How Does Odysseus Tell A Story

A Lesson From The Odyssey Why do we tell a story? Why do we read a story? Ask most people it would just be for entertainment they don’t even realize that through the writing there are lessons. In The Odyssey a Graphic Novel by Gareth Hinds there are many lessons intertwined in the plot. The hero Odysseus makes many choices throughout the book. Some are good choices and get him closer to his goal, but some he pays for over and over again. One lesson that really stood out was Odysseus’ resistance to trust his crew, and the impacts of that on both parties. This book shows that you can’t have leadership without trust. An example of a good leadership choice Odysseus made is on Circe’s island. Odysseus is cautious when they arrive on the shore.

When Odysseus and his crew got to the floating island of Aeolia they were graciously welcomed by King Aeolus, lord of the winds. The King gave them a bag of west wind to guide them home. Odysseus’ crew doesn’t know what was in the bag and Odysseus doesn’t tell them. He also doesn’t trust any one in his crew to man the bag. Odysseus stays awake for nine days controlling the wind. On the tenth day he falls asleep and his men become curious about what is in the bag. They think he is hiding gold and riches and that he will keep them all to himself. The men open the bag and release all the wind. This blows them all the way back to Aeolia. Odysseus begs the king for more wind, but he commands they leave because they must be cursed by the gods to have such bad luck(111-114). Although Odysseus was cursed by the gods this problem could have been very easily avoided. If Odysseus had simply told the men what was inside the bag they wouldn’t have felt the need to open it. Instead it creates a trigger effect, when Odysseus doesn’t trust his crew they don’t trust him. There is no point in leading unless you have followers, and you wouldn’t follow someone if you didn’t trust them. Odysseus lost control of his men, and they lashed out on their own, causing everyone to get set back. Not only does he not trust his crew he also fails to communicate with them, which is another key part of leadership. In this situation Odysseus

Exhausted, they stop at the island of Thrinacia, home of the sun god’s cattle. They had been warned not to eat the cattle many times. Once they go ashore, a storm blows up and forces the men to stay on the island for 30 days. They run out of supplies and day by day they get more and more hungry. Soon they are starving to death and the cattle look like a good option. Odysseus tries to keep the men from eating the cattle, but one day Odysseus goes to the top of a mountain to pray to the gods for help. The men, left to their own devices start to question Odysseus’ judgement. They don’t trust him and believe he is making the wrong call. The men rebel and eat the cattle. This angers the gods, and Odysseus. Odysseus and his men head back out to sea. The dark sky and sea are a portent of what is to come. Soon Zeus releases a horrible lightning bolt on them that kills all of the men(142-145). Again, this could have been avoided. If the men had a strong trust in Odysseus they would have trusted his judgement, and listened to him. The men don’t have this sense of trust, so they assume he is making the wrong call. Trust needs to be a two-way street, in this case Odysseus trusts his men, but his men don’t trust