowingly arguing against the truth for personal motives. I would like to find out more about others interpretations of Socrates , as Plato seems to believe Socrates was NOT a sophist , and wrongfully persecuted.

What stood out to me is when Strepsiades, worried about his debts, decides to join Socrates' "Think Tank" after his son refuses to do it. He thinks that learning from these smart thinkers will help him solve his money problems, even though he doesn’t understand their weird ideas. I think the author is trying to uses jokes and funny situations to talk about serious problems in society, which makes it easier for the audience to understand and enjoy. I think this document shows that in ancient Greece, people loved theater and comedy as a way to talk about important issues in society. It tells that humor was a way to address serious topics like politics, morals, and social problems. 

The part that comes to my mind is in the reading of “Rural Life in Attica” where Plato depicts Socrates and his friend Phaedrus. He was talking about love and was barefoot, and saying it was good to feel the ground. I could imagine the scene with the men walking outside. Therefore, in Clouds, Strepsiades could not sleep and got annoyed that daylight did not come and he could not sleep. He called his slave to light the drunkard lamp because he wanted to read something and he was anxious with his depths and looking at his son sound asleep without even noticing his suffering. The worried father woke up his son Pheidippides who did not like to be bothered because his sleeping was better. Later on, Socrates changed Strepsiades mind about his beliefs in gods. He became so confused without understanding. After all, his mind went crazy and he needed his son to help him to understand what Socrates meant. * The author is showing the two realities happening in Athens on one side, there was a war, and on the other side, Socrates was trying to defend himself from the accusations against him. * The document tells us the past government rulers had, so many brutalities and unjust realities for their citizens. * I would like to know if the government of Athenians changed the way they ruled the country. 

Located on page 134, one passage that stuck with me was the oath in which Strepsiades swears to abandon his belief in the Olympian gods and worship The Clouds, the three gods supposedly preached by Socrates. The entire monologue is of him swearing to be a terrible, exploitative person and grifter in various turns of phrase, such as, to be a “phrase-finding lawsuit shyster, a statute-book, ironic, slippery, boastful, a stinging, disgusting, twisting pest, a cheater” (p. 134). Although surely intended to get a laugh out of his audience, these are almost certainly Aristophanes thoughts about the value of the teachings of the Sophists and philosophers like Socrates. In short, the play strongly hints at the edge those skilled in rhetoric possessed in 5^th century Athens, and the negative reputation the Sophists acquired as those powers were used by Athenian politicians and lawyers their own advantage. I hope to find out more about whether the services of the Sophists fell in importance in Athens after the polis began to decline in the 4^th century.

What stood out to me is how using a sophist approach to getting rid of a debt was even an option. I know that the father did not want to have to sell himself into work to pay off the debt but that could have been easier than going to lessons to learn how to debate away the issue. I understand that it was meant to be a mockery of those who want to learn how to talk away their problems but I guess it came off too absurd to me for me to find it funny. The play was intended to be a hit piece on Socrates, to damage his good standing by making him seem like a menace which seems to have worked as Socrates was sentenced to death for corruption of the youth. What I would like to learn is if there are any accounts of how Socrates felt about the play himself, did he try and refute it or was the fact we aren't told of any efforts to refute the play a testament to how damning the play was to his reputation that no one recorded how he felt.

One detail that jumped out to me when reading the first half of Clouds was how Strepsiades got himself into massive debt. Strepsiades is a man of irresponsible nature with how he lives himself as he tries to rely on his son to foolishly put himself above others. The author is trying to communicate what being in complete power can do to ruin a person externally. This document is telling me about how much Athenians during this period cared about materialistic living and thinking about morality they didn’t have. When I read the second half of Clouds, I would like to find out more about the comedy within as in the first half, I saw a lot of comedic lines between Strepsiades, and Phedippides the son.

In the first half of Clouds, the passage that stood out to me is found on page 117. Strepsiades’ son tells him to let him sleep and he responds “all right, sleep! But know these debts will fall, all of them, on your head. Oh, would that the matchmaker might perish evilly, she who stirred me up to marry your mother! Mine was a rustic life, most pleasant: squalid, unswept, lying down at random, teeming with bees and sheep and olive-cakes…I was a rustic, she from the town…But I certainly won’t say she was idle; she did weave.” I believe the author is trying to communicate the fact that once upon a time he lived a happy, peaceful, humble life in the countryside. He was a farmer, and recalls his “rustic” lifestyle, which drastically changed when he married his wife- who lived a completely different lifestyle. She was “from the town: classy, luxurious, aristocratic”. Marrying her was the beginning of his struggles. She was used to the fancy, expensive lifestyle which influenced their child Pheidippides. This passage tells us about the way life was like for the different classes in Athens, it also shows us the roles men and women had during this time. 

One detail that stood out to me was the solution Strepsiades came up with for his many problems regarding his debt. He is willing to go above and beyond to try to solve this problem by learning from the sophists an argument, right or not, to get rid of his creditors. He seems a caricature of the simple folk that can easily be fooled by a corrupted smooth talker like Socrates, whom Aristophanes portrays in a less than flattery way.

The author is trying to portray the common people of Athens as gullible and naive, subject to the manipulations of learned men who lack morals and piety, due to their lack of believes in the gods.

Athens was in the heat of the Peloponnesian war and Aristophanes wants to bring to their attention Socrates lack of commitment with the common good by turning his back on the gods and the people of Athens, in the middle of a war. I would like to find out more of how Socrates reacted to Aristophanes pettiness and dislike towards him, if he ever took any initiative to clear his names from unprovoked attacks.

The details that jumped out to me were Socrates' prosecution and how it was conducted. They chose 500 hundred regular citizens to be the judges in this trial. Athenian Democracy was based mostly on power, money, and false morality. The prosecution was constructed on false ethics, but Socrates was accused of corrupting the youth's minds. Socrates was spelling out the lies they wanted to hide. They were wrong but wanted it to be right. These people only wanted to take Socrates out of sight because he could destroy their reputation it was not good for them. Socrates was a philosopher of morality who needed to see sincerity around him. He taught young people the truth and it cost his life. Socrates did not like how they taught youth and Anitus was an evildoer that convinced the Athenians to prosecute Socrates. 

I think the author was trying to show the outrageous and brutality of Athenians with their morals in the false education with the morality they did not have.

This document showed the past was injustice and violence with those who were honest but in the end, truth will always prevail. 

I would like to know if the government of Athenians changed the way they ruled the country. 

The particular detail that jumped out at me was where Strepsiades is trying to get his son to go to the thinkery so that he can learn how to outsmart his creditors as he is debt due to his son. What I think the author is trying to communicate at first is to seem as where Strepsiades gives off where he is trying to be a crook and use the benefit of the thinkery to get out of debt but he is only in debt because of providing for his sons way of life. What I think the document says about the time and place it comes from is that is shows an an average person lives realistically in Ancient Greece compared to reading about those who are wealthy and or in power. 

• I think the document and the author is trying to tell us that Athens during the time was , a place where people were susceptible to social pressures in perusing an ideal Athenian image of wealth  and status. I think this because in the reading of clouds , we hear Pheidippides who is absolutely horse obsessed ( so much so that he drives his father into heavy debt ) offer little once tasked by his father to help absolve the debt .

    This stood out to me as he seems to by fine spending money which isn’t his and also feels others should clean up his mess . Additionally remarks from  him which ridicule the men In The thinking shop such as Socrates makes me wonder that perhaps the author is trying to describe to us a turning point in Athenian culture where there was a question of values in society . I’d like to find out more in particular as to how common the horse  infatuation was among Athenian youth , especially since horses were seen as a sign of wealth , it would be interesting to see how Pheidippides Interest  compared to others. 

    From that we could possibly infer if it was commonplace, or if Pheidippides horse passion came from his desire to uphold a certain image. Which would indicate a possible shift in what Athenians typically considered most important. I’d also like to learn more about the meaning of “ just cause “ and “ unjust cause “ as they seem rather complex

When considering the first half of Clouds, a few scenes jump out, particularly the humorous exchanges and parodies of thinkers and philosophers. I found Aristophanes' depiction of Socrates as a stupid thinker hanging in a basket to be very striking since it demonstrated how he regarded some philosophical concepts and personalities in a lighthearted and critical manner.

Aristophanes, in my opinion, was attempting to convey a critique of the intellectual fads of his day, especially Sophistry and the emerging philosophies that appeared to contradict Athens' conventional ideals. He expressed his doubts about these ideas' applicability and moral ramifications by employing parody.

This record sheds light on ancient Athens' culture, demonstrating how its members were adjusting to shifting morals and beliefs. The satire exposes conflicts in Athens regarding the impact of novel concepts on long-standing cultural norms by expressing both respect and mistrust for intellectual endeavors.

Given that Clouds presents a more critical viewpoint that may diverge from other modern histories, I would like to learn more about the function of philosophers like Socrates and Sophists in Athens and how they affected politics and education.

The detail that jumped out to me as I read through the first half of clouds is where it states “the true gods are the Clouds, those airy forms in the sky that imitate all beings” (West 29). I believe the author was trying to communicate that the character Socrates didn’t have a connection or relationship with the Gods. In my opinion the document is telling us that during this time and place the common farmers such as Strepsiades rely on God to keep the integrity of their family. (West 30). I would like to find out more about how the comedy turns out. Specifically the morals learned by Strepsiades after witnessing his son Pheidippides' development at the “thinkery”. 

I am just going to refer to this as around the page 140 mark. Much spoken about in reference to the gods and the chaotic, underhanded and materialistic ways Athens itself is devolving into. Cleon the general is directly referenced as a man of unscrupulous character. He is not fit for being a general and perhaps his execution would do more good than harm. Aristophanes shames the Athenians for not paying homage to the gods and being far too self absorbed with materialistic agendas (such as lawsuits) to do so. Thus, it really makes it difficult for the gods to care and protect Athens.

Athens was a wild place at this point. Yes, it is a cultural center of the known World at this moment. It has a pure democracy to both its' benefit and hinderance. Athens has unparalleled wealth within in the Greek world and in the Mediterranean. It is also embroiled in a very destructive war with the rest of Greece as well as many proxy wars as well.

There is a sense Athens is straying away from what made them great. It moral pillars that identify them for what they are are being chipped away at and decaying through pride, greed and the meddling of the Sophists.