Length: 1057 words (3.8 pages)
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Importance of the Journey in Homer's Odyssey

 

 

 

In the Odyssey, by Homer, Odysseus's main goal was to reach home. Even though all of his thoughts were turned towards his home and family, he learned many lessons along the way. Odysseus's greatest learning experiences were in his journey, not his destination.

 

One of Odysseus's biggest challenges was to resist temptation. The first temptation Odysseus and his men encountered was the sweet lotos plant, "They fell in, soon enough, with Lotos Eaters, who showed no will to do us harm, only offering the sweet Lotos to out friends..." (IX. 98-100). Eating the plant did not seem like a bad idea, but resisting was a much wiser option, ."..but those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotos, never cared to report, nor return: they longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland" (IX. 101-104). If they had eaten the plant, they never would have gotten home. Another great temptation they had to withstand was the Seirênês. The Seirênês would tempt the men to them with their beauty and music, "Square in your ship's path are Seirênês, crying beauty to bewitch men coasting by..." (XII. 101-104). If men did not resist, they would fall into the Seirênês' clutches and die, "Woe to the innocent who hears that sound! He will not see his lady nor his children in joy, crowding about him, home from sea; the Seirênês will sing his mind away on their sweet meadow lolling..." (XII. 50-54). The biggest temptation that Odysseus had to defy was from the sea nymph, Kalypso, "I fed him, loved, him, sang that he should not die or grow old ever, in all the days to come" (V. 1420143). Kalypso wanted to have Odysseus as her husband, but all he could think of was home, "Meanwhile he lives and grieves upon that island in thralldom to the nymph; he cannot stir, cannot fare homeward..." (V. 15-17). Odysseus resisted, and was not completely unfaithful to his wife. If he had not resisted temptation, he would have been on the island of the Lotos Eaters, dead, or without a wife.

 

Next, Odysseus learned that greed would never result in any good. After they visit Aiolia, Odysseus received a bag of wind of wind from Aiolos. His crew got jealous because they did not get anything, "How about ourselves - his shipmates all the way? Nigh home we are with empty hands. And who has gifts from Aiolos? He has. I saw we ought to crack that bag, there's gold and silver plenty in that bag!" (X. 46-50). When they opened it up, the wind got loose and propelled them back to where they started, "Then every wind roared into hurricane; the ships went pitching west with many cries; our land was lost" (X. 53-55). The lesson that they learned was that greed sends them back, not forward, literally and figuratively.

 

The next thing Odysseus learned was humility. Odysseus was very conceited after he escaped the Kyklops, "I would not heed then in my glorying spirit, but let my anger flare and yelled : `Kyklops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laërtês son, whose home's on Ithaka!'" (IX. 546-552). With these word, the Kyklops grew angry and almost hit their ship with a great boulder, "Now he laid hands upon a bigger stone and wheeled around, titanic for the cast, to let if fly in the black-prowed vessel's track" (IX. 587-589). Odysseus was almost killed because he was supercilious.

 

The next lesson he learned was if he acted like a pig, he became one. His men took advantage of Kirkê and her food, "On thrones she seated them, and lounging chairs, while she prepared a meal of cheese and barley and amber honey mixed with Pramnian wine..." (257-259). As a result they turned into actual pigs, "Scarce had they drunk when she flew after then with her long stick and shut them in a pigsty - bodies, voices, heads, and bristles, all swinish now..." (X. 262-265). Odysseus learned not to act like a swine because that is what he would become, at least metaphorically.

 

Sometimes, sacrifice was the best option. Odysseus was willing to fight to save all of his men, "Only instruct me goddess, if you will, how, if possible, can I pass Kharybdis, or fight of Skylla when she raids my crew?" (XII. 132-134). Odysseus was willing to risk his own life for his men. Kirkê tells them to go by Skylla and sacrifice some of his men, "No, hug the cliff Skylla, take your ship through on a racing stroke. Better to mourn six men than lose them all, and the ship, too" (XII. 128-130). Odysseus realizes that losing some men would be better than losing them all; he had to sacrifice six men.

 

By the time Odysseus finally reached home, he realized life's greatest lessons. He knew that family was the most important thing in the world, "Now from his breast into his eyes the ache of longing mounted and he wept at last, his dear wife, clear and faithful, in his arms, longed for..." (XXII. 259-262). He resisted Kalypso, and all the other temptations, and realized that nothing is better than being home at last. He became much more humble, "May Zeus and all the gods give you your heart's desire for taking me in so kindly, friend" (XIV. 62-63). Being modest to somebody superior is one thing, but being humble to your servant is a completely different level of modesty. Odysseus learned that you receive more with modesty, rather than arrogance. Odysseus was also not greedy, "Sit down and help yourselves. Shake off your wonder. Here we've been waiting for you all this time, and your mouths water for good roast pig!"(XXIV. 434-436). Instead of saving the food for himself, he offered it to everyone around him. He learned to be giving.

 

Odysseus would not have been the man he was without the journey home. He may have been without a wife, on an island somewhere, arrogant, a swine, avaricious, or even deceased. The trials he went through may have been difficult, but they proved to be helpful in the end.