Free Essays: The Many Challenges of Homer's Odyssey

The Many Challenges of Homer's Odyssey

In The Odyssey, Odysseus had to face many challenges during his travels; a few

of these difficulties were a cannibalistic Cyclops, huge whirlpools, determined

suitors, along with many hardships. Odysseus fought constantly to return to his

homeland of Ithaca, but to accomplish this Odysseus had to be clever,

resourceful, and have great leadership qualities.

Odysseus proved throughout the

story that he was very clever. When he was faced with having to get out of

Polyphemus's cave, Odysseus first told the Cyclops, "My name is Nohbdy: mother,

father, and friends, / everyone calls me Nohbdy". (pg. 452, 341-342) Odysseus

told him this because he knew if the other Cyclopes would come and ask who was

with him, they would think that "Nohbdy" was there. In another episode,

Odysseus outsmarted the Sirens; he wanted to listen to their sweet song, but he

knew he would try to jump overboard. It was then he got the notion to tell his

crew, "...you are to tie me up, tight as a splint, / erect along the mast,

lashed to the mast, / and if I shout and beg to be untied, / take more turns of

rope to muffle me." (pg. 459, 536-539) This and telling the crew members to put

wax in their ears ensured that Odysseus, alone, could listen to the Sirens' song

and not die.

When Odysseus had to figure out how he could kill the Suitors who

were staying in his house, he had Athena disguise him as an old beggar and then

told Telemachus, his son, to hide all of the Suitors' weapons and armor. If

they asked Telemachus what he was doing, he was to tell them he was storing the

weapons so that none of the suitors would kill each other if they got into a

fight. Many times throughout the story, Odysseus had to be resourceful enough to

accomplish a task by using surrounding things, whatever was at hand. When he

was drifting back towards Charybdis, Odysseus grabbed onto a nearby fig tree

and held on until a piece of driftwood shot out of the whirlpool; then he

grabbed a hold of the driftwood and soared to safety.

In order to escape from

the Cyclops's cave, Odysseus wanted to blind the Cyclops.