Fate Influenced In The Odyssey, By William Golding

Jake Goeders Mr. Schmidt Honors English 9 3 April 2024 Odyssey/Lord of the Flies Synthesis Paper Paulo Coelho once said, “Destiny means there are opportunities to turn left and right, but fate is a one-way street,” but which one is true? Do we get to choose our destiny or is fate inevitable? Is it black and white, choice or no choice, or some shade of gray? In Homer’s epic, “The Odyssey,” and William Golding’s novel Lord of the Flies, we see both main characters, Odysseus and Ralph, being influenced by the archetypal mountain. Still, they react in different ways throughout their own stories. How and why do the two heroes from “The Odyssey” and Lord of the Flies, Odysseus and Ralph, respectively, deal differently with the archetypal mountain,

The point in the epic where Poseidon’s influence is perhaps the most prominent is immediately after Odysseus flees the island of Polyphemus. Odysseus taunts the Cyclops, which leads to Polyphemus calling on his father, Poseidon, to curse Odysseus. “‘O hear me, lord, blue girdler of the islands, if I am thine indeed [...] grant that Odysseus, raider of cities, never see his home [...] should destiny intend that he shall see his roof again [...] far be that day and dark the years between’” (Homer, book 9, lines

He is calling on his father, Poseidon, to curse Odysseus. We know that this curse worked because while Odysseus eventually did return home, “should destiny intend that he shall see his roof again” it took him twenty years, “far be that day” and he lost all of his men, “And dark the years between.” However, how could the cyclopes have known who Odysseus was? He gets called by his name and an epithet Polyphemus had no reason to know “Odysseus, raider of cities” The only reason Polyphemus isn’t cursing Nobody is that Odysseus told him exactly who he was, what he did, where he was from, and what his father’s name was. This shows that Odysseus has a complete lack of respect or understanding of the role the gods play in his life. If he did, he wouldn’t have given out all of his information, for fear of exactly this scenario. Later in the story, we can assume that Odysseus learned his lesson about respecting the gods and their influence in his life because he doesn’t anger them or do anything that might harm himself. This helps contribute to Homer’s portrayal of Odysseus as an arrogant, self-important, and prideful man capable of figuring out different ways to do