In “Invisible man: Ellison’s Black Odyssey”, John Stark describes how the Narrator in Invisible man and Odysseus in The Odyssey experience the same episodes, but how the outcomes for the two characters are different. The invisible man and Odysseus both have to visit the underworld but “The difference between Odysseus’ and the Invisible man’s visits are great” (Stark 5). Even though both characters visit the Underworld, each comes out with different knowledge and the invisible man doesn’t come out at all. This is a valuable because the author uses direct quotes from the book and draws good connections between characters and scenes in both books. “Invisible man: Ellison’s Black Odyssey” is an academic journal which was published by JSTOR, …show more content…
Even though the characters go through the same trials, in the Invisible Man the order in which they happen are different then in The Odyssey. This leads to a different outcome for the two heroes, Stark states; “… the invisible man ends up in a place like one from which Odysseus escapes, an underworld”, (Stark 5). While Odysseus experiences all these hard ships and receives the ability to return home in the end, the invisible man had to go through the same tasks but ended up trapped in an Underworld. The experience both characters had while in the underworld were vastly different as well “The biggest difference between the two episodes is that Odysseus rises from the Underworld and returns home, but the man-hole is the final step for the invisible man” (Stark 5). When Odysseus was down there, he learns how to get home and eventually makes his way back home to his family, while the Invisible man learns that he is invisible to society and is stuck in the underworld. These two examples show how the characters experience the same troubles and tasks but are not rewarded in the same
In The Odyssey- Part II, Odysseus with the help of his son and loyal servants. They slaughtered all the suitors and maids for the following: they tried to take advantage of his goods, they tried to marry his wife continuously, and destroyed his house. The slaughter of many of the suitors may have been brutal, but it was necessary.
Imagine you’re on a ship in the deep dark sea attempting to find your way home, but instead, you discover yourself farther and farther from your loved ones. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus faces the hardship of this exact scenario. In a time of hardship, personalities are revealed, ranging from heroic to cowardice. A hero is someone who is valued by his intelligence and confidence, allowing him to be a leader. Odysseus is a hero because his leadership is valued by his shipmates, his intelligence was exemplary when a plan was needed, and his confidence was indisputable when theirs was uncertain.
Heroes are everywhere, no matter how small their heroic actions may be. However, what is a hero? A hero is someone who helps others without regard to themselves. A person like Atticus Finch from To Kill a Mockingbird, who put Tom Robinson in front of his own reputation, and was called a “black lover” in the racist community for doing the right thing. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus has done this more than once on his journey home, however he also has been selfish. Odysseus is a man who has been both heroic, like when he rescued his men from Circe, but he has also done unheroic actions, like when he didn’t tell his men about the dangerous bag of wind.
The epic, The Odyssey portrays Odysseus as a man of great respect and worth. Along with these great attributes, Odysseus is ill fated with the trait of arrogance, and brings death along with him wherever he goes, which conveys that his arrogance towards his men and his surroundings lead to the death of others. Homer uses Odysseus’s hubris to create a crestfallen mood, conveying that the arrogance of leaders will lead to the demise of others. Homer uses the incidents at the Cyclops Island to portray Odysseus as a man who puts himself above his men. Odysseus’ men were unwilling while they were trekking into the cyclops cave, but Odysseus “wishes to see the caveman.”
The Odyssey by Homer is an epic poem about a hero’s perilous ten-year journey home with twelve ships and hundreds of men. During this voyage, however, Odysseus and his men face the wrath of Poseidon, the wiles of Circe and the Sirens, and the peril of the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. In the end, Odysseus loses everything except his determination to return home to his beloved wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. Even though he experiences many difficult challenges, Odysseus is a hero who exemplifies the Greek cultural values of bravery, wit, and loyalty.
In “The Odyssey” by Homer, Odysseus is on a journey home to Ithaca after helping the Greeks win the Trojan War. The “Hero’s Journey” by Joseph Campbell represents the difficult journey a hero must go on to defeat the “final battle,” meaning that he must overcome a really difficult challenge to complete his journey and restore the world. In “The Odyssey” by Homer, Odysseus experiences significant events on his journey home to Ithaca which includes Entering the Unknown; he receives Supernatural Aid; and he experiences the Supreme Ordeal related to Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey.”
In Robert Fitzgerald's translation of Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus is viewed as heroic while making his journey from the Trojan War after the sack of the Troy, back to his homeland Ithaca. Throughout his expedition, his legacy of being a great warrior due to his strength, cleverness, and patience when dealing with individuals is praised by the people of Ithaka, people of Scheria, and Homer himself. For twenty years, Odysseus leaves behind his kingdom, including his wife, Penelope. Along with the sorrow from dealing with her husband's disappearance, Penelope faces coercion from Ithaka to marry one of the 108 suitors who have invaded the kingdom. Consequently, she must express characteristics of maturity in order to not succumb to the suitor’s
American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated,” A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is brave five minutes longer.” Emerson is an english philosopher that uses intuition to peer into reality. Greek philosophers are looked upon for most of greeks history. Philosophers are knowledgeable and often right. A philosopher such as Emerson uses knowledge to determine what makes the average person a hero in the eyes of society.
In The Odyssey by Homer, the development of Odysseus’s characterization through the course of the epic portrays the hero’s journey structure. The hero’s journey chiefly consists of the departure, trials, and the homecoming; the hero matures with the successful completion of each stage. Therefore, Odysseus’s character transformation as a hero metaphorically conveys his progress in the hero’s journey. In the beginning of the epic, Odysseus is like any other young, inexperienced hero with excessive pride in his raw strength. As he truly begins his journey into the unknown (departure), he learns that his character flaws threaten his objective. Up until his encounter with the Cyclops, Odysseus was accustomed to winning with his physical might (Trojan War). However, when his strength could do him no good while trapped in a cave with a beast, he was forced to think beyond killing and combat; ultimately he met success by using his mind, something he had never done before. Yet, still an immature hero, Odysseus brooded over his success and taunted the beast as he left the island. In response, the “blind thing
The hero of Homer’s Odyssey is Odysseus—the glistening, golden-skinned, muscular, clever hero that every audience aspires to be…right? Homer’s idea of Odysseus being the ideal man at the beginning of the Odyssey is repeatedly proven to be wrong. On more than one occasion, Odysseus displays definitively unheroic behavior that conflicts with his descriptions as a paragon of honor and virtue. His beautiful exterior conceals his true interior: that of a hypocritical antagonist who flouts the same rules he claims to uphold.
The Greeks believe a hero is someone who's experienced life and death but in modern society we simply don't believe in heroes unless it may be someone in our own lives. A hero must be someone smart who knows what they're enemies are thinking and uses their surroundings to adapt to any situation. Anyone can fit the qualities of being a good human being but not all of them can be like Odysseus. In “The Odyssey” by Homer, Odysseus is a intelligent, loyal and strong hero, exactly like the type of heroes we have in modern times since no one is abnormal and/or is trying to save the world.
In my eyes a hero is a person who shows courage, is humble, does not give up, and is someone everybody can relate to. The protagonist in “The Odyssey” by Homer, Odysseus is a hero because although he is emotional throughout the book and lets his emotions take over his actions, he displays immense courage and perseveres through his journey and hardships.
Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus experiences many ups and downs throughout his journey home. He is throw into peril and there often seems to be no hope for his return home. While he remains victorious in the end, returning to his wife, son, and father, the poem itself is filled with many darker moments filled with doubt and sadness. Odysseus is the hero of the Odyssey, and in order to exist as a hero he must be relatable. His story cannot be one entirely of triumph, it must include a more human perspective. Triumph cannot come without strife, and heroism cannot come without tribulation. Athena and Odysseus’ experiences as divine and human, respectively, and define whether or not they are heroes. By comparing Odysseus to Athena, it is apparent that what makes Odysseus a hero before anything else is his humanity.
The Odyssey is an epic poem that showcases the heroic actions contrasted with the grave disasters of Odysseus, a tragic hero on his way home from the war in Troy. The author, Homer, shows through Odysseus’ actions that even a hero such as he, has flaws. Flaws that if not acknowledged and learnt from, can spell grave disaster in the journey yet to come. Many Greeks recognize Odysseus as the most renowned hero of the Trojan war, thanks to his own accounts of his years away from Ithaca. Following the Greek beliefs, many believe that Odysseus couldn’t have kept himself away for so long, for only the gods can do something like this, and Odysseus can’t be the cause of the crew’s deaths, only the gods could be so cruel. While
During, Homer’s, The Odyssey many strengths were tested throughout the entire book. This book was a mythological Greek folk tale that was created between the eleventh and eighth century B.C, therefore it is filled with many exaggerated stories about the Gods and treacherous adventures Odysseus had ventured on. He encounters a cyclops and after battles a six-headed monster. His crew discovers their talent for making mistakes such as being turned into pigs by Circe and letting strong winds out of the bag sending them farther from home. Odysseus experiences battles with his emotional stamina as well. His depression about his travels are shown through his lamentation on Calypsos’ island and his will power to discover the loyalty of his house mates is tested by Odysseus disguising himself as a beggar in his own home. Throughout, Homer’s, The Odyssey perseverance holds significance emotionally, physically, and mentally when enduring the battles and setbacks he experiences.