Significance in Storytelling in the Odyssey
Essay One, The Odyssey
Steven Botello
ENGL 2315: Great Works of Literature I
September 16, 2012 Imagine a life without television, no internet, no cell phones, no radio, no movies, and no video games. This was the life during the Odyssey. The storytelling in the Odyssey gave Greek society a way of entertainment. Men, woman, and children would listen to these stories with attentiveness and would then share them throughout their lives. These stories were told in many ways such as in poems, songs, and tales. If not for storytelling in the Odyssey, the story of Odysseus would be a lot shorter, as well as insignificant to Greek society. The storytelling in the Odyssey knitted the life of Odysseus together, and gave many moral lessons and reflected many features of Odysseus’ character. The moral lessons and features reflected of Odysseus in storytelling gave Greek society a man to look up to. Someone they could talk about and be inspired by. Storytelling created Odysseus to be the man that society talks about even to this day, it made him immortal. The Odyssey is full of storytelling. How can one be certain that these stories were true? Storytelling was the way society communicated during this time, and was a way of life. Storytelling was not only used for entertainment but also for therapy. Odysseus was away from his wife and son for a very long time, and (long[s]… to travel home and see the dawn of [his] return) (5.242-43). Odysseus missed his family and telling his story throughout his voyage helped ease the pain and reminds him of all the struggles that he has gone through to get where he is and use it at motivation to keep fighting to reach his family. Odysseus was tempted with immortality, beautiful women and land “But they never won the heart inside me, never. So nothing is a sweet as a man’s own country….” (9.37-38). He loved his country, wife and son, and he missed them very much. Weeping in tears and groaning, Odysseus could not hold his heartbroken
Steven Botello
ENGL 2315: Great Works of Literature I
September 16, 2012 Imagine a life without television, no internet, no cell phones, no radio, no movies, and no video games. This was the life during the Odyssey. The storytelling in the Odyssey gave Greek society a way of entertainment. Men, woman, and children would listen to these stories with attentiveness and would then share them throughout their lives. These stories were told in many ways such as in poems, songs, and tales. If not for storytelling in the Odyssey, the story of Odysseus would be a lot shorter, as well as insignificant to Greek society. The storytelling in the Odyssey knitted the life of Odysseus together, and gave many moral lessons and reflected many features of Odysseus’ character. The moral lessons and features reflected of Odysseus in storytelling gave Greek society a man to look up to. Someone they could talk about and be inspired by. Storytelling created Odysseus to be the man that society talks about even to this day, it made him immortal. The Odyssey is full of storytelling. How can one be certain that these stories were true? Storytelling was the way society communicated during this time, and was a way of life. Storytelling was not only used for entertainment but also for therapy. Odysseus was away from his wife and son for a very long time, and (long[s]… to travel home and see the dawn of [his] return) (5.242-43). Odysseus missed his family and telling his story throughout his voyage helped ease the pain and reminds him of all the struggles that he has gone through to get where he is and use it at motivation to keep fighting to reach his family. Odysseus was tempted with immortality, beautiful women and land “But they never won the heart inside me, never. So nothing is a sweet as a man’s own country….” (9.37-38). He loved his country, wife and son, and he missed them very much. Weeping in tears and groaning, Odysseus could not hold his heartbroken