Overcoming Challenges In Odysseus's Journey In The Odyssey

“Life is problems. Living is solving problems.” -Raymond E. Feist, Silverthorn. Indeed, life is problems and living is solving them. Take a child for example, as the child lives he grows up and solves the growing problems that come into his life. Living is maturing, overcoming obstacles, and learning from them.The quote is an excellent representation Odysseus’ journey in The Odyssey. At the beginning of the story, Odysseus acts in erroneous ways just like a children do when they are discovering life. Through the middle of the story, Odysseus has to overcome many obstacles that teach him many lessons. This would be like a young adult's experience in life as they learn valuable lessons that shape who the are. Finally, as Odysseus reaches the

This would be the experience of an elder person as they retire and reach their destination which teaches them that the journey is what truly matters in life. Taking into account all that was just pointed out, Odysseus’s journey in The Odyssey is a metaphor for life because his journey shows the development of the character through phases and obstacles that can be compared to life.
In the beginning of The Odyssey, Odysseus acts in erroneous ways when he lets his curiosity, arrogance, and irresponsibility get the best of him which gets him in trouble later on in the story. The beginning of Odysseus’ journey would be like a person’s childhood because kids to, act in erroneous ways that get them in trouble. For instance, when Odysseus meets the cyclop Polyphemus at the beginning of the story, an example of his curiosity is when he says: “I wished to see the caveman, what he had to offer…” (130-131). When Odysseus says this he is deciding to leave his current island where he is safe to go explore the island with big caves that is in front of his current location. This would be a child-like quality because his curiosity leads him out of safety and into danger with no true

This would be like a person’s adulthood where they face many struggles in life that help them mature and learn valuable lessons as they overcome them. For example, when Odysseus is on his way to save his men from Circe “...he meets the god Hermes, who gives him a magical plant called molly to protect him from Circe’s power” (387). At this moment Odysseus has an internal conflict where he needs to decide if he should or should not trust Hermes. If Odysseus chooses to take the molly and Hermes is lying, he could get poisoned. But if he doesn’t choose to take the molly he is facing a risk of potentially getting turned into an animal by Circe. In the end, Odysseus takes accepts the molly which, by the way, does save him from Circe’s power. This experience teaches Odysseus that sometimes people have to take risks and trust others. Odysseus’ experience with trust is a connection to real life because adults have to chose to trust people and take risks in their lives as well. Another struggle that Odysseus overcomes is agreeing to the scarification of his belongings in order to get his prophecy. The following quote illustrates the moment Odysseus is in the underworld and agrees to make sacrifices. “‘Then I addressed the blurred and breathless dead, vowing to slaughter my best heifer for them before she calved, at home in Ithaca, and burn the choice bits on the altar fire; as