Odysseus Resourceful

The Resourcefulness Me and Odysseus Have

“The appeal to the wild for me is unpredictability. You have to develop an awareness, react fast, be resourceful and come up with a plan and act on it” (Bear Grylls). This quote describes how Odysseus developed his adventuring skills. In the epic poem The Odyssey, Homer depicts the main character Odysseus as very resourceful. To be resourceful is to think quickly and use your surroundings to overcome obstacles. Humans need to be resourceful to help them succeed. Odysseus is one of the many heroes that needs to be resourceful to help him get back to his homeland. Odysseus and I both share the trait of resourcefulness because we both use our surroundings to go forward.

Odysseus is a particularly resourceful.

His resourcefulness helps him and his friends get out of tough situations. Odysseus is stuck in the cave while the Cyclops eats his men. He has to think of a way to hurt the cyclops. He finds a tree and “...chopped a six foot section of this pole and set it down before my [Odysseus’] men, who scraped it..” (Homer 821), to form it into a weapon. After he injures the Cyclops and blinds his eye, he has to use his instinct to find a way out. He would “...tie [his men] silently together, twining cords of willow from the ogre’s bed; then slugh a man under each middle one to ride there safely..” (Homer 824), and protect his friends from the Cyclops. His quick thinking of using the tree as a spear and using the rams as a disguise is resourceful of him. Odysseus also uses his resources to save his friends. When they cross the Sirens, he will find a way to not let his sailors hear the Sirens’ Song. Odysseus plugs their ears with “a massive cake of beeswax...and laid it thick on their ears” (Homer 835). His resourcefulness will lead them to safety and that is why his crew respects him. Odysseus uses his surroundings to find a way, just like I do.

I am a resourceful person similarly to Odysseus. I use my quick thinking and my surroundings to my advantage. On the weekends, I recycle bottles and cans and sell old trinkets to earn money. This money goes toward groceries and new items that we can then recycle again. Like how Odysseus used the beeswax to aid to his friends, I also used wax to help my family. When we eat outside, flies and other insects like to get on our food. Instead of using expensive insect repellent, I used scented candles to ward them off. Candles were easy to find and a great resource that has more than one use. My resourceful trait is also seen on my television. I was bored of my old television so I used old materials, including velcro and glow sticks, to upgrade it. The velcro helped stick my microphone in place, and I also used the glow stick light to light up the television when it is dark. These are just a few ways I use my resourcefulness in day to day life.

Odysseus and other mythological heroes share resourcefulness with many real life people. Resourcefulness is a trait that is used daily to succeed unprepared. Odysseus uses his resources to defeat the strange creatures he encounters, while I use my resourcefulness to get through everyday situations. Although our scenarios are different, we still use the same problem solving brain to avoid or overcome obstacles. Odysseus and I share this important trait.