Mr. Wu
English
28 May 2015
Lessons from the Odyssey
The Odyssey, a story about a man going back to his house, is an educational story. It includes lessons for both ancient times and modern times. Each character’s different characteristics tell different morals. Among many characters, the one that I’m going to focus on is Odysseus, the main character.
Before analyzing some lessons from Odysseus, I’m first going to find out lessons that Telemakhos had learned. Telemakhos is missing Odysseus a lot in the book I. “Is Ithaka new to you, or were you ever a guest here in the old days?” (Line 209-210, book I). This quote implies a question ‘do you know Odysseus?’ He’s missing his father because he respects Odysseus: “I should have all honor as his son” (line 277, book I). ‘Honor’ is usually to people who have done something amazing. It soon means that Odysseus is a kind of hero.
Then what can we learn from Odysseus? He is very brave, adventurous, and curious. In book IX, Odysseus had to fight with Kyklopes to survive. Before Kyklopes return, Odysseus and his friends lit a fire and ate food. Even he was in a dangerous situation that he didn’t know when Kyklopes would come back, he first got some food. He was very brave here, as well as showing kindness by thinking of his friends first. Also, he poked his eyes out to make him and his friends safe. “Eyelid and lash were seared; the pierced hail hissed brailing, and the roots were popped” (line 407-408, book IX). If he had poked on the wrong part, he might have been killed by Kyklopes. However, he ignored the percentage of failure and attacked him. Also, as the quote describes, it’s really cruel. However, he bravely poked on Kyklopes’ eyes. From those two actions, we are able to get one lesson: be brave in any time.
Second lesson comes from his wisdom. Although there are some people who criticize his behaviors that make Kyclopes stupid, it was wise. While Kyklopes tried to attack Odysseus and his friends, Odysseus saved himself by using languages. 4 examples are shown in book IX. The first example is his lie. Kyklopes asked Odysseus where the ship is. Odysseus knew that Kyklopes was going to ask this question: “I saw through this, and answered with a ready lie” (line 294-295, book IX). Odysseus being witty and clever, they were able to escape from a danger. The second example is shown here: “if I killed him we perished there as well, for we could never make his doorway slab aside” (line 316-318, book IX). The door was made up of rock so that Odysseus couldn’t move it. He knew this so that he decided not to kill him. He was wise here because he thought about the consequences. The third wisdom is shown in the part where Odysseus made Kyklopes try some wine. When giving the wine, Odysseus said “I meant it for an offering” (line 367, book IX). Odysseus seems to be very generous. However, the trick is that wine can weaken people. By weakening Kyklopes, he looked for an easier chance to poke out Kyklopes’ eyes. The last example is when he told Kyklopes that is name is ‘Nohbdy’, which sounds like ‘nobody’. When other Kyklopes asked Kyklopes who attacked you, Kyklopes said “Nohbdy, Nohbdy’s tricked me, Nohbdy’s ruined me!” (line 428) so that other Kyklopes would understand as as ‘nobody’s ruined me!’ From these examples, we get another lesson: think once more before taking an action.
Odysseus’ actions are sometimes being criticized by people because of his cruel characteristics toward enemies. However, if we look for the things that those actions imply, we can get some lessons such as be brave, and think once more before taking any actions.