Challenges Of Odysseus In Homer's The Odyssey

The Odyssey of Life

Challenges happen in everyday life, and because these challenges are so personal to me, I sometimes forget that people have similar challenges or have had challenges like mine in the past. While reading the Odyssey by Homer, I was able to draw from the trials that Odysseus faced and how he overcame some of them. The trials that Odysseus faced and overcame are what made him who he was. In this way, I can see how my challenges in life have shaped me and will continue to shape me as I go through important times in my life. In looking at the challenges that Odysseus and I share, there are three that stand out. I can relate with Odysseus’s life or death situations, his physical attraction to something thrilling and finally

Like all of us, Odysseus is trying to figure out who he really is. At one point, Odysseus even sinks so low that he claims to be "Nobody”. At some points, I have felt this way. Only at the end of the epic does Odysseus re-establish himself as the "real" Odysseus. One challenge that Odysseus faces is the one-eyed Cyclops. This was a life or death situation. I may not have faced a real life or death situation head on, but there have been times in which I have perceived challenges to be life or death and I just act on them. Odysseus was facing death right in his eyes. His anger and temper went straight up so Odysseus reveals his true identity. Much like Odysseus, when it’s all over I then look back on it and realize that the situation made me think of who I am and how I fit in this world. Similar to Odysseus after I have gone through something that is traumatic I also must re establish

On of the temptations that Odysseus faces is eating the lotus flowers. He and his men are wanting to eat the flowers and finally give in. This goes against Odysseus wanting to get home but he still does it. My friends and I are faced with temptations all of the time. We know that there are drugs and alcohol out there and that they are dangerous. I can relate with Odysseus when I want to try to them because I know that they can help me escape reality along with my friends but I am different that I haven’t fallen into the temptation even though it is there. I know that I will continue to have to face this temptation along my friends who are like Odysseus’s men. . I would not want myself or my friends to get into the addiction and could possibly die from it. This is how Odysseus feels about his men. He wants to stop them and tell them it isn’t going to turn out good. The temptation is there