Personal Narrative: How I Am Like Odesseus

Threads to Which I belong is a book that captivated my soul. As I read through the pages of history, I found myself traveling back in time. Invisible I stood in Mississippi watching a family’s history unfold. As I turned the pages, my emotions changed constantly. I experienced emotions of anger, disgust, sorrow, and happiness. The author has written an outstanding piece of work that forces you to consider researching your own family history.

Though he is a great hero, Odysseus exhibits many weaknesses during his journey home to Ithaca. Homer was easily able to integrate these weaknesses because all humans can relate to his problems and can learn from what Odysseus had to go through. We relate to the fact that no matter how strong and cunning and brave this hero may be, nobody is perfect.

One of the reasons Homer’s The Odyssey has been one of the longest enduring stories of all time is that it parallels the journey of ordinary people through life. As humans, we find solace and comfort in the fact that someone else has confronted our problems before and emerged victorious. It gives us hope that we too can slay our own monsters and return to Ithaca. Like the thousands before me, I often see similarities between my life and Odysseus’s, both full of help and hindrance.

A few years back I was sailing the open ocean with my leader, Odysseus, and the rest of the crew heading home when Odysseus informed us that we would be taking the long route home. As we grew closer to a strange island, the wind stopped and the water became quiet.

First things first: I shouldn’t be alive. I mean I shouldn’t be dead either, but, hmmm, I guess what I mean to to say is that I shouldn't have been born. But enough with that, or I’ll just sound like a whiny kid.

In Sophocles play, Odeipus The King, there are many types of universal themes to humans in society. The main character, Oedipus reveals traits that humans have. No one wishes to kill their father or marry their mother. However metaphorically speaking, we can relate to his emotions and behavior. His actions and how he reacts to certain situations, defines him as a worthy person.

If I were given the capability to travel back in time I would go back to 73 B.C. and hear towards the gladiatorial school in Capua. I always wanted to travel back in time to when there was no digital technology. It would be fascinating to see what they did for fun such as watch gladiators compete against each other. How their lives would be far different from the way we live ours. I would like to see all that but there is one particular person I would like to meet and follow through his journey to what led to his death, his name is Spartacus. I believe it would be interesting to meet such a man capable of putting fear into one of the strongest empires in the world.

My friend ,Kendrick, is diligent and self-sufficent.He gives his best effort at everything that he does.One time Kendrick and I were at school walking to the cafeteria to have lunch. Before we opened the door to enter ,we was stopped by Mr.Douglas. Mr.Douglas was Kendrick's R.O.T.C instructor who had a high rank as sergeant major. He stopped us to talk to Kendrick about some important R.O.T.C business.

I was sweating, my muscles were screaming in pain from all the stress, and I was thinking of giving up. I was doing a huge event called the Spartan Race a ten mile race with fifteen obstacles designed for marines. It is a very tough race and I was doing it with my good pal Luke who was three years older than me. We were training for this race over summer. You get a huge medal and a shirt saying “FINISHER” on the back. I was doing this race because I loved challenges and this was the next challenge i was gonna face. The race was located at Wintergreen Resort it was on a mountain side where my thighs would burn like steak on a grill. I was in the middle of the race on the mountain side carrying a fifty pound sand bag. My whole body was aching

Ancient texts can show modern society many thing, such as how some emotion traits can be good or evil, and why people with the same skills many times achieve vastly different results. Two characters who can be analyze this was are Odysseus from the Odyssey, and Oedipus from Oedipus Rex. The Odysseus is the story of a warrior, Odysseus, who journeys to his native land of Ithaca despite many obstacles and succeeds in driving out suitors who are present in his home/ Oedipus Rex is the story of Oedipus, a man who has accidentally married his mother and killed his father, and learning the truth, becomes blind and is exiled. Odysseus and Oedipus are both intelligent heroes who use their wit to solve their problems, with the former returning successfully home and the latter failing miserably. The reason behind their different outcomes is the morality of the emotional traits which guide them. Odysseus used to be arrogant and hedonistic, as can be examined by look at his interaction with the cyclops and the sirens, but he eventually learns to become humble and less hedonistic, as seen by his interactions in Ithaca and on Calypso’s island. Oedipus has a bad temperament and is quick to anger throughout his life and to everyone, from his youth before he had become king up to and including his current reign, and he has a short temper in reference to both strangers and friends.

I would have never turned into the player I am today if it was not for what my brother, Demetrius, taught me one night in seventh grade. When I was in the sixth grade we adopted Demetrius to our family. He was a friend of my brother, Michael, and we all loved Demetrius so we decided he should join our family. Demetrius was always teaching me new things and always helping me improve my basketball skills. This moment taught me to always do something extra to achieve my goals because it will pay off in the long run.

I was the fairest maiden on all the land. However, somehow I was turned into this hideous monster. Although I do not remember how this occurred, I want to find out how this happened to me. Every day I would walk out of my lair to have a breeze of fresh air. There was no one around, and not a city in sight for the next 20 miles. I was alone with the other gorgons for the rest of my time on this planet.

Kris who By; Landon Harbour Kris the great one plays for the cubs but as brave as an bear sure sometimes he can be the pain the back people dream to be like him one day because of the awesome and greatness but is hard is Tough is scary kris can't be stop by that because of his energy like cheetah who is watching him now? you or me? it ok he is as smart as you but not all the time

All these dramatic elements are characteristic of ancient Greek tragedies. Oedipus displays qualities of a classic Greek tragic hero. Arrogance and short-tempered determination form his hubris. His heroic self-pride is shown in his announcement, “The world knows my fame: I am Oedipus.”

I bet at least once in everyone’s life their parents have told them not to talk to strangers, or not to trust people you don’t know. I followed these rules very well, except for last spring break when I went to Mexico. For some reason, I was open to meeting anyone and everyone on that resort. It was probably because I was with some of my best friends that I knew for over four years, so I was comfortable. I went down there with a group of about thirty people and stayed at a resort called the Great Parnassus. This resort looked like a huge skyscraper with a hollowed out inside, which was where all the restaurants and amenities were. The back side of the resort was connected to the beach where one could swim or relax by the ocean. In between the beach and the back of the resort were a couple of swimming pools, bars, and a buffet. It was an average resort, but what really made it special was the people. For some unknown reason, we blindly trusted the local Mexicans and some of the other tourists we met at the resort which ended up doing us more bad than good. Ever since that trip I haven’t been able to trust a stranger in another country.