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Life Lessons In Homer's The Odyssey

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Determining the difference between right and wrong can be difficult, but life lessons help us figure it out. During The Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus learns a few lessons, and one of them is that you should be aware of your surroundings and ready to use them. Another moral that he learned was to heed all warnings, regardless what your instincts say. These messages can be used in life today to help guide people during their lives. While reading The Odyssey, a lesson that can be used today and during Odysseus' time is to know your surroundings and be ready to use them. Trapped in the cave, Odysseus and his men saw "an olive tree, felled green and left [for Polyphemus] to season" (904), and Odysseus "hewed [it] again to make a stake" (904). They used what sat in the Cyclopes cave to help them escape. Next, Odysseus and a few of his men started to "grind that spike in Cyclops's eye" (904), and didn't stop until "blood ran out" (906), of Polyphemus’ eye. Another example of Odysseus using his surroundings is when he “goes to enlist the aid of two of his most trusted men" (947) to help him get everything that he lost returned to him. Once or twice this summer I needed help cleaning my fair calves, so I asked if either of my sisters would help me. Typically one of the girls will help me, but sometimes they won't and return to playing their game. In this situation, my sisters were my surroundings that I try to use when I needed some help. When my cousins and I were younger, and we were spending the day …show more content…

The Odyssey teaches us many of those lessons, but some of them stand out more than others. Regard all warnings despite what your instincts say and use your surroundings to your advantage are two morals that I thought were important in my life. Even though these messages are thousands of years old, people can still use them today maybe not word for word, but they use them in one way or

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