Essay the odyssey - Grade: A- PDF

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Essay for the Odyssey with connections/ prof. balakian ...

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Part II: Essay In Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, Odysseus encounters/ experiences The Cyclops, Scylla and Charybdis and The Cicones and Lotus Eaters. These episodes address the following Greek codes of behavior in deception, resilience, courage, skill, confidence, cooperation, moderation, suffering and many more that will be explained thoroughly. As Cavafy said in his poem “Ithaka,” “When you set out for Ithaka, ask that your way be long, full of adventure, full of instruction.” which is exactly what The Odyssey  consists of with its many episodes that Odysseus comes across and gains knowledge throughout his journey. For instance, within the chapter of the Cyclops, who is Polyphemus son of Poseidon, was the beginning of this long journey. Due to Polyphemus enslaving Odysseus and his men, they became very resourceful of what they had around them to create a stake that would later be used to blind Polyphemus. From Odysseus’ skills and intelligence that he showed in this chapter, the main one was, ‘“Cyclops,” I said, you ask me my name. I’ll tell it to you; and in return give me the gift you promised me. My name is Nobody. That is what I am called by my mother and father and by all my friends.”’ (Book 9, Line 365-368).  From this, after Odysseus and his men stake Polyphemus’ eye, he yells out Nobody is hurting me, which confuses his neighbors and make them take it as a joke and as if nothing is serious. Showing intelligent strategies throughout this chapter, along with the way that they came out the cave through the bellies of the sheep, were what topped Odysseus as being a resourceful, courage, skillful, intelligent and a deceiving man. Odysseus only failed to be too confident, which later came to be vengeance between Poseidon and Odysseus, since he blinded his son. Odysseus’ pride took over and he had to yell

out his real name, where he could have just kept quiet and continue to get away with blinding Polyphemus, so he failed to be modest. Along with, Odysseus and his crew finally learning how to cooperate, when they come across Scylla and Charybdis. Odysseus had to make the choice of either killing all of his men, or only some with going through Scylla. Odysseus ad to finally take it into consideration that it was better for him to lose half his crew rather than all his crew, to end his journey and go back home. Although the crew and Odysseus di suffer many losses through Scylla, The Cyclops and within most of his episodes that he went through his journey, he managed to learn the Flight or Fight Response, because it came to his advantage with Scylla to go through her rather than Charybdis, who would have just killed them all. As said in The Odyssey , ‘“Again you are spoiling for a fight and looking for trouble! Are you not prepared to give in to immortal gods? I tell you, Scylla was not born for death: she is an undying fiend. She is a thing of terror, intractable, ferocious and impossible to fight. No, against her there is no defence, and the best course of action is flight.” (Book 12, Line 116 - 21) . From this passage, you see how Circe provides information to Odysseus, that he must choose flight for his own benefits, knowing that he will not succeed if he chose to fight. Assimilation took place within each of the crew and Odysseus’ behaviors and managed to keep them alive and continue on with their journey. Not to mention, The Cicones and The Lotus Eaters that tried to disrupt the crew's journey and deceiving them into thinking they did not want to leave and go back to their native land, along with The Cicones killing off six man from each ship. As the crew suffers from not having

resilience and being deceived, Odysseus tries to have them cooperate and forces them back into the ship as they are dreaming of being happy with themselves and where they are, rather than being back home. “Those who ate the honeyed fruit of the plant lost any wish to come back and bring us news. All they now wanted was to stay where there with the Lotus-eaters, to browse on the lotus, and forget all thoughts of return.” (Book 9, Line 94 - 97) . To get through the deception was what the crew learned as they got aboard the ship and realized what their true goals were from the beginning, rather than eating the honey fruit. From each episode that Odysseus and his crew encountered he managed to show his skillfulness, resourcefulness, cooperation, moderation, resilience, and many more. He managed to have a journey full of instruction and adventure that helped expand his knowledge. Odysseus is seen as a hero for his idealization, courage, achievements that his family, friends and even Gods and goddesses like Athene herself that loved about Odysseus. Although Odysseus had many trial and error experiences it still makes him a hero because from each error he learned and improved his behavior, character and knowledge, which is what is valued more from the journey rather than the destination itself. In any case, everyone has their own Ithaca that they wish to arrive to, mine just so happens to be to graduate and receive my degree, since I would be the first one to receive one within my family. Reaching this goal, will ultimately make me the happiest person because I know it will make my parents proud and will also benefit me in the future. Being in college, one of the many obstacles that I will have to overcome is passing all of my courses and managing time with my social life as well, like friends, family and work.

As any student, my suitors would be the professors that I can come across throughout my years in school because they can also be a tough time when it comes to assignments. To keep it together and get to my goal, I look up to my Athene, who is my mother that I want to be proud of me and pushes me to overcome anything I come across and believes in every step that I take. She is the one that gives me strength as Athene gives strength to Odysseus while he fights in Troy. All things considered, my plan is to follow the Greek code of behaviors of being independent, cooperative, creative, patient and to learn. With these behaviors, I will continue to go to class everyday and receive the grades that I know will make my Athene proud of me. TO balance my time wisely and not procrastinate, as well as being independent to grow into the women that Greek Gods and goddesses admire. I will triumph from each fall, as Odysseus did by remembering of his real destination of Ithaca to be with his family. Where I will pull myself together to remind myself that it is all to graduate and receive a degree as well as making my family proud of me. We all go through many episodes in a journey, but it is those episodes that make the journey worthwhile. It is the journey itself that is valued more than the actual destination because of what you gain and learn throughout the journey....