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Selflessness In The Odyssey

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The Heroes that People Love

Novalis, a famous poet, once said, “Nothing is given to man on earth - struggle is built into the nature of life, and conflict is possible - the hero is the man who lets no obstacle prevent him from pursuing the values he has chosen.” By denotation, a hero exists as a person who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. Two people have earned that title and these people are Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games Trilogy and Odysseus from Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey. While Odysseus might be the first person that comes to mind when people think of heroes, Katniss deserves that title more than him.

While it is true that Odysseus and Katniss Everdeen both preservers like …show more content…

To begin, Odysseus acts selfless by turning his men back into humans after Circe changed them into swine. According to the text, Odysseus saves his men by turning them back from swine when he confronts Circe, the enchantress and goddess, and tells makes her turn them back (Homer 36). Yes, Odysseus acts selfless when he has his own men turned back into humans, but he actually only did this because they are able to help him get home. Additionally, Katniss shows selflessness by taking her sister, Prim's, place in The Hunger Games. The text displays Katniss volunteering to take her sister’s place when she was drawn to enter the Hunger Games and is allowed to enter instead of Prim (The Hunger Games Trilogy). While it is true that Odysseus saved more people, The Hunger Games allowed Katniss to spark hope in the hearts of the people in the poor Districts. Not only does Katniss show selflessness when she takes Prim’s place in The Hunger Games, she also acts selfless when she races to the Cornucopia halfway through the games to help Pita. In the movie, Katniss runs to the Cornucopia where there are need supplies for the tributes. This includes medicine that Pita, a fellow tribute also from District 12, needs and other tributes are willing to kill her so they can also get their necessities (The Hunger Games Trilogy). Although people may believe that this is stupid and she should not risk her life, Pita helps Katniss during The Hunger Games and supports her during the

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