The author of the book, The Single Woman: Life, Love, and a Dash of Sass, once wrote “Sometimes when you lose your way, you find yourself.”(Hale, Mandy) “The Odyssey” is an epic poem written by Homer depicting the adventures of a man named Odysseus who is traveling back to his home of Ithaka. The poem “The Journey” by Mary Oliver features a girl who finally realizes her purpose then journeys out into the world. Personification in each of the poems portrays how people undertake journeys to pursue goals based on greed but instead find themselves during the journey and come to realize that their original purpose was trivial. Odysseus discovers more about himself through his self control, and lack thereof. While overall Odysseus’ goal to make …show more content…
While being taunted by the suitors Odysseus kept his composure, the best choice for protecting his family. Odysseus also sees some of the servants sneak off to have sex with the suitors. He “was stirred by this, and much he pondered in the division of mind and spirit, whether to spring on them and kill each one, or rather to let them lie this one more time with the insolent suitors, for the last and latest time; but the heart was growling within him".(homer,20,9-13) The personification of his growling heart depicts how very angry Odysseus is. He could have unveiled himself then and attempted to kill the suitors and punish them, as well as prove his strength. Instead he waits for a better moment so that he does not risk the lives of his son and wife only to demonstrate his superiority, a mistake he made previously when calling out his name to the cyclops. Odysseus also realizes more about himself while on the journey. He makes the realization that he is no god, only a mere mortal whose imperfect decisions can often put other people at risk. Odysseus and his crew had been trapped by the cyclops due to his own …show more content…
The character in “The Journey” faces doubt and disbelief from the people in her life while she fights to leave. This particularly takes place at the beginning of her voyage after she finally realizes that she must go. “The whole house began to tremble”(Oliver,5). Emotion is given to the house through personification which depicts how the narrator is feeling. She is being held back and frightened to go off alone in fear of abandoning the voices that ask for her help. “You felt the old tug at your ankles. Mend my life! Each voice cried.”(Oliver,9) By giving up her original goals which put others needs before her own and held her back, she can now get in touch with herself. During her journey, “there was a new voice, which was slowly recognized as [her] own”(Oliver,27). By going off on her own and forgetting the distractions and doubts of her past the narrator was able to get in touch with herself and learned who she is as a person. The character’s journey begins with her overcoming the doubt that she receives but she can finally be released of those pressures and discover herself when she leaves behind the voices to find her
All heroes around the world go through a journey of their own. Those journeys can be a physical, , mental, emotional journey, and lots more. These types of personal journeys are demonstrated in an epic poem, The Odyssey, by Homer, an interview, The Hero’s adventure by Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers, a short poem, Courage by Anne Sexton, a graphic novel, The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds. They all show how journeys can be transformative and show a person’s strengths and/or weaknesses.
Odysseus has been held in Polyphemus’s cave for some time now, so he devises a plan of escape. Odysseus speaks out to his crew for help saying “Who’d brave it out with me to hoist our stake and grind it into his eye.” (221) This foreshadows Odysseus and his crew grinding the stake into the cyclops eye, ultimately leading to the crew's escape. As his journey home escalates and challenges become harder, Odysseus is faced with the ultimatum for the The Cattle of The Sun. Prior to his decision he is warned “Leave the beast unharmed, your mind set on home, and you all may still reach Ithaca-but harm them in any way, and I can see it now: your ship destroyed, your men destroyed as well, and even if you escape, you'll come home late, all shipmates lost, and come a broken man.” (275) Homer includes the foreshadowing of the blind prophet's statement, informing spectators of the two possible outcomes based off Odysseus and his crew's choice. Before the slaughter of the suitors has even occurred, Homer foreshadows the event vaguely. As the suitors continue to disrespect Odysseus it is brought to their attention that, “Once under his own roof, he and your friends, believe you me, won’t part till blood has flowed” (380) The foreshadowment is obvious when stated “won't part till blood has flowed”, implying that in time to come Odysseus will not part from the suitors unless blood has been
Odysseus, through the tremendous physical journey that he has embarked on, goes on many mental journeys that greatly develop him as a character: he starts out hotheaded and single-minded, yet grows to be a lot more rational by the end of the book, which ultimately saves his own life and the lives of many others. For example, because of the inadvertent trip he and his crew take to the island of the Cyclops, and their subsequent escape from the Cyclops Polyphemus (which causes the ire of Poseidon, Polyphemus’ father, to be incited), Odysseus learns to not invite the wrath of the gods. He also learns, after taunting Polyphemus multiple times and consequently, almost getting everyone killed because of it, to not act in such a rash manner and to
In the movie and the book Odysseus does a lot of the same thing. Odysseus is known to be a hero and to either win or lose. He usually has a victory, he is a very smart man who thinks everything through before going through with it. Victory motivates Odysseus. He wants to return home and live well in Ithaca. In the movie and book one of the things he does the
Odysseus thinks that his reasoning are final and his activities are constantly just and right, although he frequently allows his ego control his rational thinking, resulting harm to his group and messing with the gods’s plans. His men could have went back home Securely for it is the desire of Athena and the other heavenly gods who surround to her in Mount Olympus, however Odysseus takes it to himself to outrage and blind Polyphemus, the monstrous son of Poseidon, adored by his dad yet abhorred by the people, In this way distrusting their whole arrangement . Subsequent to being blinded by the heroine, Polyphemus tosses huge pieces of rocks at Odysseus's ship, nearly obliterating them at the same time. But instead of retreating for safety, Odysseus keeps on provoking Polyphemus and “[calls] out to the cyclopes again, with [his] men hanging all over [him] begging him not to”(Book 9, 491-492). His feeling of pride and presumption influences to disregard the requests of his people even in these critical circumstances . He will fulfill his own feeling of interest and pleasure without thinking of the result it would have on his crew. Despite the fact that he is bound to get away from all passings and assaults, his group isn’t so blessed. Their lives are in mortal peril since Odysseus considers them as child sheeps who should forfeit their lives for him when the circumstances comes, much the same as how mortals make conciliatory offerings of sheeps for the heavenly gods. He is willing to fulfill his own feeling of interest without thinking of his groups lives or their suppositions and is regularly infuriated when they negate his request. If they hurt his sense of pride and self-importance and pomposity , Odysseus will be overcome with outrage and
During his stay with the Cyclops, Odysseus heroically saves his men from death, but during this encounter he demonstrates the character flaw of selfishness. On his
Novelist and poet, Rainer Maria Rilke once said, “The only journey is the one within”(Rainer Maria Rilke Quotes). Meaning, what makes a journey important is how one changes and learns from the experience. The claims made in this quote are well proven in relatively new literature and even one of the oldest poems still studied today. The Odyssey is a famous, well known epic poem. It was written by the renowned poet, Homer, in ancient greek times. The Odyssey follows a man known as Odysseus, he just left fighting in the Trojan war after years. Odysseus has quite the adventure due to the gods’ and goddesses’ constant manipulation, all in the hope of reaching his homeland, Ithaca, and beloved family. Quite the opposite, much younger and shorter “The Journey” is a poem written by Mary Oliver in the 1900s. This poem relays what a journey really is and the purpose of going on journeys. Despite the differences between The Odyssey and “The Journey”, the two both use figurative language to convey a very similar message. People embark on journeys to fill an empty void and learn what they appreciate in life.
Six of Odysseus’ men are eaten because of his foolishness. Again, Odysseus’ arrogance came into play when Odysseus and his men escape from the cyclops, Polyphemus. He taunts the monster, despite the fact that his men tell him stop. He exclaims, “If ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, whose home is Ithaca” (Fitzgerald 908). If Odysseus did not provoke Polyphemus, the curse laid up on his ship and crew would have never happened. If he did not mock the cyclops, his odyssey would have been non existent. Odysseus always wanted to be remembered as the grandest hero of Greece. This is object when his ship rolls past the Sirens and Odysseus demands that he listens to their song. His overly extensive hubris clouds his mind and wants the fame of being able to survived the Sirens’ song. He never once considers what might have happened if he had
Archetypes of the Odyssey Ancient Greece was full of mystery. They told of mystical, almost supernatural, heroes and monsters. One such story told of a warrior named Odysseus. A king who ruled over the kingdom of Ithaca, but sadly left for war, leaving his family. Fighting for almost a decade, Odysseus set off on a long journey towards home. Through thick and thin, and through all of the bloodshed and fighting, he finally has a happy ending at home. What will he lose as a result? Odysseus is in the category of a hero, one of the many archetypes modern readers use to identify main characters and all other concepts in literature. Therefore, all heroes experience the fright and thrill of adventure in most of their tales.
According to both Greek and Homeric values humans should have reason, but very often they express passion, which leads to contradictory emotions and obstacles in life. Odysseus, a man with a complex life, struggles with many internal, personal contradictions that have a collective impact on his decisions throughout his existence. The most important contradictions Odysseus faces are loyalty and betrayal; humility and hubris; and wisdom and folly,
In our lives, we have our big goals, just like Odysseus does. We all work really hard until we reach our goal. Just like how Odysseus goes through a long, difficult journey to return to his wife and son in his homeland Ithaca. We also have our small goals such as winning a soccer game. One of Odysseus's small goals was getting passed the Cyclops. Students can especially see a transition from childhood to adulthood in Telemachus, the son of Odysseus. The epic also shows that we all have our ups and downs. We have our strengths and flaws. Odysseus makes an excellent leader and can think quick on his feet, but sometimes he likes to brag and ends up worsening the situation. Temptation is something that occurs to us a lot. Odysseus was put into temptation several
Odysseus’ freedom to make his own decisions is altered my what the gods have preordained for him.
There are many ways to interpret The Odyssey as allegory for life’s journey. It can be seen as a long and strenuous hike with many hardships to get to something much
With only the help of his son, Odysseus kills all the suitors, despite the fact that he was greatly outnumbered. Odysseus proves his strength for the second time when he resists the Siren’s song. No man is able to resist it, but with the strength that Odysseus contains, he overcomes it. Odysseus begs his crew to untie him because the voices are so appealing, but he keeps his strength and fights off the tempting voices: “The lovely voices in ardor appealing over the water/ made me crave to listen, and I tried to say ‘Untie me!’ to the crew jerking my brows;/ but they bent steady to the oars.” (XII, 246-249) Third, Odysseus is very sharp and wise. When blinding the great giant, Polyphemos, one would think why not kill the giant instead of blinding him? Odysseus was very strategic and blinded him because if he were to kill the giant, Odysseus and his crew would not be able to escape. As strong as Odysseus is, he would not be able to move the giant boulder which was blocking the exit. “My heart beat high now at the chance of action,/ and drawing the sharp sword from my hip I went/ along his flank to stab him where the midriff/ holds the liver. I had touched the spot/ when sudden fear stayed me: if I killed him we perished there as well, for we could never/ move his ponderous doorway slab aside.” (IX, 324-330) Odysseus has a sharp mind and thinks of what the outcome to each of his move will be. He makes
Odysseus is tempted again when he encounters the Cyclops, Polyphemus. Unlike his encounter with the lotus-eaters, he displays a more reckless side when he couldn’t resist screaming out his name in pride after escaping the Cyclops: