Koty Gibbens
Mrs. Soucek
Odyssey Analysis
Due Friday
I NEED A HERO
In the story, The Odyssey, Odysseus is viewed as an epic hero, or a hero with extraordinary strengths. However, I believe that for today’s pupils, Odysseus is almost more of a stubborn, whiny, brat. All he does throughout the story is fight people and monsters while he is trying to get what he wants. If that’s what teachers are teaching to present day students, then I fear for the next generation, because killing and harming people to get what you want is not what i consider a hero. A hero is someone who knows what the right thing to do is and will always do it, no matter what the circumstances are. A hero is not vengeful, but condoning and likable. And just because Odysseus is gorgeous does not at all make him a hero.

I don’t believe Odysseus should be considered a hero, and my first reason for thinking that is because he ran down anyone who stood between him and getting home to his wife. When he trespassed on Polyphemus’s island and came into his house uninvited, that was bad. However, when he and his crew had the audacity to ask for gifts as well, of course Polyphemus got mad. If i were a giant cannibalistic monster, I would have eaten some of them too. Odysseus had it coming for him. Even though it was tradition to give gifts to wandering strangers where he was from, that doesn’t mean that people and cyclops from other places have the same practices. Lets say we were to go to another country that thought that the peace sign was a bad hand gesture. If we were to start taking selfies while making the peace sign, I guarantee someone would call us out on it. Sure, they probably wouldn’t eat us, but we could get in trouble for it. After Polyphemus eats some of the crew members, Odysseus then decides to BLIND the cyclops, who only had one eye to start with. The cyclops didn’t deserve to be stabbed in the eye. Odysseus should have just taken his punishment and gotten eaten.

The second reason i don’t think Odysseus should be considered a hero is because i feel he is a whiny spoiled brat. Calypso is keeping him in paradise, keeping him safe from the world, feeding him and loving him. And yet, every night, before getting laid with this gorgeous nymph, he sits on the beach and cries. If some hot guy were to keep me on some island that is basically utopia, give me food, and love me, i wouldn’t be complaining. Odysseus, however, only cries for his wife and his home and his actual life. Thats really pitiful. Yeah, i understand he