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Water In The Odyssey

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Between water, floods, and sea travel, water can present itself in different functions and can be symbolic especially in the readings that we were required to read this past week. Throughout the texts, water was a major factor, but the two that I felt expressed water the most were in both the Bible (Genesis) and also the Odyssey. In both of these texts water, more specifically flooding for the Bible and sea travel in the Odyssey, represented different meaning and showcased itself through different images for the readers to grasp. Just between these two stories, it’s amazing how water can not only produce different forms throughout these stories, but after analyzing can also create different symbols and representations or interpretations.
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The sea travel in the Odyssey is an image of struggle and hardship of what Odysseus encounters and has to preserver through in order to get his ultimate wish of being home with his wife Penelope after many years. It seems that every time that Odysseus attempts to get closer to home, he is rerouted into other trouble or events that cause him to redirect in an opposite direction than where Ithaca is. It says strictly in the text that Odysseus had a desire to go home, “Only Odysseus still longed to return to his home and his wife.”(pg. 178). Following by “For Odysseus to return home to Ithaca, though no teven there did his troubles end, even with his dear ones around him,” expressing early in the book that Odysseus would have challenges on his journey home (pg. 187). I think that the water is symbolic of the longing of Penelope that Odysseus is experiencing through his sea travel. Throughout the book, the longer Odysseus is on the sea, the more struggles he has which increases his desire to be home which is explanatory considering how long he’s been away from his family and home. The longer Odysseus was at sea, the more desire he obtained for his wife and his home. Through the Sirens, the cyclops, Poseidon and Zeus trying to punish him, and many other islands that Odysseus journeyed through, it was all a test of his desire and events that taught him about himself that lead to the eventual reunion with

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His fate and journey are ultimately changed by the actions of others who are selfish, greedy, and foolish. The suitor’s greed gave him the extra desire to finally return to Ithaca, and his journey changed as he became desperate to return to Penelope. The selfishness crew caused his journey to be delayed, as he was forced to travel for ten extra days. The foolish crew, and their need to die with full stomachs caused Odysseus to be alone and stuck on an island with Kalypso resulting in more time away from

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To conclude, the Odyssey contains unwanted romances and loving reconnections in the life of Odysseus. The way of the Gods made it so that Odysseus was bound to Calypso and Circe, getting shipwrecked on Calypsos Island and sailing upon Circes Island the Gods were working their magic. Although Calypso and Circe captured the Odysseus for years it seemed as though they both help Odysseus in their own ways throughout his journey. Odysseus could’ve died if Calypso did not help him and Circe did everything she could do to help Odysseus and all his men for the year they stayed with her. Although Odysseus seemed to have these extra affairs outside of his marriage with Penelope it seemed to not matter to either, all that matters is that Odysseus

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