Odysseus Changes

For one month Odysseus refuses to leave his safe home on Ithaca. We are not told of the rationale behind his final decision to join the war; however, we must assume that he believes he will be successful, returning home with many spoils of war. His decision to leave Ithaca cannot be merely an external one: he is a young king, and while he rules his land with great strength, he is inexperienced (he does not wish to go off to battle (Book 24, ll. 126-128)). In part, his reasons for initiating his journey must include the experience and maturity he will gain fighting the Trojans.

In the beginning while Odysseus is on his journey, he is full of pride for himself and his accomplishments. On his way home from winning the battle in Troy, him and his men stopped to attack the Cicones in Ismarus and collect more war treasure. When Odysseus and his crew arrived to the Cicones’ land he “destroyed the city there, killed the men, seized their wives, and captured lots of treasure…”(9.40) Instead of leaving right away, they “drank too much wine and on the shoreline slaughtered many sheep, as well as shambling cows with twisted horns.”(9.62) While they were relaxing, the Cicones collected all of their neighbors and tribesmen to help fight. In the morning, the Cicones around them were “thick as leaves or flowers growing in season.

In the Odyssey, an epic poem written by Homer, Odysseus is faced with multiple challenges. Those challenges include temptation, tough decision making, and sacrifice. These challenges represent an allegory of life because those are obstacles that everyone faces. The challenges Odysseus has to fight through are related to my life because of the similar temptations I’ve faced, tough decisions I’ve made, and the sacrifices I’ve made.

Odysseus is a walking conflict machine. Wherever he goes, something is bound to go wrong, which is turns out alright for him, because he is lucky, and helped by the Gods, but his men...not so much. When Odysseus demands a gift from Polyphemus, saying “...here we stand, beholden for your help, or any gifts you give--as custom to honor strangers.” (11). By saying this, Odysseus creates a big conflict that ends up killing many of his men. Odysseus, of course, is spared, but a lot of his men are eaten alive. They did more than Odysseus in trying to avoid this situation, but he refused, and they paid the price for it, all because they happened to be less lucky than Odysseus. Odysseus being favored by the Gods is always a huge stroke of luck when conflict rolls around, no matter the conflict. They can’t even punish him correctly. When he disobeyed their direct orders about eating Helios’s cows, the still protected him right after punishing him. When Odysseus is on the verge of death because of their punishment, and at ready to be eaten by Scylla, Homer writes, “ Never could I have passed her had not the father of gods and men, this time, kept me from her eyes.”(23). Another example of this is when Odysseus and his crew mates land on Circe’s island, he sends his men first to investigate. When before he can catch up to them, a God stops him, and warns him of a

In the beginning, he had to leave behind his wife, newborn son, and his hometown, which even then had useless suitors. Throughout the journey, Odysseus’ actions of temerity only bring him down in a series of ways: first, after blinding the Cyclops Polyphemus, Poseidon’s son, Odysseus cannot suppress his joy. He yells off of the ship to Polyphemus, stating both his name, and his hometown. Because of this careless act, he causes not only Poseidon to hate him, but it also brings the Phaecians a bad omen, later causing their ship to turn to stone. Secondly, after visiting Tiresias in the Underworld, and being told not to eat Helios’s cattle, they negligently do so. Odysseus foolishley lets his men go onto the island, and is clueless while they are killing cattle. This later results in everyone but him getting killed by a thunderbolt. Although both Telemachus and Odysseus have made frivolous mistakes, in the end they both come out as stronger

Once he lands on Phaeacia, Odysseus realizes that he cannot persist as a bloodthirsty warrior, but rather must heed the wisdom passed on to him by Athena and Poseidon and change his outlook of the world. He shows his appreciation to the gods by "kiss[ing] the life-giving earth." At this point of the story, Odysseus begins to fully understand the effects his actions have on those

Odysseus faces many challenges trying to return home to his loved ones. The Stories of Odysseus were written down by a greek poet named Homer. The Odyssey tells of the hardships that Odysseus had to face to get home after the 10 year trojan war. He comes face to face with many challenges including, supernatural beings, death, poisonous plants, Gods, and deadly traps.

In the story Odysseus shows a lot of traits to help him get home to his family.one trait he shows in the story is the use of knowledge. During the whole journey he uses knowledge to help him back home. His knowledge helps him get away from creatures from the island but his crew does not make it but he does about them he cares mostly about his family he is faced with a lot of creatures on the island but because of the use of knowledge he is going to escape them and be able to make it home to is kingdom that he not seen for twenty years

On his journey, Odysseus went through many challenges. In the Road of Trials stage, which is where the hero goes through many challenges to reach his destination, Odysseus and his men were captured by Polyphemus. Odysseus came up with a brilliant plan to escape successfully. The next island they reached was Circe’s Island. Once they arrived, Circe turned his men into pigs and left them in a trance. Because they were in a trance, they all stayed for a year. At the end of the Odyssey, Odysseus wins Penelope’s heart by killing all of the suitors.

Stories have been written throughout history, people write these stories to inform further generations of the past. Whether it is fiction or nonfiction, all genres are meant to teach a lesson for the audience to understand and grow upon. In The Odyssey by Homer, the story was written to show Odysseus’ search for home and the challenges he faces. Today, people take this story and learn from Odysseus’ mistakes and connect them to everyday life. Penelope -Odysseus’ wife- awaits her husband’s return after 20 years, during these years she faces the challenge of raising a child -Telemachus- alone, and provides for her family without the aid of a husband.

The attributes of Odysseus are admired by Athena, and she connects to him on the level of cleverness. Odysseus exploits qualities that Athena adores, which is why she takes a liking to his well being. In the beginning of “The Odyssey” Odysseus has been away from home for almost 10 years because he is taken captive on a nymphs island. Athena doesn’t think that Odysseus deserves the punishment given to him so she confronts Zeus about letting him go. “Olympian Zeus, have you no care for him in your lofty heart?” (1.223). Athena questions Zeus, why he is not won over by sacrifices from Odysseus. Athena shows her power in asking the ruler Zeus why there is nothing being done for Odysseus. Athena then rejoices and calls out to him, “If now it really pleases the blissful gods that wise Odysseus shall return home at last, let us...announce at once to the nymph with lovely braids our fixed decree: Odysseus journeys home- the exile must

On the other hand Odysseus can be a smart man. He is clever and tricky which is necessary for a great war hero to have. Like in one circumstance Odysseus tell Polyphemus that his name is “Nobody” so when a person asks who he was the only reply he could say would be Nobody. “Nobody-that’s my name. Nobody-so my mother and father call me, all my friends.” (9.410-411) Sounds like a pretty fool proof plan to me, but the ‘great’ Odysseus can’t stand having all of the fame of defeating a cyclops to someone who isn’t even a person. Once they start heading off after they have gotten out of the grasp of Polyphemus Odysseus yells out his actual name which makes the cyclops furious. He then prays to his father Poseidon for revenge and he wants to give

Lickerman argues that heroes must make personal sacrifices in order to be considered heroic, but Berkow contends that people who risk their lives, overcome handicaps, and support their families should be considered heroic; therefore, Odysseus is a relevant hero for modern day readers because he too had to had to risk his life many times while he was on his journey and also overcame many handicaps throughout the odyssey including a Cyclops, the Sirens, and many more strange

Odysseus had to leave his beloved home of Ithaca to engage in war with the Trojans. He spent many years on Troy and was eager to return home to his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. For this reason, Odysseus devised a plan to finally beat the Trojans once and for all. With his men, they constructed a wooden horse and hid it its belly. The Trojans, thinking that the Greeks had given up, took the horse inside the walls of Troy and drank in joyous celebration. After everyone had passed out Odysseus and his men left the horse and slaughtered the sleeping Trojans. With a victory under their belt the Greeks finally began the long journey home.

The synopsis of Odysseus’ journey is not complicated: the reader meets the hero on his departure from the land of Calypso, where he has spent seven years. The god of the sea Poseidon wrecks Odysseus’ boat, however with the help of a nymph he manages to reach the land of Phaeacians, where he is pompously accepted in the palace of the king and the queen. The reader gets the detailed account of Odysseus’ journey from the tale which is retold by the