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“The Odyssey” Essay

“The Odyssey” written by Homer was overall a fantastic story. But what really made the story so great was that the whole story was like a journey of life. The reason being was that, in the story the characters were confronted with challenges, struggles and decisions to be made. Anyone could relate to this because this is what life brings to every individual. Challenges such as defeating the Cyclops and fending off an angry crowd angered by the killing of Antinous can metaphorically be related to challenges that life would bring you today. In addition, the way the characters moved on from the challenges that were presented to them can teach you lessons about life and show you how to handle life’s struggles, thus showing how the story is like a journey of life. Let’s further explore how the story is indeed, like a journey of life. The first example on how “The Odyssey” is like a journey of life is how Odysseus defeated the Cyclops. Odysseus, when fighting the Cyclops says, “Now by the gods, I drove my big hand spike deep in the embers….spins it in the groove” (906). This instance in the story shows how the story is like a journey of life because Odysseus had to beat something that was bigger and stronger then him in order to move on and to be successful. Other people, just like myself have to do this same sort of thing all the time in life (stand up to things that are bigger and stronger than us). IN LIFE YOU WOULD NEVER LET SOMETHING get the best of YOU BECAUSE it is too much to handle, YOU WOULD STAND UP FOR YOURSELF, FACE THE CHALLENGE AND MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIFE. YOU WOULDN’T LET SOMETHING BRING YOU DOWN, YOU WOULD TACKLE THE OBSTACLE AND DO YOUR BEST TO CONQUER IT. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT ODYSSEUS DID, HE DIDN’T LET THE CYCLOPS GET IN HIS WAY, INSTAED HE STOOD UP FOR HIMSELF and was ABLE TO CONTUNIE ON HIS JOURNEY (LIFE), furthermore showing how something like that would be a piece of your journey throughout your life. And again showing how that instance shows that the story is like a journey of life. The second example on how “The Odyssey” is like a journey of life is when Odysseus defeats the crowd angered by killing of Antinous. In the story as Odysseus was taking on the challenge he says “Now watch me hit a target……feathers through his throat” (955). This instance furthermore reiteritates how the story is like a journey of life because Odysseus had to face overwhelming challenges in order to progress on in his journey. In life, each and everyday new challenges and struggles are brought upon you that you have deal with. And in order to continue on in your life you have to conquer the challenges and not let anything bring you down. If you do let things bring you down you won’t achieve your goals and you won’t get to where you want to be. Odysseus knew this and he knew that in order to get back to Ithica, he couldn’t let anything bring him down. And that is excactly what he did, he didn’t back down, he didn’t give up. Instead he pushed onward and got to where he wanted to be, once again showing how the book is like a journey of life. I expect my future life journey to be very similar to “The Odyssey”. This is because I can relate a lot to what Odysseus had to go through. In my life I’ve had to go through many challenges and struggles, just like Odysseus did. One specific example I can remember that is similar to Odysseus’s victory over the Cyclops was when I was being made fun of by someone older than me. When I was in 4th grade a 6th grader lived on my street and when ever we were outside he would always make fun of me for how I walked with my feet pointed in (Pidgion toed). He was older than me, bigger than me and smarter than me but I wasn’t going to let him bring me down. And I didn’t, I stood up for myself and he never did it again. Now obviously this isn’t as significant of an instance as Odysseus’s was, but it was similar and gave the same message. Instances like this show me that in my future life journey I will have to overcome challenges and not back down in my life to get where I want to be, just like Odysseus. Odysseus had to do the same thing as me in order to achieve his goal, and therefore this is why I believe my future life journey will be similar to Odysseus and “The Odyssey”. I believe that the part of “The Odyssey” that is the most important for us to understand today is at the end of Book 23 where Odysseus and Penelope are reunited and live happy ever after. I think this because that ending sends a strong message to the reader about life. That message is that if you fight hard enough for something and you give it your all, in the end everything will turn out just fine and you will get the result that you wanted (work hard and good things will happen). In life, if you don’t put in the effort you won’t get the outcome that you want. But if you do work hard at something and do give it your best effort, good things will happen and I think people today need to learn this. Obviously you wont get the result you want every time, but at least in the end you will know that you did your best and you gave everything you had. People today shouldn’t expect a good result for little effort, you have to work at things and give everything your achieve your goal. Now with that being said, what part of “The Odyssey” do you think is most important for people to understand today, and why do you think this?