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Common Obstacles In The Odyssey

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In the Odyssey, the entire poem symbolizes life because it takes place in the so-called "sea of life." Therefore, we analyzed each obstacle as a common obstacle in a human's life. For instance, the sirens represent that there will always be something holding one back from moving on. Lines 125-126 represent that you will want to stay back and not move on, but you must. Scylla in lines 187-188, when she takes six of Odysseus' men, represents that one may lose a loved one at anytime. When Odysseus is stuck with "Scylla to port and on our starboard bean Charybdis" (lines 174-175), it represents that there is no easy path and one will always face difficulties no matter what decision they make. When Odysseus' men "ignore Odysseus' warning not to
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396 Words | 2 Pages

In the scenes “The Cyclops”, similes help the audience to understand Odysseus and how much danger he is in. The example of Odysseus losing his crew proves that he is encouraged so he still continues to search for Ithaca. “There as a whirlpool drank the

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405 Words | 2 Pages

Perseverance is an essential trait for reaching your goals. Many dreams start far from reach, but perseverance changes dreams into reality. Throughout The Odyssey, there are many examples of perseverance. Odysseus and I share the trait of perseverance throughout our everyday lives. I displayed perseverance when I fasted meat and chocolate for a month.

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210 Words | 1 Pages

In the Odyssey by homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, the Cyclops encounter is one of Odysseus’ greatest flaws and successes at the same time. It began to go downhill when Odysseus lies about his name and the condition of his ship. When him and his men are captured by the cyclops Odysseus claims his name is nobody, and his ship was wrecked, he does this to aid his escape plan and as a tactic to guard his name and men. When the escape plan is put into play, Odysseus stabs the cyclops in the eye with a red hot spear all the while him lying about his name was put into use because the cyclops yells, in agonizing pain, nobody stabbed him in the eye, this causes the other cyclops to lower there guard and not go to assist their brethren. All

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533 Words | 3 Pages

In this book, Odysseus is telling the story to the Phaeacians and their king Alcinous about his voyages, and in this case, the story includes a cyclops who is the son of Poseidon. Odysseus tells of how he blinded the cyclops and got cursed by Poseidon. In this passage, Odysseus is describing the home of the cyclops where his crew and he had landed. Imagery is used in order to give us a clear image of the cyclops home. This imagery also portrays to us that the cyclops have no desire to leave because they have everything provided for them.

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1513 Words | 7 Pages

Odysseus’ Cocoon: The Timeless Transformation Of Soldiers During Their Return From War The concept of a rite of passage is a ritual that accompanies one’s transformation from one status to another. Rites of passage typically have a three-part structure consisting of a separation from the community, the liminal or transformative period, and the reintegration into society. The Odyssey acts as a rite of passage that facilitates a transformation between two identities. Odysseus’ journey home is used as a device that allows him to process the events of the war and to prepare to reintegrate into life at home.

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920 Words | 4 Pages

This might have seemed to be a selfish choice that Odysseus made, but Odysseus knew that if he told his crew more, that the boat would fall into chaos, and everyone would have died. Within the epic adventure of Scylla and Charybdis, the style of passages is pretty evident when it came to Odysseus selecting the safest route for him and his crew. Scylla and Charybdis are both derived from Greek mythology idiom of “caught between a rock and a hard place.” With the set goal of wanting to get home alive, he has to face the obstacle of wanting to sacrifice two men or risking his entire ship sinking to the ocean floor.

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311 Words | 2 Pages

During The Odyssey, the hero and king of Ithaca, Odysseus, shows restraint which I think is the most important trait for a hero to exhibit. A very good example of this would be when he and his men were with Polyphemus. His men wanted to leave but he said to stay and see what Polyphemus looked like. Eventually when they had gotten trapped in and Polyphemus’s cave and Polyphemus has fallen asleep, Odysseus had the chance to drive a large stick into him and kill him.

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228 Words | 1 Pages

In the Odysseus (book 9), written by Homer, (book 9) has several symbolisms throughout the episode. One major symbolism used throughout this episode was hospitality. Homer use Cyclops and Odysseus to represent the different view of hospitality. Odysseus action symbolize the poor use of hospitality. Odysseus and his men sailed to the land of the Cyclopes.

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909 Words | 4 Pages

Odysseus, the fabled hero from The Odyssey, and Che Guevara, the renowned revolutionary, both endure the stages of the hero’s journey of Trials, Allies, and Enemies, the Road Back, and the Supreme Ordeal, however Guevara’s journey gave humanity the strength to fight for one’s values, no matter the consequence. Both of the heroes face the stage of the Trials, Allies, and Enemies. Some of the many tests Odysseus faces include Poseidon drowning him, but thankfully Odysseus makes friends with a mermaid, Nausicaa, and King Alcinoos. All of them help to bring him home. To illustrate, Odysseus describes his journey to Scheria to King Alcinoos, “There I was stranded for seven long years.

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433 Words | 2 Pages

Throughout the story of The Odyssey Odysseus makes many questionable decisions that affect more than just himself. Whether that be, being selfish, or simply withholding essential information from his crew, he seems to choose wrong almost every time. Odysseus is an extremely flawed character who makes his journey home much harder than it has to be, his poor judgment extends his treacherous journey back to Ithaca immensely. One of his most flawed decisions is when he didn't tell his crew what was in the bag from Aeolus and ended up elongating their journey home by years.

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744 Words | 3 Pages

When reading the odyssey I noticed that Odysseus went through a lot of difficult tasks and journeys and has had more than one near death experience. If you read through the book you will notice that most of Odysseus’ hardships go with a life lesson that teach you what to do or not do in the future in that type of situation. One of the life lessons is when a has to hang onto the tree branch for a whole day to survive because Charybdis swallowed his ship. The symbol or life lesson in this part is determination because he wants to get home to his wife and son alive and it is a hard task,but he was willing do it because he had so much determination to get home. If odysseus didn’t have determination at that time he could have just let go because it hurt or it was hard ,but he didn’t because the need to go to his wife and son was greater.

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953 Words | 4 Pages

My goals include graduating college, getting a job, and staying happy in my adult life, but these will be challenged with many obstructions, including distractions, large obstacles, and temptation. Even though Odysseus is facing physical monsters and creatures, we still face “monsters” every day that we have to overcome. These monsters have one purpose: to distract us from our true goals. It’s only once we defeat these obstacles that we are able to move on in life. The most important part of the Odyssey to me is that no matter how many obstacles or challenges that Odysseus faced, he always moved on in the end.

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436 Words | 2 Pages

Scylla represents the destructive power of the unconscious masculine, while Charybdis represents the overwhelming force of the unconscious feminine. Odysseus must navigate between these two extremes, sacrificing some of his men (who can be seen as aspects of his psyche) in order to avoid being consumed by either

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1016 Words | 5 Pages

Someone has just finished reading a thrilling adventure book filled with action and suspense. They immediately exclaim that this is one of their favorite books and with good reason as they really did enjoy it. One of the reasons they seemed to like the book is because of the incredible amount of morals and lessons in it, that all seem to be very agreeable. When reading the Odyssey the reader will also be able to find many lessons that held a lot of truth. A few lessons given in the epic consist of the following.

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1102 Words | 5 Pages

(V, 170-175). Despite being on a beautiful island with a goddess, the seas he looked over every day were “barren” alluding to how Odysseus’s situation felt hollow and empty in comparison to his home and family waiting back in Ithaca. This event shows how Odysseus was the embodiment of all men who fought in the war and their desire to go home. And when Odysseus reached home, “he wept as he held the wife he loved, the soul of loyalty, in his arms at last. Joy, warm as the joy that shipwrecked sailors feel when they catch sight of land…”

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