The Odyssey and The Alchemist Comparison Essay In The Odyssey and The Alchemist, Odysseus and Santiago undergo comparable journeys, each with risks and sacrifices made to reach a certain goal. In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew of men take the risk to trust each other and also the risk of going on this dangerous journey to find their way back home. On the journey, they encounter many incidents such as the the time when they were to cross a cliff, and in that moment, they had to put their faith in each other. Odysseus is told by one of the his crew members that “the other cliff is lower, as you will see, Odysseus. They are not far from one another; you could shoot an arrow across” (Homer 140). To further convince him of the situation he continues …show more content…
Odysseus receives guidance, and help, from mainly Athena, the daughter of Zeus. She helps Odysseus and his son, Telemachus, throughout the whole book. Often, she disguises herself as the Mentor or another person. Athena was also the one god who spoke up for Odysseus and his son during the council of the gods. Although Odysseus does gain support from a few of the other gods, at the same time, he becomes an enemy to others, such as Poseidon, so having Athena on his side helps him to further move towards his end goal to return home. In an example of a situation where Athena assists him on his journey, she help Odysseus realize that he is home. The book shows this in, “now came Athena towards him, in the shape of a young shepherd […] ‘Welcome, my friend!’” (Homer 153). She helps him get to a place where he can meet his son and discuss their plan for the suitors. While doing all of this, she is disguised as a shepherd. Athena reunites father and son for the first time in years and together, they plan to kill the suitors and those who betrayed them. Upon first meeting with the Alchemist, Santiago is suspicious of his character and who he is. He infers that the Alchemist might kill him, but he is not afraid. He stands behind his personal legend and that impresses that Alchemist. Later on, the Alchemist gives him important
Odysseus is one that others should look up to in any need of trouble. First off, Odysseus is always helpful in any way possible. When he and his men get into a shipwreck at the island where Poseidon's son lived, he tries to help out getting his men to safety. He helps them by forming a plan. Despite having many of his men eaten by Poseidon's son, the cyclops, he tries to help all of them out.
For example, along Odysseus’s journey, it showed athena helping when the story said, “Athena disguises Odysseus as a beggar and directs him to the hut of Eumaeus”(Homer 596). Athena did not want anyone to know that it was odysseus and she wanted him to be with his family so that is why she turned him into a beggar. If anyone knew that it was Odysseus trying to be a beggar, they would kill him and overthrow his throne. For instance, one way Athena helped Odysseus was when the story also said, “Athena appears and informs him of the situation at home”(Homer 595). It was very kind of Athena for advising and alerting Odysseus what to do.
For if Athena knew of Odysseus’s plight and imminent return, it seems illogical, at first, that she would send Telemachus on such a risky trip. While Telemachus’s journey proves instrumental in the maturation already under way in Books 1 and 2, Athena states that the purpose of his going to Pylos and Sparta was for him to “make his name by sailing there” (13.482). She is more interested in how performing great deeds in faraway lands will elevate his reputation than in his inner, more personal growth. Throughout the Odyssey, Athena shows a steadfast devotion to Odysseus and the traits that he embodies; in risking his life to find his father, Telemachus stands to gain a measure of that same renown for which Odysseus and other Greek heroes risked their lives at
It was through Athena’s persuasion that convinced Zeus to have Calypso to let Odysseus leave her island. In response to Athena, Zeus said, “You conceived it yourself: Odysseus shall return and pay the traitors back” (Homer, Odyssey, V.26-27). The only reason Odysseus was free and performed the actions that he did after leaving Calypso’s island was all attributed to Athena. Whenever Odysseus appeared to be in a perilous situation, it was Athena who always aided him. “But Zeus’s daughter Athena countered him at once.
John Ruskin once said, “The first test of truly great man is his humility”. In The Odyssey, an epic poem by Homer, the central character Odysseus learns humility through his failures and growth in obedience making him a hero. Odysseus reaches a heroic status through the lessons learned on his journey, which ultimately taught him the value of obedience and the dangers of arrogance. Initially, Odysseus appears to lack the heroic quality of humility, through his narcissistic nature.
She is portrayed as the average Greek woman, but in reality is very cunning. Though both these women are two different characters, their roles are similar, and they both are equally powerful. They are cunning; teach Xenia; develop Odysseus’ character; and an important role in their families. Athena is the cunning Goddess who guides Odysseus back to Ithaca for his family and countrymen without letting him know her reality – she disguises herself every now and then to help him by testing him and his knowledge.
Being Determined The Odyssey, by Homer, is an epic poem that is about a hero's journey to come home. In The Odyssey, Odysseus has many obstacles he has to face to find his way home, like Polyphemus the cyclops or Scylla and Charybdis. He finally makes it home and has to prove to his wife that he is truly Odysseus. Throughout The Odyssey, Odysseus has important traits that help him survive resulting in his successful trip back home.
In The Odyssey, by Homer, Athena influences the lives of Odysseus and his family. In Greek mythology, gods challenge and control mortals. Gods also provide support to mortals and thus, mortals depend and act on behalf of the gods and their decisions. Athena, daughter of Zeus, is the goddess of wisdom, and both Telemachus and Odysseus benefit from her power. Athena possesses the ability to disguise herself and others, and this skill allows her to give advice and guidance.
Here, Odysseus tells Athena that she is all he has left and through her immortal powers, she is the only god still on his side who can help him in his time of need. Therefore, through Athena’s encouraging words, she is able to make Odysseus feel uplifted and more useful, especially as Odysseus is, at this point, very hopeless and miserably
While reading The Odyssey, the reader notices that unfortunate events caused by suspicion and judgement are fueled by a lack of trust. Trust is a big part of Odysseus’ relationship with his crew. As the leader, he is responsible for every one of them and must lead them well. Odysseus must be trusted by his men, or else they will not leave their lives in his hands by obeying his every order. Twice in the book, Odysseus’ men go against his orders and lead themselves to devastation.
Another time she helped Odysseus was when she protected him from the suitors' arrows. Without the providence of Athena Odysseus wouldn't have survived the events of The Odyssey. In book 1 of The Odyssey it says how "The story of Odysseus begins with the goddess Athena appealing to Zeus to help Odysseus, who has been wandering for ten years on the seas, to find his way home to
The relationships between the Greek gods and mortals have always been complicated. The gods can be generous and supportive, but also harsh and destructive towards the humans. They claim to be all powerful beings with unlimited power and influence, but in truth, they are far more human than they are perceived. They meddle with human lives, not because they are wise, but because of their own selfish reasons. In Homer’s
First, we saw this direct interaction between Athena, the goddess of wisdom and Odysseus’ son, Telemachus. Athena took the form of Mentes and appeared to Telemachus, to inspire him to call an assembly and disapprove of his mother’s suitors, and for him to commission a boat and crew to travel to Sparta and the sands of Pylos in search of news of his father (Homer
The conversation between Athena and Odysseus in the middle of book 13 reveals how each of them feels and thinks about the other at this stage in the epic. When Athena is first coming to meet Odysseus, after he has landed on Ithaca, she decides not to appear as herself to Odysseus, but first as a “young man… a shepherd boy”, and she then changes back to herself (13.252). She does this to get an honest opinion from him, as if she had appeared as a god, he might not have been honest with her. She also wants to hear his story, and see if he is actually thinking about her. After he does not “recognize” her because of her “endless” shapes, she is angry with him and accuses him of “never getting tired of twists and tricks” (13.340,56,32).
Athena is known as the goddess of war. Odysseus was aided by her ideas on how to regain power through her tactical skills. The fact that the goddess warrior was on his side through the journey home, reclaiming his land, and killing the suitors was a huge advantage. Athena is very intelligent in how she strategizes and won wars in the past. Some may argue that Odysseus is the real hero but there were many times throughout The Odyssey where he needed Athena’s protection and input of logical ideas.