Self Control And Restraint In Homer's Odyssey

Just as Odysseus warned his crew, “old shipmates our stores are in the ship’s hold, food and drink; the cattle here are not for our provision, or we pay dearly for it (meaning losing his entire crew)” (page 220) after skillfully escaping from the treacherous hands and mouth of Skylla and Kharybdis on the island of Thrinakia, but they decided to listen to Eurylochus instead, who coaxed them by saying, “You’ve gone through everything; listen to what I say. All deaths are hateful to us, mortal wretches, but famine is the most pitiful, the worst end that a man can come to” and to “better open your lungs to a big sea once for all than waste to skin and bones on a lonely island” (page 221). Similarly, I’ve gone through a moment of self-restraint, which turned into a moment of no self-control. When I was visiting India during the scorching summer at the age of seven, I noticed an increasing amount of stray dogs wandering aimlessly in unsanitary alleyways and on the perilous highways in the overpopulated city of New Delhi. Because I

For example, in Book XXIV, when Odysseus is disguised and reunites with his father he “paused by a tall pear tree and wept, then inwardly debated: should he run forward and kiss his father, and pour out his tale of war, adventure, and return, or should he first interrogate him, test him?” (page 452). Similarly, when Penelope first encounters Odysseus, she is skeptical and believes the immortals have a hand in this, as she thinks “had she better keep her distance and question him, her husband? Should she run up to him, take his hands, kiss him now?” (page 432). This is exhibiting self-control; however, with a convincing statement and persuasion, this idea goes into thin air. In the Odyssey, there are many themes and moments of his journey which can be paralleled to ours in a much smaller