Comparing The Odyssey And Forrest Gump

Homer’s Odyssey was one of the most influential pieces of writing in history. It has inspired novels, poems, films, and more over the past twelve hundred years. This includes Forrest Gump, a 1994 film about a simple Alabama man following global events from the late twentieth century. Both the Odyssey and Forrest Gump are examples of a epic of a journey. The journeys of both Odysseus and Forrest Gump share similarities throughout their stories. In the movie Forrest Gump, Robert Zemeckis shows inspiration from Homer’s Odyssey by beginning in media res, has the protagonist travel a vast setting to reach his loved ones, and uses elements of the history, myths, and legends.

Both Forrest Gump and the Odyssey begin in media res, a literary practice

Forrest finds Jenny to tell her, “They sending me to Vietnam. It’s this whole other country” (00:39:29-00:39:35). In Forrest Gump, Forrest travels all the way from his small town in Alabama to being a soldier in the Vietnam war. Later in his story, Forrest decides the run across the country. When recalling this event in his life he says, “I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured since I’d gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going” (01:53:15-01:53:29). Forrest ran all the way from one coast of America to the other on his life journey. In the Odyssey, Odysseus escapes from a cyclops, but he anger the cyclops. The cyclops curses Odysseus and says, “Should destiny intend that he shall see his roof again among his family in his father land, far be that day, and dark the years between” (Homer 997). This curse extends the length of Odysseus’s journey and creates new hardships. Odysseus at one point reaches the underworld to speak with the blind prophet, Tiresias. Tiresias says,“Great captain, a fair wind and the honey lights of home are all you seek. But anguish lies ahead” (Homer 1002). Teiresias knows that Odysseus only wants to get home but predicts many challenges on the path home. Both heroes have to

In Forrest Gump, Forrest becomes one of the best football players in the country at Alabama. Forrest recalls that, “They even put me on a thing called the All-American Team, where you get to meet the President of the United States” (00:29:41-00:29:47). Forrest was a historically good football player and meet President John F. Kennedy. It is considered a privilege to be congratulated by the President of the United States and Forrest received that honor. After serving in Vietnam, Forrest picks up ping-pong and earns a spot to play ping-pong against china. Forrest says, “The Army decided that I should be on the All-American Ping-Pong team. We were the first Americans to visit the land of China in like a million years, or something like that” (01:14:05-01:14:14). Ping-pong teams from America would travel to China and play against Chinese teams. These ping-pong matches helped ease tensions between the countries and helped make citizens understand each other's cultures better. In the Odyssey, many gods and myths play key elements in the story. Odysseus’s men are told not to eat the Sun God’s cattle. When they are close to starving, Homer says,“They killed and feasted on the cattle of Lord Helios, the Sun” (Homer 981). Lord Helios is a powerful god in Greek Mythology and to eat his cattle is a death sentence.