...Odysseus’ Journey: A Path to Redemption In Homer's The Odyssey, the protagonist Odysseus sets off on a 10 year journey to reclaim his throne as king of Ithaca after the Trojan War. Throughout his journey, Odysseus constantly struggles with temptation. Odysseus faces the challenge of overcoming his weaknesses to obtain redemption from the gods. Odysseus' chances of returning home are compromised by his flaws and those of his crew; however, Odysseus possesses the necessary virtues and qualities needed to reclaim his throne. One flaw that dooms Odysseus is hubris. When Odysseus and his crew become trapped in the Cyclops’s cave, Odysseus uses his intelligence and cleverness to escape. After the escape, Odysseus brags and reveals his real name to Polyphemus, yelling from his ship “…if any man…should ask you who blinded you, shamed you so—say Odysseus…he gouged out your eye” (Homer 9.558). Polyphemus is enraged and curses Odysseus' name to Poseidon, praying that his father will delay Odysseus’ return. Poseidon curses Odysseus and his men by causing storms and winds to prevent him and his crew from returning home. If Odysseus didn’t let his pride influence him in this instance, he may have returned to Ithaca earlier and saved the lives of many of his men. Another example of Odysseus’ pride compromising the success of the journey was when the crew was facing the Sirens. The Sirens are dangerous sea enchantresses that lead sailors to their deaths through song. Instead of putting...
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...In various parts of The Odyssey, the goddess, Athena, disguises herself to look mortal, in order to insinuate courage into the characters so they can go on their journey. To inspire Odysseus’ son, Telemachus, to find his father and get rid of his mother’s suitors, Athena disguises herself as a close family friend and gives him the advice he needs. In book one, Athena says to Telemachus, “…reach down deep in your heart and soul/for a way to kill those suitors in your house,/by stealth or in open combat./You must not cling to your boyhood any longer-/it’s time you were a man…” (Homer 1.338-342). Athena disguises herself, instead of presenting her true form, so that Telemachus understands her words, learns, and develops like he needs to. If Athena...
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...heros, monsters, creatures, and gods. This poem is about a journey taken by Odysseus. On his way home he faces many obstacles making his journey home much more complicated. While he is facing obstacles he is faced by 4 gods Athena, Zeus, Helios, and Poseidon. These gods help him throughout his journey home. Athena, the most powerful god, helps Odysseus make his journey home by providing him with guidance and beauty. Athena is the goddess of wisdom, warfare, crafts, and is one of the most powerful of the 12 olympian gods. Athena created the potter's wheel, vase, horse bridle, the chariot and the ship....
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...Rudy Gabriel Ms. Z Early Civilizations 19 May 2014 The Trojan War The Trojan War is an important turning point in history for all of Greece. The Greeks fought at Troy of Anatolia against the Trojans during a later period of the Bronze Age. Paris’ judgement of the most beautiful goddesses was the beginning of the war because of the bribe that Aphrodite offered Paris. Paris is the son of King Priam of Troy and the brother of Hector, the noblest of all fighters during the Trojan War. The main cause of the war was that Helen was taken from the Spartan king, Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon, by Paris because of the Judgement. Helen was the wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta and she herself was the bribe that Aphrodite had offered to Paris. Many great soldiers fought and died in combat for their city-state. The strategies used by the Greek army were impressive and productive. The war has gone down in history just as Achilles had wanted. The Trojan War was a very eventful battle, fought by many soldiers, at the city of Troy. The Greek army had some of the finest warriors and leaders of the ancient times. Menelaus was the king who united the Greek armies in which Achilles was not fond of. Menelaus was brother of Agamemnon who was the Achaean King and the leader of the combined armies. The Greek army was considerably large because they had conquered so many city-states and forced them to join or be enslaved. Achilles was the greatest of all the soldiers during the war. Achilles...
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...Virgil’s Aeneid and Homer’s works: the Iliad and the Odyssey, the most important difference between Virgil and Homer is whether fate is treated as fact or can be affected by the choices of mortals. Homer’s works are more meaningful for citizen readers because they emphasize the importance of free will as illustrated in the shields and prophecies of the narratives. Aeneas faces a prophecy and acts believing it would come true regardless of his choices. Though Achilles and Odysseus face prophecies, both perceive the ability, however limited, to choose their own futures. Many feel trapped by what society has told them and feel they have no control, while in reality, just like Achilles and Odysseus, every person has the ability to affect their future for better or worse. In Virgil’s Aeneid, it is preordained that he will immigrate to Italy from Troy and found the city of Rome (1.1-19). In the very beginning,...
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...Homer’s epic poem the Odyssey recounts the leading character Odysseus’s 10-year journey back home after the Trojan war. With the help of his companions, the poem mentions a series of trials structured by the god’s Odysseus must execute. One excerpt from the Odyssey, “Visit to Circe’s Island” describes Odysseus’s encounter with the “enchantress” (Willis 160), witch Circe who he must defeat in order to save his comrades. Many mythological tales referencing the great hero’s and gods of Greece are displayed using cups, vases, and many other forms of canvases. The featured vase and vase drawing shows a visual depletion of the excerpt. The full vase view shows various human looking figures with boar-like tails, forelegs, and heads representing Odysseus’s comrades who were poisoned, tricked and captured by Circe then turned into the “shape of swine” (Homer 11). Eurylochus was the only comrade who stayed behind...
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...audience finally witnesses the fatal revenge Odysseus carries out upon the suitors, rekindling his love with Penelope, and the return to his rightful place as king of Ithaka. There are many crucial topics within the climax of the epic that will be addressed further through analysis. The first topic that is evident in book 23 is revenge, as Odysseus reclaims the home that was taken from him by the disrespectful suitors. Throughout the course of the epic, Odysseus’ arrival to Ithaka has been anticipated, along with his anger and rage towards the suitors who not only dishonoured his home, but his people and wife as well. A quote taken from the epic states, “You took my house to plunder, twisted my maids to serve your beds. You dared bid my wife while I was still alive. Contempt was all you had for the gods who rule wide heaven, contempt for what men say of you hereafter. Your last hour has come. You die in blood.” (Fitzgerald, 410) The suitors’ retribution was clear as they brought death upon themselves by their shameful actions in Odysseus’ household. The next clear idea that is presented in the epic is the topic of corrupt hospitality. The suitors are brought to their downfall with the food they have...
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...In Homer’s the Odyssey, a man named Odysseus spends years and years trying to get home to his family. On his long journey, he encounters a number of different situations that test his true character. The reader finds out who Odysseus really is based on the situations he is put in and how he chooses to handle these situations. From being stuck on an Island with Calypso, a nymph goddess, to almost being eaten by a vicious cyclops, to seeing his wife for the first time in 20 years, Odysseus stays true to his character. Throughout the epic, Odysseus shows constant signs of bravery, leadership, intelligence, cleverness, and wholehearted faithfulness, and these things are what makes him such an admirable character. Bravery and leadership go hand in hand because bravery is a trait that all good leaders have. Odysseus showed amazing bravery and leadership skills throughout the Odyssey. One place where Odysseus’s bravery and leadership are revealed the most is when Odysseus and his men encounter Poseidon’s Cyclops son, Polyphemus. Odysseus used his leadership skills and bravery to help his men escape the wrath of Polyphemus while...
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...Loyalty is like a shadow it’s something that’s with you all of the time, but sometimes it’s hidden. Most people don’t show their loyalty hidden, but loyalty is something that’s not supposed to be hidden .To me loyalty is when someone is there for someone else. Loyalty is a characteristic many people should strive to have; it earns the trust and respect of many. A loyal person would never be able to fail someone because they are trustable. Loyalty is everywhere and there are many different kinds of loyalty. Loyalty to strangers is one of the many different kinds of loyalty. We have all showed loyalty to strangers at least once. When people follow rules somewhere either at school, work etc. This shows loyalty. Loyalty doesn’t only earn the respect of someone, but being loyal to a stranger show that you respect them even if you don’t know them. When we follow rules at some place it shows we are staying honest to the rules and the rule makers. Our honesty shows loyalty. Another type of loyalty is to friends. We all have friends, but there are many components to being loyal to your friends. When your friends tells you something and they expect you to keep it a secret, keeping this a secret shows loyalty. Not keeping the matter a secret will show disloyalty. Disloyalty will lose a friend’s trust and it will be really hard to regain a friend’s trust when it’s been lost. When a secret, which is supposed to be kept, gets out the friendship itself is in danger of breaking. Helping...
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...9 2012 Self-Discovery in ‘She’s Come Undone’ Self-discovery, by definition, is the act or process of achieving understanding or knowledge of oneself or, in other words, identifying your own individuality. To understand who you are is extremely important if one wants to live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment. In reality, people struggle every day to uncover who they really are and for Ms. Price, this was no exception. Her life was not always stable which made her journey to discover herself extremely strenuous. Dolores Price, the main character in ‘She’s Come Undone’ by Wally Lamb, had many traumatic events that occurred during her life that persuaded her to discover who her inner self was as well as therapy and significant symbols that meant a lot to her through her journey. To begin with, Dolores Price had to overcome many traumatic and negative memorable events that life supplied her with. The thing that started it all was the miscarriage of her little brother Anthony and the separation of her mother and father. She, like a normal child caught in the middle of their parent’s separation, feels like the separation was her fault and that she could have prevented it. Another scarring event that she was forced to endure was being raped by her neighbour, Jack Speight, in eighth grade. After being raped Rita, Jack’s wife, has a miscarriage and Dolores, again, thinks that this is her fault. These lead to the other major problems that she had to overcome as her life progressed...
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...staggers the necessary distance in the freezing cold to attend an all-white people church. What captured my interest about this short story is the religious symbolism. Per R. Wayne Clugston “a symbol is an object, person, or action that conveys two meaning: its own literal meaning and something it stands for as well” (Clugston, 2010, p.480). It is filled with symbolism of life and death; good and evil; love and hatred; and peace and anger. Throughout this paper, Alice will demonstrate the significance of how the application of point of view, setting, and symbolism plays a role contributing the theme of a story. In the story, a black woman enters a “white” church. She is a woman of faith; “there was a dazed and sleepy look in her aged blue–brown eyes” (Clugston, 2010) blue symbolizes a peacefulness that this woman has because of her faith. She is not a welcomed visitor to this congregation, though. The parishioners feel “a fear of the black and the old” (Clugston, 2010), the use of the word black is not just to tell us the color of her skin, but to symbolize evil. This is further supported in the words, “many of them saw jungle orgies in an evil place” (Clugston, 2010). The interesting thing about evil here is that it is not suggesting that the woman is evil. Rather, it is a symbol of what is in the hearts of the congregation. They are racists. They are unwilling to welcome her into their church. It is ironic, because they know this woman. The pastor may have called her “Auntie”...
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...staggers the necessary distance in the freezing cold to attend an all-white people church. What captured my interest about this short story is the religious symbolism. Per R. Wayne Clugston “a symbol is an object, person, or action that conveys two meaning: its own literal meaning and something it stands for as well” (Clugston, 2010, p.480). It is filled with symbolism of life and death; good and evil; love and hatred; and peace and anger. Throughout this paper, Alice will demonstrate the significance of how the application of point of view, setting, and symbolism plays a role contributing the theme of a story. In the story, a black woman enters a “white” church. She is a woman of faith; “there was a dazed and sleepy look in her aged blue–brown eyes” (Clugston, 2010) blue symbolizes a peacefulness that this woman has because of her faith. She is not a welcomed visitor to this congregation, though. The parishioners feel “a fear of the black and the old” (Clugston, 2010), the use of the word black is not just to tell us the color of her skin, but to symbolize evil. This is further supported in the words, “many of them saw jungle orgies in an evil place” (Clugston, 2010). The interesting thing about evil here is that it is not suggesting that the woman is evil. Rather, it is a symbol of what is in the hearts of the congregation. They are racists. They are unwilling to welcome her into their church. It is ironic, because they know this woman. The pastor may have called her...
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...Human Nature Nature in itself is like its own author it creates symbols naturally and can also set moods. Robert Frost’s After Apple Picking is about how it is human nature to take a break. Frost’s Mending Wall is about how it is normal for us humans to be guarded. These poems are similar in that they both use symbols and nature to reveal the speaker’s feelings of regret and security however; they are different in that their overall messages are not the same. Frost’s feelings of regret and security are conveyed through symbols and nature in both of these poems. In After Apple Picking Frost talks about his regrets as apples such as the “barrel that [he] didn’t fill” (After Apple Picking 3) which means that he didn’t finish doing something. He also said that that there were “apples [he] didn’t pick up” (5) which were opportunities not taken advantage of. When frost says he is “done with apple-picking (6) it shows that he is done with working or what he is doing because his regrets keep coming back to him. A way that nature shows his feelings are how this poem takes place at the end of apple picking which is end of fall beginning of winter. In winter animals hibernate and take long rests which frost is contemplating or if he is “just [feeling] some human sleep” (42) coming on. This means that he wants his feelings of regret to go away but wondering if it is humanly normal to do so. In Mending Wall the wall itself symbolizes security. When Frost says that he and his neighbor...
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...The reflection of The Story of an Hour ENGLISH 125: Introduction to literature Instructor: Robert Solomon Diana Walker January 21, 2013 A women’s quest for freedom The Story of an Hour is a short story written in 1894 by Kate Chopin. Kate Chopin was a women writing in a time where women were not considered equal to men. Mrs. Chopin wrote the story of an hour with a powerful message behind it. This short story was about a woman who was unhappy in her marriage. The theme of this story is freedom. When Mrs. Mallard was told her husband had perish in a train wreck it seemed as though she was stricken with grief, but as the story goes on she shows great relief that he is gone. He’s death meant that she could start anew and have a life of freedom. This story was full of symbolism. After reading the text I found many word in this piece that symbolized the theme. The author use words like sun (life source), rain (blessing or sadness), spring (new beginnings), blue (peacefulness), and rose (beauty –love). “She could see in the open square the tops of trees that were all aquiver with new spring life. The delicious breath of rain was in the air “. (clugston R.W. (2010) Journey to Literature). At first I wasn’t able to see the symbolism in the story, but after a second read a more research in the text on what symbolism is I was able to see it. Setting and symbolisms in the story of an hour make the theme. The story was written in 1894 which is not reflected in the story as...
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...What is human nature? How does William Golding use it in such a simple story of English boys to precisely illustrate how truly destructive humans can be? Golding was in World War Two, he saw how destructive humans can be, and how a normal person can go from a civilized human beign into savages. In Lord of the Flies, William Golding uses the theme of human nature to show how easily society can collapse, and how self-destructive human nature is. Throughout the story Golding conveys a theme of how twisted and sick human nature can lead us to be. Many different parts of human nature can all lead to the collapse of society. Some of the aspects of human nature Golding plugged into the book are; destruction, demoralization, hysteria and panic. These emotions all attribute to the collapse of society. Golding includes character, conflict, and as well as symbolism to portray that men are inherently evil. Golding makes very good use of characters in Lord of the Flies, he shows both good and evil through each of the characters. One of the characters that represents goodness is Simon. He is very good and pure, and has the most positive outlook. Simon is very different from the other boys, he seems to always be helping the Littluns and many other vulnerable boys such as Piggy. "Simon sitting between the twins and Piggy, wiped his mouth and shoved his piece of meat over the rocks to Piggy, who grabbed it." (Golding, pg.74) This quote interprets an example of a time when Simon helped Piggy...
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