Free Essays: The World of the Odyssey and Today's Society

The World of the Odyssey and Today's Society

In the book the Odyssey by Homer violence, deceit, disorder,

absence of law enforcement, and it's principal of self-sufficiency,

obviously differs from our modern society today. In modern world today we

have laws and law enforcers, which is to help keep away from as much

violence as possible. We have legal systems and courts to decide whether

people deserve punishments, and this shows in many ways how the present

differs from the past. That is why many leaders of the past couldn't be

successful leaders in running today's society. Odysseus went by his own

rules and made up his own rights, which he lived by, and would set the tone

for the rest of his crew. Odysseus would be a poor leader in today's

society based on his leadership skills in the book.

Odysseus would be a terrible leader today because his way of being

just and solving problems is to kill people. He believes in no sound

reasoning and cares about himself and how much of a great fighter he is.

" Lady, it's not possible to interpret this dream in any other way. You

have learnt from Odysseus himself how he will make the dream true. Clearly,

the Suitors are all of them doomed: there is not who will escape his

destined death (p.301)."

When Odysseus heard of the suitors in his home, he had it set in

his mind to kill them all before even trying to reason with them or asking

them to leave. Also, he plans to take revenge and kill his servants when

he believes that they were disloyal and instead of giving them the chance

to explain why they had been disloyal to him.

In today's society you can't go out and kill someone because you

feel what they are doing is wrong. For that we have legal systems where

people have the right to prove their innocence if thought to be guilty. If

Odysseus killed someone today because he didn't like what they were doing,

he would be jailed. If killing people were the answer to everyone's

problems, then there would never be peace in our society today. Odysseus

had his own way of thinking and doing things and in today's society that