30% of Vietnam Veterans experience PTSD and suffer because of it. These Veterans are family members, neighbors, and friends in the community. They fought and served to protect a nation full of people whose freedom is dependent on the men and women who go to war. Veterans have a difficult time adjusting back to civilian life when returning home from war because they may remain in combat mode. In The Odyssey there are examples of men remaining in combat mode. - The Odyssey After the Trojan War ended Odysseus and his men set sail for Ithaca but made many stops along the way. One of these stops was on an island where they caused bloodshed and destruction: “..and killed the men who fought. Plunder we took, and we enslaved the women… My men were mutinous.” ( Homer, para. 40-50) …show more content…
They didn't think twice about what they were doing because it came naturally to them, as those things were acceptable during the war. When Odysseus and his men become stranded on an island Odysseus warns the men that the cattle there are not theirs to take, yet famine and lack of leadership, as Odysseus had fallen asleep, moved them to slaughter and feast on Helios’s cattle. “...but famine is the most pitiful, the worst end that a man can come to...Come, we’ll cut out the noblest of these cattle for sacrifice..” ( Homer para. 865-875) In war Odysseus's men killed and captured any game they could so they wouldn't starve. This became a secondary instinct to them, so when they went to slaughter the cattle they felt no remorse or hesitation. Other writings such as Odysseus in America can provide examples of soldiers remaining in combat mode after war. Johnathan Shay provides examples of how men stay in combat mode postwar in his article Odysseus in America - Odysseus in
In the book Stoic Warriors: The Ancient Philosophy Behind The Military Mind, the author Nancy Sherman presents a strong argument of the connection between ancient stoics and the modern military that leaves little room for rebuttal. Being raised by a father who served in WWII, she seldom heard stories about the war but still developed an appreciation and fascination with the military. Most of her career she was “focused on ethics and the emotions, in ancient and modern philosophy,” as she states. Her fascination with both the mind and the military crossed paths in the nineties when she was appointed as a civilian assistant to the military where she served as the inaugural occupant of the distinguished chair of ethics. Throughout the book she utilizes the contemporary military as a lens to study and evaluate Stoic philosophy. She uses examples from wars, ranging from Ancient Greek to Iraq, not only to highlight and confirm the presence of the Stoic philosophy has on the modern military warrior but also why it is such a compelling guiding principle for not only military members but civilians as well.
When Odysseus visits the land of the dead in book 11 to consult the dead seer Teiresias, Teiresias gives him several pieces of advice. One main thing he tells Odysseus is, “If only you have the strength and will to control your men’s appetites. And your own from the moment when your good ship leaves the deep blue sea and approaches the isle of Thrinacie. There you will find at their pasture the cattle and the fat flocks of the Sun-god, whose eyes and ears miss nothing in the world. If you leave them untouched and fix your mind on returning home, there is some chance that all of you may yet return to Ithaca, though not without suffering. But if you hurt them I predict that your ship and company will be destroyed, and if you yourself contrive to escape, you will reach home late, in a wretched state, upon a foreign ship, having lost all of your comrades.” (Homer, The Odyssey, 143) When Odysseus and his men land on the island of Thrinacie, Odysseus warns his crew not to butcher any of the cattle they see. However, his men do not follow Odysseus’s advice and butcher several cattle out of hunger. As a result, when Odysseus and his crew finally leave the island, Zeus blasts their ship with a lightning bolt (as revenge for Helios/the Sun-god) causing every man to perish with the exception of Odysseus. In short, Teiresias gives advice to Odysseus to not butcher any of
For the Greeks, Homer's Odyssey was much more than just an entertaining tale of gods, monsters, and men, it served as a cultural paradigm from which every important role and relationship could be defined. This book, much more so than its counterpart The Iliad, gives an eclectic view of the Achean's peacetime civilization. Through Odyssey, we gain an understanding of what is proper or improper in relationships between father and son, god and mortal, servant and master, guest and host, and—importantly—man and woman. Women play a vital role in the movement of this narrative. Unlike in The Iliad, where they are chiefly prizes to be won, bereft of identity, the women of Odyssey are unique in their personality, intentions, and relationship towards men.
Veterans have struggles with their civilian life after separating from the U.S Armed Forces. Returning to the civilian life seem to be a big challenge for veterans who have no prior job’s skills for civilian life because they had been influenced from military’s training, have physical and psychological damage.
Schein, Seth L. The Mortal Hero: An Introduction to Homer's Iliad. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984.
When he first sets out on his journey, Odysseus is setting out for war and by the time that war is over, he wants nothing more than to get his men home safe and see his wife and young son. This wish, however, is delayed, mainly because Poseidon has made it his personal mission to prevent Odysseus from ever returning home to Ithaca. All this was due to Odysseus’s poor treatment of Poseidon's son, the Cyclops. On his way home from the war, Odysseus sails into the island of the Cyclops and tries to find food and shelter for his crew. It becomes apparent to Odysseus that this society that the Cyclops lives in what resembles “the Golden Age, in which the earth yields its fruit continually without toil and yet … they seem wholly uncivilized; they live isolated.”(346 Hernandez). Because of this, when the crew and Odysseus stumble upon the Cyclops's cave, they proceed to steal food and linger in the large cavern. When the Cyclops comes back to find the thieves, he blocks them into the cave and eats a few of the men.
Through both of Stephen Crane's story "A Mystery of Heroism" and poem "War is Kind" he gives several different examples on how war was from this time and how it brought out the real person in any soldier whether they were scared or daring to be a hero for others. Them proving that they can be a hero themselves even if its from getting water for the rest of your team to comforting ones that have lost loved ones through war in the end of the grand scheme of things.
The goddess Circe had warned them not to kill any of the cattle, or else Helios would be extremely disappointed. Odysseus made his men to swear to not kill the cattle by saying to them “you must swear a solemn oath, that if we find a herd of cattle or sheep no one shall dare kill one.” (Page 156) However, the wind never favored them, so the men were stuck stranded on the island and eventually grew hungry. Out of hunger, one man killed a cow, and hills became extremely angry. This was the cause of death for all of Odysseus’ men because out of revenge, Helios asked Zeus to kill these men. Zeus sent a huge black storm cloud over the ship and killed the men. Odysseus barely survived by hanging on the edge. This whole action was in the name of revenge and could have been
During Odysseus’ long and strenuous journey to make it back home to Ithaca, he encountered a countless number of dangers. Odysseus started off his voyage with an unwelcomed greeting from the Cyclopes, who swallowed a handful of Odysseus’ shipmates. Nevertheless, Odysseus and the remainder of the surviving shipmates escaped and rowed closer to their home. As the sailors advanced towards Ithaca, they faced the angered sun god Helios, sly sirens that tried to lure them to their deaths, and deadly whirlpools. The desperate men came across powerful winds and crashing waves, but they barely managed to get past it. Coming close to the end of the mens’ treacherous expedition, Zeus shot a bolt directly to their ship, and Odysseus was blown back to the
In historical times, war was viewed as glorious, especially during the medieval era, as depicted in countless novels and narratives with which fighters were portrayed as heroic and brave. Contrary to this viewpoint, modern civilization sees war as an orgy of destruction that despite sometimes being necessary demolishes entire cultures and puts families into disarray and ruin. Within the Iliad, Homer incorporates these two conflicting viewpoints into a complex and deep attitude towards war. In the historical epic, Homer reveals the devastation that fighting inflicts on soldiers both physically and emotionally, and he depicts the grief and sorrows of the families of soldiers killed during the Trojan War. Though he acknowledges the horrors
The gods ruined Odysseus’ crew’s lives by killing them. Odysseus and his crew landed on an island inhabited by cyclops. The main cyclops, Polyphemus, captured them and ate some of the crew. Finally, Odysseus and his men came up with a plan to escape. They got Polyphemos drunk and took a huge stick, warmed it up, and stabbed Polyphemos in the eye. They eventually escaped, but Polyphemus prayed to his father, Poseidon.
Events that occur during war can change people mentally, emotionally, and physically. Some of these issues can be fixed or healed, but some cannot. Most of these wounds are thought to be modern issues; however, they are not. In the Odyssey, Odysseus was the lone survivor, which is similar to many stories from modern times. With the many recent wars to cause the damage to soldiers, many veterans have struggles. This also shows that the veterans need help when returning home. In Odysseus’ journey there are many shared similarities and differences with Modern-day wars in terms of mental, emotional, and physical damage, and how these events affect the soldiers during and after the war including how they adapt after the war.
A soldier's life is tremendously different than that of a civilian life so for a soldier who has been in the military for years it is literally nearly impossible to go back to a civilian, they loose there want to go back home like the lotus eaters in the Odyssey. The lotus eaters in the Odyssey are not evil beings there people who have fallen victim of eating a flower, the lotus flower.When they eat this flower they lose their will and want to go back home they desire only that flower and off the island where they grow they are nowhere else to be found. In a soldier's perspective the island is the military once they leave they can't find a lifestyle like the military gave them thus making them lose there want to go home. Soldiers who see going home as a civilian not hard there go home any chance they get, but the war doesn't always end on the frontlines it follows some all the way
The military, mainly focuses on the physical and mental preparation of veterans’ in order for them to witness combat. It is known that veterans’ who serve in the armed forces witness and experience violence, dead and trauma. Despite the effort of the military to prepare soldiers for combat, it is not sufficient for veterans’ to live a normal life after deployment. Many of the veterans’ who deploy are expose to a deeper inner battle within themselves when they return to their homelands. Smith and Gala True, point out that, we should consider how reintegration to civilian society requires soldiers to navigate and interpret new ways of being in the social world. We contend that the struggle to resolve contrasting identities—what we call warring
And they, since they / Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs.”(33-34) After the boy had taken his last breath, his family continued on with work. They knew that production would slow and output would suffer if they delayed. So, they pressed on, despite what they felt. The higher officers and platoon leaders during war enforced the same mindset on inexperienced recruits. They were aware that stopping on a battlefield would put the war effort at risk at large. This forced lack of concern created a feeling of guilt in the survivors, because they were essentially forced into apathy for the dead. Again because of the glorification of war, many new recruits were not prepared for this and suffered grave mental scars that would last most if not all of their