“I am only one man in the world; nothing more and nothing less.” The ship rocks back and forth as Odysseus finally nears the end of his journey. It has been nearly twenty years since he has seen his family and his homeland of Ithaca. For all twenty years, Odysseus has been trying continuously, to return to Ithaca. His son is a grown man and his wife has aged and is desperately trying to put off remarrying. Although almost everyone believes him to be dead at the bottom of the sea, his family believes that he is still alive somewhere out there. It took everything he had to get to this point, and although things looked grim many times, he never gave up. His most important qualities were very openly shown in the story of the Odyssey. He has shown bravery, perseverance, and intelligence along with many other qualities that helped Odysseus in his quest to return home. A lesson is to be learned and once he knows it, he gladly embraces it and is able to return to his beloved family. One big question though is what were the qualities that defined Odysseus as a hero for the rest of his life?
“Heroes” are defined in many different ways. There are secret heroes like Batman and Superman, and immortal heroes like gods. There are also mortal heroes who can be defined in two different ways: daily heroes, like fire fighters and police men and women, and heroes who changed the way we lived, like Amelia Earhart and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. What connects them all together though? Bravery. How many people in the world are brave enough to go directly into the line of danger for the sake of others? Odysseus showed bravery several times in the story of the Odyssey. One time that really stood out was right after they got off of Circe’s island. Odysseus was directly told that in order to get home he had to go to the underworld and visit a blind prophet. Rather than stay on Circe’s island and be safe, he left and risked his own life in order to find out how to get home so he, and his crew, could return to their families. There was no guarantee that he would be able to leave the underworld once he got in, but he was willing to take that risk so his men could return to Ithaca.
Throughout the whole story Odysseus’s bravery is shown in many ways. Although every hero has his/her own reason for being so brave, Odysseus’s reason was his desire to return to his wife and son. Odysseus was missing out on his son growing up as well as he love of his wife. Despite the fact that he got distracted from his goal once or twice, he got back on track quickly. Perseverance was the main thing that encouraged him to do, practically everything, that made him such a legendary hero. His perseverance pushed him to do incredible things that required his intelligence, strength, and leadership skills. Those skills kept him from getting killed in situations that normally people wouldn't be able to. A perfect example would be when he was stuck on the goddess Calypso’s island. She was gorgeous, offered him immortality, and was willing to do or give him anything he wanted. It’s a man’s dream come true and yet he still refused it. When asked why he didn’t want immortality Odysseus told Calypso, “I would rather grow old and die with Penelope than live forever and never see her again.” He still longed for his family despite the fact that it had been over a decade since he’d seen them.
His perseverance made him a very brave man, and his bravery allowed his intelligence to shine through. When threatened with the guilt of his men dying and him doing nothing to stop it, his intelligence was brought out even more so than normal. To be a leader one must know what needs to be done and how. Odysseus went above and beyond showing multiple versions of intelligence. Being clever and cunning, having common sense, and having survival knowledge were all versions of intelligence that Odysseus showed in his journey. His cunning and clever thoughts were shown when he escaped the Cyclopes, Polyphemus. Although his men didn’t recognize it, Odysseus realized that they needed to have Polyphemus alive in order to get out safely. None of the men, even combined, were strong enough to push the giant stone out of the doorway. He was able to trick Polyphemus into getting drunk and falling asleep. Trickery was shown once again when he made Polyphemus say that “nobody has blinded me!” causing nobody to come to his rescue. This made him have to move the stone allowing Odysseus and his men to escape safely. His common sense was shown daily throughout the adventure and one great example was when he listened to the God Hermes. Having survival knowledge contributed to him finally returning home. Odysseus knew well enough how to build a fire, get food and water, and how to work the sea. His survival knowledge was proven when Calypso allowed him to leave but that he would have to make his own boat. He succeeded in making it and was able to survive on it until Poseidon attacked.
“It is not what’s on the other side…it’s the climb.” Odysseus was so focused the whole time that he didn’t realize the amazing adventures he was on. In order to get home he had to realize a few things; the first being that “without gods man is nothing”. When Poseidon helped them win the battle of Troy, Odysseus took all of the credit not thanking the gods at all. Secondly, he learned that “God does not give man what he must do for himself." There are some things that man must do himself in order to either learn more, or become a better person. Finally, he learned that life is a journey and that he should have taken his time and looked around while he was on it. When he finally returned home he was a better person which led to him being a better ruler and more open to unique things. He wouldn’t have been able to become such a great man without his bravery, perseverance, and intelligence…and of course the gods and goddesses.
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what's this?just another nerdy Asian who writes essays and actually ends up liking some of them. type of writing
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way back when...
July 2017
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