Cristian Our entire life is an ongoing journey, but we are not on our own. We have family and friends with us guiding us no matter how far the destination or no matter how difficult the situation, we are never alone. This situation is the same for everyone, even those who live in the pages of a book, such as Homer’s epic tale, The Odyssey, and from John Kuol’s story, “Escaping Death”. The Odyssey and “Escaping Death” are similar, but yet different because of the time period, perspectives, and lifestyles of their characters. For example, “Escaping Death” has a more realistic occasion where Kuol struggles for survival to be reunited with his family while The Odyssey is more historical with Odysseus confronting greek mythological creatures. Both …show more content…
of these stories have a beginning, middle and a end, but along the way on their journeys, Odysseus and Kuol show that life is a long journey full of obstacles, but if one works hard and remains focused on a goal, he or she will find success in the end. As written in Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus, who has gone on endless journeys, has his mind focused on a goal during any kind of journey he is on.
Many journeys of his have been easy, but many not as much. For example, when Odysseus travels to Polyphemus's island, Odysseus and his men get trapped in the Polyphemus’s, a cyclop, cave and instead of cowering he comes up with a plan to kill the cyclops. When Odysseus is talking to Polyphemus, Odysseus says, “Nobody- that’s my name. Nobody- so my mother and father call me, all my friends.” (9.223.410-11). This is part of Odysseus’s plan and goal to escape the cave by tricking Polyphemus that “Nobody” is Odysseus’s name. Also, when Odysseus attacks Polyphemus and the other cyclops ask if Polyphemus is ok he says, “Nobody, friends- Polyphemus bellowed back from his cave- Nobody’s killing me by fraud and not by force!” (9.224.454-5). In the end Odysseus’s goal, which was to escape the cave and free his shipmates, was a success because he was focused on escaping the cave and killing Polyphemus while having to make up a plan along the …show more content…
way. Secondly, in Kuol’s “Escaping Death”, Kuol, who has survived on his own for many years, also has his mind focused on a goal, which is to get an education so he can become a doctor or a teacher so he can help people.
When Kuol arrived at Camp Kakuma in Kenya in August of 1992, he never skipped school since he had been at the camp until he got very sick in 1996 and he said, “ I was sick for two years. My gums were bleeding, I couldn’t eat. My joints were sore, I was unable to walk.” (Kuol). This stopped Kuol from going to school, but later when he arrived in America and after living in America for nine months he said, “ I’m in 11th grade at Boston English High Schoo. It’s not like the school I was at before. There are lots of books and good teachers and tutors. I study alot. My backpack is heavy with books.” (Kuol). These obstacles may have stopped him going to school, but later when got better and came to America, Kuol continued to go to school and his goal is to become a doctor or a teacher. Kuol remained focused on his goal, even after what has happened to him in the past, including the lost of his
family. Now, these two journeys are told differently, one being be told and written in first person and the other being written in third person, but also having few quotes in first person from people in “The Odyssey”. Odysseus and Kuol both have or had a goal to begin with, but to get to their goal they had to go through some obstacles. As explained before, Odysseus is trapped along with his shipmates in Polyphemus's cave and Kuol gets sick and is no longer able to attend school, but as they are focused on their goals, they both up ending similar to each other. At the end of their journeys, they both leave and end up with a amazing story to share with others that maybe they can relate to aswell, just like how these two journeys relate to each other. In conclusion, both Kuol Kuol and Odysseus went on a journey that little did they know was life. Kuol got very sick during his journey for a safer life that later would result in him coming to America, which made him want to become a doctor or teacher so he could help others. Odysseus got trapped in a cave that was the home of a cyclops, named Polyphemus, which is just one of many obstacles that he had to undergo in order to reach his many goals. In the Odysseus did not give up, but instead he came up with a plan to escape the cave and kill the cyclops, which his goal later became to free his shipmates. Odysseus and Kuol remained focused on their goal and didn’t worry about the little things that would later end with success in the end. Both of these stories have a beginning, middle and a end, but along the way on their journeys, Odysseus and Kuol show that life is a long journey full of obstacles, but if one works hard and remains focused on a goal, he or she will find success in the end.
Tens of thousands of stories fit into the hero’s journey archetype created by Christopher Volger. Out of these, a large number of them are stories with remakes that share notable resemblances in their heroes’ journeys. However, none of these quite match those very strong similarities found between Homer’s The Odyssey and Joel Coens’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? These stories share crucial components of the hero’s journey whether it be “crossing the first threshold,” where the main characters of both stories begin their long adventure that transforms them into heroes; “the supreme ordeal,” where the main characters are both deprived of the opportunity to get home sooner; or “return with elixir,” where Odysseus and Ulysses both return to their homes alive the comfort of their wives. In their major plot points, the novel The Odyssey and the motion picture O Brother convey obvious similarities in key elements of their heroes’ journeys such as “crossing the first threshold,” “the supreme ordeal,” and “return with elixir.”
O Brother Where Art Thou is a movie based off of Greek mythology of Odysseus and his adventures. Odysseus can be translated in Roman mythology to Ulysses, like this there are many comparisons in both texts. In O Brother Where Art Thou most of the challenges that Ulysses, Delmar and Pete face can be associated with the obstacles in the Odyssey. Even though the stories were written seven hundred and thirty years apart they are still very similar. Throughout both, the Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou, adversity is faced in a persistent manner, although one is a book and another is a movie, similarities and differences coincides with each other.
One of Odysseus's many qualities is determination. He remains determined throughout the entire saga to get back to his family. During Odysseus's Odyssey he encounters many obstacles, beast, god, and nature. Odysseus must get through all of these hardships before he can make it back to his family and home. On his way back Odysseus is next to Charybdis and she swallows his boat. He must holds on to the branches of a fig tree to survive, "But I clung grimly, thinking my mast and keel would come back to the surface when she spouted. And ah! How long, with what desiree, I waited! Till, at the twilight hour...the long poles at last reared from the sea"(12.560-64). Odysseus shows his determination to get home, because it would be easy for him to just let go and drown, but no Odysseus hangs on so he can see his wife again. Once he is at home he finds suitors at his house. Odysseus kills one of them and the others beg for mercy, ??Not for the whole treasure of your fathers, all you enjoy, lands, flocks, or any gold put up by others, would I hold my hand??(22.65-67). Odysseus is determined to get revenge on all of the suitors and he will not be satisfied until they are all dead. Without his strong will and determination Odysseus would not have made it through his trials. Although determination is a must for a journey such as Odysseus?s cunning is also just as essential.
Odysseus was within arms reach of home but because of how naive he was he was forced to keep going on his journey. After all of Aeolus’ hospitality and such a powerful gift Odysseus is still mindless at what this meant and because of him not being cautious, he could not complete his adventure. It’s surprising knowing that after being on a powerful god’s bad side and being forced back to sea, that Odysseus can be even more of a fool.
The recklessness of Odysseus and his crew places them in completely avoidable predicaments that not only lengthens the journey but also results in casualties. At the start of their journey home, they sack a stronghold of the Cicones.
For centuries, authors have been writing stories about man's journey of self-discovery. Spanning almost three-thousand years, the Epic of Gilgamesh, Homer's Odyssey, and Dante's Inferno are three stories where a journey of self-discovery is central to the plot. The main characters, Gilgamesh, Telemachus, and Dante, respectively, find themselves making a journey that ultimately changes them for the better. The journeys may not be exactly the same, but they do share a common chain of events. Character deficiencies and external events force these three characters to embark on a journey that may be physical, metaphorical, or both. As their journeys progress, each man is forced to overcome certain obstacles and hardships. At the end of the journey, each man has been changed, both mentally and spiritually. These timeless tales relate a message that readers throughout the ages can understand and relate to.
“Our life’s journey of self-discovery is not a straight-line rise from one level of consciousness to another. Instead, it is a series of steep climbs, and flat plateaus, then further climbs. Even though we all approach the journey from different directions, certain of the journey’s characteristics are common for all of us.” Author Stuart Wilde’s impression of journeys and their shared commonalities supports the claim that all journeys have a motive and an outcome. In the epic poem, The Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus sets off to defeat Troy, leaving his wife and child behind. After accomplishing his goal, Odysseus faces many problems while trying to return him and his crew back home to Ithaca. Similar to Odysseus’s physical journey, the goal in
Throughout the story of The Odyssey, Odysseus is both punished for his pride and rewarded for his ingenuity. When he lingers in the cave of Polyphemus, Odysseus ends up losing six of his men to the cyclops even though he boastfully attests that “He (Polyphemus) thought to tempt me, but he could not cheat a knowing man like me” (85). As a result, when Odysseus reveals his identity as they are sailing away from the island, Polyphemus pleads with his father Poseidon to punish the crew and to “vouchsafe no coming home to this Odysseus, spoiler of cities,…let him come, in evil plight, with loss of all his crew, on vessel of a stranger, and may he at his home find trouble” (89). This curse comes true, as Odysseus is the lone survivor of Poseidon’s storm and meets trouble with the suitors as soon as he returns to Ithaca. However, while Odysseus is punished for his pride, he is able to learn from his mistakes, and is accordingly rewarded for his ingenuity and cunning. By stating that his name is “Noman” and by getting Polyphemus drunk, he and his men are able to escape the cave, and when he disguises himself in Ithaca, he is able to successfully defeat all of the suitors and take back his home and city as
book takes place in, is called to action and set in motion on his Hero
The epic poem called The Odyssey, which was written by the poet Homer, is one of the many classical stories from Ancient Greek culture. It tells the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and his journey back home from the war with Troy, which had occurred in Homer’s other epic Greek poem, The Illiad. Odysseus faces many trials and quests in his journey home and to take back his kingdom from the suitors, such as meeting the witch Circe, blinding a Cyclops named Polyphemus, dealing with Poseidon, and staying with the goddess Calypso. The poem has many themes that are relevant to it. One such theme is the factor of redemption. Redemption is usually a typical subject in any kind of religion, like the Greek religion and Christian religion. The story of Odysseus has an underlying message of him receiving redemption from the Greek gods. The Odyssey is a tale of redemption because it deals with Odysseus being forgiven by the gods after having to go through many trials and wrongs to rightfully claim back his wife and the throne of Ithaca.
Death, humanity’s worst fear. Humans do everything they can to avoid it, yet it is inevitable. If one believes, as the Ancient Greeks did, that there is some sort of life after death that can be reached by the living, then one would be able to theoretically speak to one’s dead acquaintances. Most people believe that one grows wiser as one grows older; however one can wonder whether the dead are wiser than even the oldest of the living. Death, death occurs to many men in the Odyssey, but one can wonder at the amount of death in this epic poem. Epic poems were supposed to teach listeners on how to be good Greek citizens and they were supposed to teach life lessons, similar to fables in today’s time. This leads one to question why Homer, the author,
Odysseus is very wise; he is able to get out of any situation he finds himself in and can also deceive anyone he finds the need to. Odysseus has the sort of cunning that one may expect to find in an action hero. However, Odysseus is able to do almost anything he wants with these skills of his. He is able to make up stories on the spot, such as when he told Athena that he was in fact not Odysseus but instead a weary traveler from Krete. Said he, “Far away in Krete I learned of Ithaka- in that broad island over the great ocean” (XIII, 327-328), and Athena knew it was Odysseus only because she was a goddess. Odysseus is very resourceful: he uses the things that are available to him. One instance of this trait is when he devises a plan to escape Polyphemos’s cave alive. Using the sheep as escape mechanisms is very clever. If he was not with his men in the cave, there would have been no way for them to get out. Also calling himself Nohbdy to trick Polyphemos into saying that no one hurt him is an ingenious idea. No one else would be able to execute his plan the way he did- with swiftness and bravery. O...
The Odyssey is filled with emotion and adventure. Homer’s ability to show and give the reader a visual of each and every scene gives the story its unbelievable significance. To all the people who read his work there is something to be captured within every sentence, each one different in its own, unique way. Through tales of courage and defeat, friendship and love this book tells of all the values within the life of a single, solitary man, and his journey to attain what is true and dear to him. And this journey is known to all of us as The Odyssey. The Odyssey is a test of human devotion and trust through the gods, the mortals, and the obstacles through which they venture. No matter where they go or what they do, humans are tested for certain characteristics everyday of their lives, whether they realize it or not; and The Odyssey is just one of those many miraculous tests.
Both the Odyssey and the Aeneid represent their cultures very well, but they express different ideas on what one should strive for in life. There are also different forces that pushed both epics to be written. The Aeneid expresses the Roman idea of pietas which means to show extreme respect for one’s ancestors. We see this in Aeneas when he is pictured caring his father away from burning Troy. He has pietas because he cared so much for his father that in fleeing from Troy he took up his father over his shoulder to save his from certain death. This is not the only major idea in the Aeneid. There is also a very political focus. The Roman were very interested in politics which comes through in the Aeneid. The Odyssey has the Greek idea of arete trapped somewhere among the many themes. Arete is a strive for perfection in both mind and body. It is a much more personal and individual idea than the Roman pietas. In the most basic seance the Aeneid and the Romans have a much more political focus and duty to the state ( republic ) than the Greeks who honor tradition , family , and arete.
Homer's great literary classic, The Odyssey, represents and illustrates many emotional and mental values. All of these values can be classified under three different main themes that are constant throughout the epic tale. These themes are: A boy's struggle to be a man, a king's struggle to reclaim his kingdom, and a man's struggle to return home. As one reads this book it will become more and more evident to them that a man's struggle to get home is the most important theme throughout Homer's adventure.