Comparing The Odyssey And Star Wars: A New Hope

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In the movie Star Wars: A New Hope, directed by George Lucas and in the epic poem The Odyssey written by Homer, the heroes are able to do more than the average man. These attributes allow the story to be more interesting. Luke Skywalker from Star Wars: A New Hope and Odysseus from The Odyssey both share the common archetype that the hero accomplishes more than the ordinary man does; this shared archetype allows the hero to resolve the story's problem.
Luke Skywalker from Star Wars: A New Hope is able to complete a task seemingly impossible by man. Although, at the beginning of the movie he seems very ordinary, he always had the want to be a jedi, like his father. When Luke found out he was not able to go to the fighter pilot school, his aunt said, “Luke’s just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him.” This shows that Luke aspires to be a fighter like his father. You can infer that this is one of the reasons he agreed to fight The Empire. The task achieved by Luke is accurately shooting a proton torpedo into a small port of the “Death Star”, an enemy space station. This port leads to the reactor, and when shot, causes the station to explode. This mission was attempted by several other …show more content…

Freeing Odysseus from Kalypso, controlling the wind so he could float in the correct direction to shore, and arranging a meeting between Nausikaa and Odysseus are just a examples of how Athena helped Odysseus in the book. Zeus, god of gods, also spoke highly of Odysseus by saying, “Could I forget the kingly man Odysseus? There is no mortal half so wise; no mortal gave so much to the lords of the open sky.”(Homer 1. 84-86) Odysseus’ ability to do more than most men shows the reader that he is the hero of the story. This archetype allows the reader to understand the importance Odysseus has in the story. It also allows the reader to know why he is loved and known by so

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