Hero's Journey Comparison Contrast Essay A little while ago, I was invited to go to New York with my stepmom. When I decided not to go, I really regretted it. I saw all the pictures on Facebook, them at Niagara Falls, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square. Also they saw the Book of Mormon which made me really sad. This whole ordeal was an example of a time I refused a call on the Hero’s journey. Recently our class read or watched three pieces of literature, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Odyssey, and The Alchemist. While looking at these stories I couldn’t help but notice the similarities and differences they all contained. …show more content…
He travels to many different islands after being blown of course and has to face many challenges, such as a giant cyclops or an island that contains these drugs that are addictive and make his crew not want to return home. But on the way home to his son and his wife, the one thing that he carries with him his whole journey is his arrogance and narcissism. A hero is a person who sacrifices their well being for the people around them. Odysseus represents none of this, he really represents the qualities of an anti-hero. Personally I find it hard to root for Odysseus to get home, other than the fact of him having a son at home. He is unfaithful to his wife the during the journey, having affair with multiple women, although he claims that ”‘[…] the gods brought me to the island Ogygia, where Kalypso lives, with ordered hair, a dread goddess, and she received me and loved me excessively and cared for me, and she promised to make me an immortal and all my days to be ageless, but never so could she win over the heart within me. (Homer 254-258) He is basically saying in this quote that he did have an affair with Kalypso, so he was still faithful to Penelope in his heart. I don’t really agree with his reasoning because even though he his heart never said yes, he still did not fight back. This was one of his many affairs …show more content…
This book is about a shepherd boy named Santiago who dreams about treasure off by the pyramids in Egypt and he embarks on a journey there. I think that Santiago is the only actual hero from the three stories. He exhibits some admirable traits such as being open-minded and a very innovative thinker. When Santiago goes on his journey he meets a lot of different people whom are all people who help him, inspire him, and teach him to not follow their mistakes. Some who help are the alchemist and the guide across the desert, some who inspire are Fatima and the King of Salem, One who teaches him what not to do is the crystal merchant. All of these characters did shape how Santiago became a her, because without them he would have not found his real treasure. He definitely differs from our other two characters. Unlike Odysseus he is not a giant narcissist and he does not chase after revenge, like Edmond Dantes. Santiago also learns how to speak the language of the world and consider the effects of his decisions on his life and others. He learns that “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” (Coelho 118). This shows that he learns how to be patient and wait for good things to happen, rather than wrecking havoc. Santiago is also motivated by good, to find his treasure, and along the way he gets all sorts of treasures, like helping to fix the crystal merchant's business and
Odysseus was a great leader and hero throughout the story in many examples as I have listed below. My first example is when Odysseus was able to make a spear when he was in Polyphemus's cave. He then took the spear and drove it through the eye of the beast, blinding him. The cyclops then moved the boulder and the men escaped by hiding under sheep.This example shows that O. is a hero because he is daring. If the cyclops was to find any of them or he had missed and woken him then this surely would have meant death for them. The second reason is in book twelve when O. must pass the sirens. To do so he slabs beeswax on the ears of his shipmates. This will make it so them can not be lured into the captivity of the sirens. O. then lashes himself
In the book The Odyssey, a general from Ithaca, named Odysseus, has gone through a long journey to get home from the war in Troy. He and his crew have faced many rigorous unexpected challenges on their way home. On this journey, Odysseus has tried to be the hero and have everyone come out alive, but he was not successful. The actions of Odysseus, during his journey, does not qualify him as a hero. He is dishonest to his crew and friends and he takes them for granted.
Heroes, as shown in literature, often undertake the most difficult tasks and place themselves in mortal danger in order to bring back, for themselves and their societies, both knowledge and treasure. Their stories follow “Hero Journey.” The Odyssey, as the epic story of the hero Odysseus, follows closely the complete cycle of a Hero Journey, both as a physical and as a psychological undertaking. The Hero Journey, used as a framework for both Odysseus’ physical and mental journeys, serves to bind the two together. Each of Odysseus’s physical difficulties can be viewed as a metaphor for a psychological hardship that he must overcome, and by overcoming these hardships, Odysseus matures—achieving a more complete understanding of himself and
The book The Alchemist was about a young man named Santiago who followed his dream to discover a hidden treasure. As Santiago progressed throughout his journey, his character changed a lot. Santiago, a man who has great instincts, is afraid to trust his dream at the beginning of the book but over time becomes more and more confident with his choices in in this aspect he changes from the beginning of the book to the end.
In the end, I think Odysseus is a hero because although he does make mistake and although no one is perfect he tried his best to get him and his men home safely. Odysseus has many good qualities consisting of quick thinking, creativity, protectiveness, and many more. He also has bad qualities like curiosity and ignorance. So even though people make mistakes and don’t always do the right thing I think that they can still be a
In the Odyssey, Odysseus and Telemachus each have a journey of their own, which in turn makes up a double plot in the epic. Odysseus’s plot has many more struggles and is the central role that creates the actual story in the whole novel. To many, the act of Odysseus moving across the sea in search of his own solutions to his issues is just a quest that is constantly being blocked by various obstacles. In all reality, with the help of the sea being a very important symbol, the journey turns Odysseus into a dynamic character as he proceeds through his travels. It is easily seen that in the beginning of his journey, starting when he and his crew landed on Polyhemus’ island, he is portrayed as a rash, egotistical young
In Homer's Odyssey Odysseus is a character who, sometimes behaves like a proper hero and also as a very self-centered character at other points. He earns the respect of his men during the Trojan War by making good sound decisions and caring about the welfare of his men. But, in his adventure home Odysseus is definitely not taking the responsibility of a hero among his men. On almost any page you turn to in the epic, you can find some act of greed or foolishness coming from Odysseus. He plays with the lives of his men with no regard for the well-being or their families. Odysseus is not a hero because, he is foolish, lacks faithfulness and is consumed by his Hubris and selfishness.
Odysseus is a hero because he does things for other people. During his journey, Odysseus does many things to help his crew out. One example on how he helped his crew out is in book 9, “I shot back with my crafty way, ‘My ship? Poseidon god of the earthquake smashed my ship, drove it against the rocks at your island’s far cape…”(220, 318-320). This quote is from the part of the book where they get past the cyclops.
The Hero’s Journey is a pattern of writing that is displayed in both the texts of The Odyssey and The Secret Life of Bees. In the epic poem and book, each protagonist undergoes a journey where they mimic a similar pattern of events referred to as the Hero’s Journey. In The Odyssey, Odysseus must travel home which is his ultimate goal, but he gets thrown of course many times as does Lily, from The Secret Life of Bees. The Hero’s Journey is a model outline for how tough situations can be handled, and is still used today because of its great lasting impact. Lily and Odysseus display the qualities of the Hero's Journey throughout their journeys when they encounter trials, and bond with others they trust, in addition to the battles they fight for
He put his life on the line the entire voyage. He not only faces obstacles he faces other people. He comes out of every thing he is faced with along the entire voyage. In some ways Odysseus was a hero and in other ways he was not a hero.
Odysseus’ label is not a hero, it’s a survivor. He made mistakes and had many great flaws but he never once chose to fix them. Out of hundreds of his crew, only he survived and made it back to Ithica. During his time away from home, he had many opportunities to be a hero, but he wasn’t one. Odysseus acted fast in each situation and showed few traits that showed he had the capability of being a hero but he never was one.
A person should pay lots of attentions to their destiny. If a person shall not pay attention to their destiny they may die not knowing why God put them here or not know what their purpose may be. Santiago may not have known his purpose or what his destinations was at the beginning but, at the end of the book he realized what is destiny was. Many other people throughout the book showed that they did know their personal legend. Others showed that they did not know their personal legend.
Odysseus has escaped death and monsters time after time and his sometimes heroic but bold actions turned him into a hero for the Greeks. There were as many disadvantages as there were advantages for Odysseus and whomever followed him throughout his voyage. He consistently wanted more and usually picked fighting over being logical and safe, therefore resulting in many casualties due to his forward behavior. Many may think Odysseus’ crafty and impulsive nature, how he almost always had a need for things that would be beneficial to him in the end (if he lived that is), even though they were usually risky, and how/what he did to cause so many redundant casualties, and how that all would have led to his downfall if he didn’t have luck on his side.
In my opinion, Santiago represents the ideas of honor and pride. Pride can motivate a man to greatness and that is exactly what happens in this book. His sense of pride would not let him be defeated by the villagers and certainly not out on the boat while wrangling with the marlin for so long. He also upholds honor, which is especially apparent when he is fighting the marlin and doesn’t see it as just a fish but he views it as a worthy opponent. He also fends off the sharks trying to attack his prize catch because he has respect for it. Santiago is a very exceptional man and he stands for all things good.
Santiago finds his treasure at the place where he first dreamt of. The ending, then, can be interpreted as Santiago needs to go in a difficult situation and time to gain the knowledge or wisdom.