Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali Vs. The Odyssey

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Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali Vs. The Odyssey

The definition of an epic hero can be defined as one who is triumphant in some manner that reflects the idea of his/her culture. “Heroes have always dominated mythology, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, history, and literature. No culture seems to lack tales of human, superhuman, or god-like heroes who save the innocent from the wicked, conquer evil, and deliver the threatened and oppressed” (Shunnaq). Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali and The Odyssey can be compared and contrasted in different ways. Both of these literary pieces are epics that contain heroes who precisely mirror the values of their respective ethnicities. While some values displayed in the epics are similar to each other, there are also disagreeing values between the two pieces of literature. Based on the examples from Nian’s Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali and Homer’s The Odyssey, the similarities and differences can easily be identified by one.

In Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali and The Odyssey, the epic heroes, Sundiata and Odysseus, display loyalty, strength, and authority. At three years old, King Nare Maghan, Sundiata’s father, told him that he would soon become king and he needs a griot. Sundiata declared with total confidence, “Balla, you will be my griot” to the son of his father’s griot (Nianel 1). Although Sundiata spoke very little as a child, it is quite obvious that his first words are that of power and authority. On the other hand, Odysseus displays authority when some of his shipmen were not focused on the task of returning home to Ithaca, but were instead getting high of lotus leaves. When he finally got his disobedient shipmen back to the ship, Odysseus whipped them, then commanded them to his other abid...

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... conclude that their cultural background influenced their ways of leadership. One also was able to see how these two were very different as well as similar to each other. By reading theses two, one was able to obtain a better understanding of a culture’s perspective on life.

Works Cited

Homer and Robert Fagels. The Odyssey. New York: Viking, 1996.

Niane, Dijibril T. SUndiata: An Epic of Old Mali. Londan: Longmans, 1965.

Shaw, George Benard. Brainy Quote. n.d. 5 April 2014. .

Shunnaq, Susanne Ramadan. "The Transitional Epic Hero in American Literature: Alger, Fitzgerald, and the Philosohpy of Success." The Pennsylvania State University, 2000. Web. 5 April 2014.

Pickett, G.D. "Sundiata." Old Mali Tale. (2009): 8-47. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. .

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