Odyssey And The Alchemist

The Odyssey and The Alchemist Comparison Essay
In The Odyssey and The Alchemist, Odysseus and Santiago undergo comparable journeys, each with risks and sacrifices made to reach a certain goal. In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew of men take the risk to trust each other and also the risk of going on this dangerous journey to find their way back home. On the journey, they encounter many incidents such as the the time when they were to cross a cliff, and in that moment, they had to put their faith in each other. Odysseus is told by one of the his crew members that “the other cliff is lower, as you will see, Odysseus. They are not far from one another; you could shoot an arrow across” (Homer 140). To further convince him of the situation he continues

Odysseus receives guidance, and help, from mainly Athena, the daughter of Zeus. She helps Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, throughout the whole book. Often, she disguises herself as the Mentor or another person. Athena was also the one god who spoke up for Odysseus and his son during the council of the gods. Although Odysseus does gain support from a few of the other gods, at the same time, he becomes an enemy to others, such as Poseidon, so having Athena on his side helps him to further move towards his end goal to return home. In an example of a situation where Athena assists him on his journey, she help Odysseus realize that he is home. The book shows this in, “now came Athena towards him, in the shape of a young shepherd […] ‘Welcome, my friend!’” (Homer 153). She helps him get to a place where he can meet his son and discuss their plan for the suitors. While doing all of this, she is disguised as a shepherd. Athena reunites father and son for the first time in years and together, they plan to kill the suitors and those who betrayed them. Upon first meeting with the Alchemist, Santiago is suspicious of his character and who he is. He infers that the Alchemist might kill him, but he is not afraid. He stands behind his personal legend and that impresses that Alchemist. Later on, the Alchemist gives him important