The Fate Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

The author of the heart-wrenching Series of Unfortunate Events, Lemony Snicket once wrote “Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t so,” ( "A Quote from The Blank Book.") in his work Blank Book. Authors from 750 B.C and those closer to today all use Snicket's notion as a reason for writing about a journey; every quest and exploration holds understandings that are not known yet. Homer, the author of the epic poem Odyssey, (Homer) chronicles the voyage of Odysseus through the Adriatic sea and all of its hidden traps. In the second piece, the poem, “Ithaca” by C.P Cavafy, ("C.P. Cavafy - Poems - The Canon.") the narrator tries to persuade Odysseus to lengthen his trip home to Ithaca. In Odyssey, Odysseus, on his route home encounters

The witch Circe had captured Odysseus's men and turned them into squealing pigs. After Odysseus attempts to rescue them the Witch turns them back into men but under a trance. She vocies that her only requirement for their freedom is that Odysseus “must first visit the land of the dead and hear a prophecy from the ghost of Tiresias”(p. 387) Odysseus ventures to the underworld and while he is the only one living amongst the milky souls he see his mother. He had no knowledge of her death; this new awareness forced Odysseus to fight “through the pang on pang of tears” (p. 390) Odysseus had to control his grieving until he should “should know the presence of Tiresias” (p. 390) because his vigilance was for the sake of his friend’s lives. Odysseus adjusts his behavior after his encounter with the dangerous cyclops so that no more of his men will suffer for what Odysseus chose to do. Odysseus proves he now knows the real power of his choices and how they affect the people around him through the careful decisions he made on behalf of his shipmates. His reckless actions that provoke his enemy have ceased to exist in this chapter whereas now he is so cautious he doesn't even let his own mother distract him from the feat of saving his companions, his responsibilities. Homer uses the conflicts Odysseus has with the Cyclopes to exhibit the lesson that needs to be learnt and then the subsequent conflict with Circe to present how Odysseus manipulates his understanding as a viable tool.The intention of this expedition was to go home but in the process Odysseus has achieved a more spiritual sense of his surroundings. He has surpassed the self absorption that limited him from truly seeing the world on a deeper level. The challenges that are experienced have the ability to create