Perseverance In The Odyssey

The hero's journey is a popular form of writing that involves a hero who embarks on an adventure, quest, or journey where in the climax they win a victory, then comes home transformed or changed. The book, “The Odyssey” is a prodigious example of the hero's journey. Odysseus is the hero of “The Odyssey”. All heroes in a hero's journey display particular traits. Odysseus displays perseverance and fortitude, two specific characteristics that all heroes should display.

Odysseus’s Tumultuous Journey Heroes in today’s literature often take on difficult challenges that put themselves in constant danger to better themselves. Joseph Campbell came out with a book in 1949 called “A Hero with a Thousand Faces” which he introduced the “Hero’s Journey” formula that Odysseus closely follows. The Odyssey is a Greek mythology following Odysseus, a Trojan War hero who faces many dangers trying to get back to his homeland of Ithaca. At his homeland of Ithaca suitors are eating out his home and trying to marry his wife while Telemachus sets out to find his father, but eventually comes back unsuccessful. Finally, Odysseus comes home and takes back his home and family.

In The Odyssey, the character Odysseus can be considered a hero because he demonstrates many characteristics that are attributable to most heroes. After the battle at Troy, Odysseus strives to sail back to his homeland (Ithaca); however, he encounters some issues along the way and Poseidon attempts to make it impossible for Odysseus to return home. At the beginning of this journey, Odysseus wants to make it back to Ithaca with all of his crew alive. This selfless goal displays Odysseus acting for the greater good because he knows that these men have families that depend on them and would like for them to come home. Along the journey home, Odysseus and his crew come across a cyclops and become trapped in the cyclops’ cave.

The Odyssey, one of the world’s most famous stories, has been under debate on whether on whether or not it conforms to be a hero’s journey, a type of pattern theorized to be at the core of many myths. To understand its potential monomyth-hood, the story has be understood, as well as the different phases of a hero’s journey. A hero’s journey, by definition, must include a few characteristics: a phase where the hero leaves their home and decides on a quest, a period marked by a discovered conflict, an all-out struggle, the development of the hero, and the hero bettering the lives of those back at home. In The Odyssey, Odysseus, the protagonist, journeys to his home, in Ithaca, from Troy, where he waged and won a war. Along the way, Odysseus

For years, people have viewed Odysseus as a lousy hero with many faults and mistakes. His flaws include his arrogance, his treatment to his crew, and his lack of faith to the gods and his family. While initially reading the Odyssey, these reasons are obvious, but once reading the whole epic I was able to see through his flaws which actually led him home. Although Odysseus tripped on many occasions, he stood up and protected his men, escaped many monsters and immortals, and made wise and clever decisions. Odysseus went through a long, rough adventure and survived the entire voyage while managing to keep his family intact.

Heroism, tends to be difficult to define and remarkably ambiguous in literary works. In the Odyssey, however, Homer clearly defines a hero as a humble, determined, and loyal individual; thus, according to Homer, it is not enough to claim to be a hero, but it is also important to exhibit those qualities that Homer values as heroism. Odysseus, despite claiming heroism, upholds these traits inconsistently, as seen in his taunting of Polyphemus. In contrast, Telemachus, Odysseus’ overlooked son, dramatically grows up over the course of the epic and ultimately reveals his truly heroic qualities by the end of the poem. Thus, because Odysseus claims to be a hero, but fails to remain humble, determined, and loyal throughout the epic, he is not a hero.

Fearing that they would mutiny, Odysseus withheld the truth from the crew--then tries to justify his choice saying his men would “roll for cover under the decking”. Odysseus, in his apathy with regard to the crisis, did not want to have to manage his crew’s fear. That is not to say that Odysseus is a one dimensional man; he does, at times, persist when saving his men from the Cyclops. In another instance, he ensures his crew’s safety from the sirens who try to lure them away.

Movies from the past and present, maybe even the future, all have the hero of the story follow a 12 step journey to reach their end result. This twelve step process is called the Hero’s Journey, invented by Joseph Campbell. It allows the hero to start at a status quo, go from an ordinary world to an imaginary world and then come out full form. The hero 's journey allows to compare characters paths and the lesson that they learned . In the book Odyssey, written in the 8th Century BC by Homer, Odysseus follows a similar journey to a more modern heroine, Moana in the movie Moana, directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. Odysseus, a mighty but unfaithful soldier, who goes to fight in the Trojan War, but has trouble on his way back home to his family, who he

In the epic story the Odyssey by Homer, Odysseus is returning from the Trojan war, and on his way home he finds many obstacles ahead of him. Odysseus is the ruler of Ithaca and he is trying to return home to his land. Many creatures try and stop him from achieving his goal of returning home, but he and his crew have to push through and get home. Odysseus portrays bravery and courage leading his crew through these tough challenges. Odysseus heroically leads his crew and himself through dangerous obstacles, but also foolishly endangers them during the journey home.

As eager as Odysseus is to get back home to his wife and son in Ithaca, the shipmates on board with him are struggling with hunger and the loss of energy. Looking at Odysseus’ intense determination to return to his town, it seems as if the only idea that is filled in his mind is to go back to Ithaca without looking at the tired condition of his shipmates. Odysseus’ yelled difficult orders and tasks that were expected to be fulfilled by his sailors, and for the most part they were able to complete it. Looking at the poor men rowing day and night over the monstrous waves, Odysseus never gave them a chance to take a break and enjoy a single meal, until one shipmate decided to speak up. Even so, Odysseus was narrow-minded and thought only about

Throughout the journey, they have not formally addressed Odysseus as his official title and in doing so, they show respect and admiration to Odysseus who pulled off yet another feat. Although Odysseus had made rash decisions that brought a fate of suffering upon these men, they praise him, suggesting that they have forgiven him―a sign of trust. Later when the men compare Odysseus to their return to Ithaca, they express their deep devotion for him. Odysseus is the famous face of Ithaca, their king, the closest thing they have of home. The thrill the crew feel when they see Odysseus is of renewed hope of sailing home.

How far would you be willing to go just to be with your family? For Odysseus in the book “The Odyssey” by Homer, He did everything. Odysseus was away from his son Telemachus and his wife Penelope for 20 years, and he never threw in the towel. Odysseus never gave up, and neither did Telemachus or Penelope. Would you have the strength to persevere? Odysseus did. He is a hero because he used his endurance, patience, and his passion.

As a leader Odysseus should be careful to do exactly what will benefit his crew the most. The lack of communication throughout the whole journey home will eventually lead to mistrust and betrayal of Odysseus by his crew. Following Scylla and Charybdis they reach the island of the god of the sun, and because of the crew’s spite for Odysseus they don’t follow his directions not to harm the cattle of the Sun. Just in the events of the journey back to Ithaca alone the reader can see how Odysseus’ inability to be a strong leader leads to the dismantling of a good relationship between him and his crew, which leads to a much more difficult trip. Odysseus’ inability to be a great leader for the group leads to a lot of conflict among the crew members.

Although Odysseus occasionally does something for the short-term benefit of his crew, he does not deserve their loyalty because he does not sincerely care about them, trust them, or listen to them. Even when Odysseus is in the middle of nowhere in a boat with his comrades and crew members for twenty years, he still manages to not care about them and think of his own life as more valuable than any of theirs. An example of this is when Odysseus sends his men into danger instead of being a leader and going first: “All I spied was a plume of smoke, drifting off the land. / So I sent some crew ahead to learn who lived there -- / men like us perhaps, who live on bread?”

Perseverance helps push a person past their limits to reach their goal. Throughout the book, Odysseus faces many problems he must solve in order to return home to Ithaca. He must escape the Cyclops’s cave, figure out a way to get past the sirens, and dodge the dangerous sea monsters. His determination will help him get back home to see his wife Penelope and return to rule Ithaca. In The Odyssey, Homer presents the idea that perseverance can make a person stronger when they overcome many obstacles and have a goal to work towards.