Examples Of Courage In The Odyssey

Walking into her boss’ office, my mom thought about what was to come. Is this really the best for my family? Will the pay difference be worth it? My mom strolled into her boss’s office, looked into his eyes, and quit. Sick of being yelled at and treated like an outsider, she moved from a private practice to Legal Aid where she could further impact the community. Even though this event may seem perfectly normal to most people, it nevertheless requires courage. While many people have different definitions of the word courage, dictionary.com believes it “is to do something difficult.” Even though the word does in fact have to do with overcoming a difficult situation, this definition is too broad. Many people believe that jumping off a cliff requires

a great deal of courage, but some would argue that that’s just reckless. Also, some difficult tasks just take physical strength. For instance, it doesn’t really require courage to do thirty pushups. Although this is physical strength, it is not physical courage which has to do with overcoming fears when adrenaline kicks in. Even though a task is difficult, it doesn’t always require courage. Along with physical courage there is moral courage which is to stand up for what a person believes in. For example, Martin Luther King Jr. believed that there was an immoral segregation between people of different colors. He stood up for what he believed in—and today we thank him. He wasn’t afraid of what others would think of him and did what was right. Courage is being brave, not being afraid to be different, and putting priorities in front of fear.
These traits have been shown all throughout history, and courage is a common theme
used in many stories and tales. The origin of the word goes back to Latin and old French.
According to etymonline.com and britanica.com, it was translated around the 1500s to mean inner strength. This definition is still very relevant today, however it doesn’t have much depth.
Today it still refers to having inner strength depending upon the intent of a person. The intent that a person has in mind determines whether or not they are courageous because the intent will show if the person was overcoming a meaningful fear, or a small, unimportant fear.
Throughout history, people have shown courage in literature.

For example, in The Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus, shows this trait in the book “Calypso, the sweet Nymph” by Homer, because he isn’t afraid to tear up. In this scene he is weeping because he is wishing to return to his wife and home. The book states, “With eyes wet scanning the bare horizon of the sea….” (line 73-74). Eyes drowning, Odysseus is longing for his wife. In this quote Odysseus is looking at the sea, trying to see if people have come to save him. But in society, men are often frowned upon for crying because it shows that they are weak. It was brave for him to cry. He overcame the fear that he may be judged for crying. Although crying is a simple thing that everyone does, it can still show bravery and

courage.
Odysseus also shows these traits in the story of “The Sirens; Scylla and Charybdis.” In this story Odysseus is between a rock and a hard place.

He has to choose between losing his ship or losing six of his crewmates. Finally, he decides upon losing six of his men to the sea monster Scylla. Dangling from Scylla’s mouth, the six men are grasping for Odysseus. The story states, “She ate them as they shrieked there, in her den, in the dire grapple, reaching still for me –and deathly pity ran me through at that sight.” (l828-831). It must have taken a great amount of courage for Odysseus to watch the consequence of his decision. After leaving his men in Troy, Odysseus was already shaken by seeing many of his friends die, and now he had to watch his crewmates die as well. Regretting his decision, Odysseus, the great war hero, likely sank onto the floor in grief. In this passage, Odysseus was putting his priorities in front of fear because he was focused on getting as many of his crewmates home as possible. Home writes “in the dire grapple, reaching for me.” This part of the quote really sticks with the reader. The men were helpless, trying to fight and wrestle with Scylla, even though the prophesy stated that only Odysseus would make it out alive. Odysseus was brave to even stand there, even though he was most likely weeping as a widow weeps for her husband. Most people today couldn’t even imagine being in this situation—having a person’s best friends reaching for him with death

in their eyes. Even though Odysseus is very courageous in the Odyssey, he does show a little bit of temerity from time to time. For instance, he taunted the cyclops when he and his men were leaving the cyclops’ island. But even though he can be reckless, his courage is impeccable in dealing with many situations.
Courage has been shown by many people, and especially in the firefighters of the Chernobyl disaster. The disaster took place on April 25 of 1986 and is said to be one of the worst nuclear disasters (Chernobyl disaster 1). Radioactivity from the disaster spread as far from the Ukraine as Italy (Chernobyl disaster 1) and caused more than thirty-two deaths, costing over 3 million dollars (Knifton 1). The disaster involved over 500,000 workers. One of those workers was Lieutenant Volodymyr Pravik (Knifton 1). The chief on duty at the plant’s fire station, Lieutenant Pravik, was one of the first people to arrive at the scene. Once he got there, he instantly started to put out the fire. As the reactor beneath his feet was melting away, Pravik has been said to have lead the other firefighters into action (Chernobyl’s legacy lives 2). Although he most likely couldn’t see a thing, he bravely kept on fighting and pushing others to do so (Chernobyl 2). “They went up the ladder… and I never saw them again” explained Grigorii Knmel, who was one of the firefighters working with Lieutenant Pravik. Knmel was explaining Lieutenant Pravik and many others who had gone up on the roof (Knifton 2). Lieutenant Pravik fought the fire for about two and a half hours, and only after he was injured did he leave the scene. Soon after he died of radioactive sickness (Knifton, 1). Lots of people who helped, including Lieutenant Pravik, felt that it was their ‘moral obligation,’ to put their lives in danger, and in doing so they saved many people from radioactive exposure. The courage Lieutenant Pravik must have needed to head into the fire is something that most people today will never be able to fathom. Lieutenant Volodymyr Pravik was like Odysseus in that they both had the bravery to surpass fear. They went immediately into action when they were needed. Although both of them were fighting different monsters, they both pushed through. In the end, the two men followed what they felt was morally right, no matter the outcome. It is only when a people have forgotten fear that they can bravely continue their lives.