Imagine for a moment if you will, you are walking through a forest on one of your favorite hiking paths. It’s a wonderful day and you enjoy the warm sun on your shoulders and the sounds of the forest surrounding you. You don’t think much of it, besides that it is a wonderful day for a hike, and you don’t regret waking up to do it. During this time of relaxation answer this one question for me, when does the journey matter more than the destination? It sounds like a fairly dumb question at first, but the more you think about it, the more important it becomes. If you look back to when you were on a journey such as a hike like you had just imagined, you realize that you come home with more knowledge about life, which you can share with friends …show more content…
You will always learn something about life through your experiences, and you will always return with more knowledge on life. Part one of The Odyssey translated by Robert Fitzgerald portrays this very well with this classic. The story opens up with Odysseus, the main character, leaving his home and beginning to travel the world with his crew. He soon finds himself and his crew learning new ways of survival and wisdom about life. “He saw the townlands, and learned the minds of many distant men, and weathered many bitter nights and days in his deep heart at sea, while he fought only to save his life, to bring his shipmates home” (6-9). At the beginning of this action packed story, the narrator explains how Odysseus had learned new towns and met both enemies and allies, yet he still had to fight in order to keep he and his shipmates safe in order to bring them home. Towards the end of the story Odysseus returns home to his family with more wisdom on life and more knowledge on many things. This is when Odysseus’s journey became important and it soon showed its purpose, and why Odysseus should continue until his journey reaches an end. This entire story has many examples of when this happened, such as when Odysseus and his men escaped the great Cyclops after they had managed to cut his eye out and escape from his cave. “‘Puny am I, in the caveman’s hands? How do you like the beating we gave you you damned cannibal? Eater of guests, under your roof! Zeus and the gods have payed you!’ The blind thing in his doubled fury broke a hilltop and heaved it after us” (432-437). After Odysseus had made his sassy remark, he soon learned his place and escaped the island with no more words to say. This taught Odysseus that at some times in life, it is best to keep your mouth shut and to move on. Hopefully during your journey you will also learn a lesson like
In the Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus's main goal was to reach home. Even though all of his thoughts were turned towards his home and family, he learned many lessons along the way. Odysseus's greatest learning experiences were in his journey, not his destination.
In the Hero’s journey, The Odyssey, the main protagonist, Odysseus, changes in a way which helps him gain self-knowledge. Odysseus ' experiences transformed his personality from how he was in the beginning to the end, by leading him through a heroic journey, also known as a quest. The real reason for a quest never involves the stated reason, and this is no different with Odysseus. As the story developed, many of Odysseus’ sides were exposed through the challenges he faced. Out of the countless dangers and obstacles every step back home, him and his crew have only acquired minimal character changes. Even though they are minimal, they are those which take many decades to achieve.
Experiences of journeys provide insights into the lives of individuals and the world around them
Author Ursula K. LeGuin once said, “It is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.” The Odyssey is an epic poem told by Homer that is about a hero named Odysseus who faces many challenges on his journey home from the Trojan War. Even though Odysseus is a smart and strategic man, he still has many lessons to learn on his journey.
Odysseus is known as a great war hero and leader who encounters and conquers unimaginable obstacles in his quest to return to Ithaca. This is understandable, given that Homer often uses Odysseus’ point of view in recounting his tortuous ten-year journey. However, beneath the surface is another perspective that is often overlooked, namely, that of Odysseus’ men who accompany him on this journey. Odysseus often glosses over his shortcomings as a leader and accentuates or even exaggerates his successes. If his men had been given more of a voice, it is likely that a different account of Odysseus’ leadership qualities would have been presented. For instance, Odysseus takes great pains to portray himself as an innocent victim and Homer’s readers generally accept this perspective. Odysseus’ hubris makes him careless when it comes to the safety of his men and therefore, an unreliable leader. Careful analysis of the scenes featuring Cicones, Aeolus and the Winds, and Scylla and Charybdis reveals that Odysseus often fails to transcend his own self-interest and ultimately he is the one responsible for the deaths of his men.
In the intricate and complex epic poem, “The Odyssey”, Odysseus’s main goal was to reach his home, Ithaca. Even though all of his thoughts were turned towards his family and home, he learns many lessons along the way. Odysseus's greatest learning experiences were in his journey, not his destination. The quote “the experiences of the voyage itself were more meaningful for Odysseus than his arrival home,” truly depicts that Odysseus’s experiences and confrontations with others throughout the journey contributes to his moral values and life lessons.
In the Odyssey, written by Homer, Odysseus learned a lot about himself and what he had to do to become a better overall human. The adventures he goes on, I think, opens his eyes to a world in which he thought he was invincible.
After the incident with the bag of winds it is reasonable for Odysseus to have trust issues, but when it is a matter of life and death, Odysseus is witless. After being punished by Zeus because some of his crew ate Helios’ cattle Odysseus drifts in the ocean until he lands on Calypso’s island. 7 years pass and Odysseus can finally leave after he crafts a ship, after he leaves and sails for a bit, Poseidon sees it as a time to get revenge for his son Polyphemus. Poseidon completely wrecks Odysseus’ ship when he is close to the land of the Phaeacians. A goddess named Ino sees this and offers Odysseus help.
On Odysseus's journey he stopped at Cyclops’ Island for supplies and food. Instead of hunting and making supplies our protagonist and his crew steal from Polyphemus and stay in his living space thinking they can get more from him. After a while Polyphemus comes home and starts to get angry at his “visitors” so Odysseus tries to patch things up “here we stand, beholden for your help, or any gifts you give -as a custom is to honor strangers.” In the end they escape with Polyphemus's sheep.
There are many occasions in the story when Odysseus let his pride overcome his judgment and his crew suffered a consequence. When Odysseus defeated Polyphemus, his pride got in the way and caused him and his crew a lot of trouble. Instead of listening to his crew, who advised him "Why bait that beast again? Let him alone!" (495), he stayed and waited until the Cyclops of the cave returned. When Polyphemus stumbled into earshot of Odysseus, Odysseus shows how haughty he was. He insulted Polyphemus and told him “Cyclops, if any mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes’ son, who took your eye.” (502-505) knowing that Polyphemus was the son of Poseidon, the sea God and that all of his travels were to be made on the sea. In return, Polyphemus curses Odysseus and makes his journey hard and treacherous. Odysseus let his pride cloud his judgment and this led to him acting like a madman and openly challenging a monster, which makes his travels home a great deal longer. Anyone in his right mind would know better than to insult a monster, especially the son of a God whose help you a...
In Homer’s Odyssey Odysseus shows his yearning for adventure and that challenging himself brings him happiness through his actions not his thoughts. Even in the clutches of a raging cyclopes Odysseus’ accepts the challenge at hand and persevere through the loss of some of his men. “My name is Nohbdy,” he tells Polyphemus who is drunk from the liquor Odysseus had given him before. The giant “reeled and tumbled backward,”. He son fell asleep and the next stages of his plan fell into place. When the sharpened log was hot enough for his liking he and a few other men “bored that great eye socket,”(380). Instead of letting his men die while he cracked under the pressure Odysseus remained calm and allowed himself to think. Having achieved his goal of defeating the mighty cyclopes he rejoiced in his valiancy. Odysseus exuded happiness when most of his men got out alive. Odysseus’ habits of getting his men into seemingly inescapable predicaments continues on the island of Cersei. At the gate of the witch’s island his need for adventure takes the best of his judgement. Against the advice of Eurylochus Odysseus “rushes to save his men from the enchantress,” (387). Odysseus’ need for thrill and excitement draws him onto the island. He knows that he will suffer the same fate but makes a decision in the heat of the moment that could've made him unable to return home, but he wasn’t thinking of home, he purely wanted to get his men back. Throughout his journey Odysseus perfectly represents the bond between a man’s adventures and the challenges they bring to
On our journeys we all must resist, or give into, temptations that may hinder our ascent to our goal. All people give into temptation at least once in their lives. One time that Odysseus gave into temptation was when he listened to the Sirens’ songs. We don’t always collapse into temptation, like when Odysseus wanted so badly to kill the suitors but forced himself to wait for the right time. Another time Odysseus defied temptation was when he refused to reveal himself to the people but ceased expose himself until he felt it was the right time. Temptation is not the only thing to obstruct our expedition.
It may be difficult to understand how the Odyssey, a 2,700 year old epic poem about gods and monsters, could ever symbolize life today. The Odyssey does, however, parallel to a journey of life because of the decisions made by Odysseus and decisions I will make as well as the trials he endured and the challenges I will face. Some of the obstacles I will endure in the future, including high school and college, may not be as serious as the monsters Odysseus had to face, nevertheless, they are still everyday situations that I must learn from.
Homer’s literature served as a moral messenger to the people of ancient Greece. The Odyssey by Homer demonstrates the character development of Odysseus, the epic hero, and his journey of self-discovery. Odysseus was a great, wise, noble, and well respected war hero to his people. Odysseus had one tragic flaw that was demonstrated by his actions throughout the book. The author Homer continued to strip Odysseus of his arrogance throughout the story, by throwing challenges his way, making him pay for his mistakes, and allowing him to continue to overcome obstacles. The main purpose of Odysseus journey also to reach his home a more humble man. Reading Odysseus’ journey also served as a way to look at morals. The
People learn lessons every day. They can either learn them the easy way, or they can learn them the hard way. Homer documented Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca in The Odyssey. In this journey, Odysseus learns several life lessons that applied to our lives.