Odysseus Hero Quotes

What makes a hero? The novel Things Fall Apart follows the story of a man named Okonkwo, who grew up with a father who was kind, and generous, but was a so dependent on other people and did not pay back any of his debts as well. It was because of Okonkwo’s father that he became the man that he was, Okonkwo felt that since his father was kind and generous he had to be the exact opposite, so he became a hard working young man, but also became violent and aggressive, he lived in fear that he would be buried with shame as his father was, even though he had taken on many titles. Odysseus was quite the opposite though, from the story The Odyssey, was extremely different, he was clever, and kind. Odysseus was ripped away from his son, Telemachus, and his wife, Penelope, and spent twenty years trying to find

‘If the latter, your parents must be proud. I’ve never seen your like in beauty. I don’t dare embrace your knees. Could you just tell me the way to town?’” (Homer 6) This quote shows how kind Odysseus is because he was complimenting the bride to be and in doing so, he got a safe place to say.

Despite the fact that Okonkwo fits the molds of a tragic hero, Odysseus fits the molds of an active, willing, gung-ho hero better because even though Okonkwo meets all the criteria, flawed, never able to overcome his inner demons, and his flaws win in the end, Odysseus is more like a willing, active, gung-ho hero because he meets even more of the criteria rather than Okonkwo. In conclusion Odysseus fits the molds of a willing, active, gung-ho hero better than Okonkwo, whom fits the molds of a tragic hero. Even though some may say that Okonkwo fits the molds of a tragic hero rather than Odysseus, whom is a willing, active, gung-ho hero better because he meets all the criteria. In the end, maybe Odysseus is better than Okonkwo in more ways than