Odysseus’s Leadership Based on Odysseus’s experiences, decisions, and actions throughout the Odyssey, he demonstrates that overall, he is a good leader. He showed his cleverness and bravery. Odysseus also made decisions in order to help himself and his crew. First of all, Odysseus made decisions in order to help himself and his crew. When he and his crew reached the island of the Lotus Eaters, the natives gave some of them lotus. The lotus made them lose the desire to return home. Odysseus knew they had to leave before anyone else ate the lotus so he “brought them back, back to the hollow ships, and streaming tears- [Odysseus] forced them, hauled them under the rowing benches, lashed them fast and shouted out commands” (214, 110-113). Instead of leaving his crew members behind or waiting until more ate the lotus, Odysseus forced them back to the ship himself. By doing this, he prevented the others from being hypnotized and allowed them to continue their journey to Ithaca. Another example of when Odysseus made a good decision is when he and his crew encountered Scylla. Circe told Odysseus that Scylla would eat six of his men and Charybdis would kill either all or none of them. He chose to avoid Charybdis and not risk his entire crew being lost. Also, as they approached Scylla, Odysseus chose not to tell his men about the monster “for fear the men would panic, desert their oars and huddle down and stow themselves away” (278, 242-243). He wanted to keep his crew focused on rowing rather than distract them with the fear of Scylla. Odysseus showed that he was brave when he rescued his crew from Circe. Immediately after Eurylochus told him that Circe captured his men, he went after them. Even after being warned that he may not return to the ship, Odysseus did not hesitate to leave. “At that report [Odysseus] slung the hefty bronze blade of [his] silver-studded sword around [his] shoulder, slung [his] bow on too and told [Eurylochus] ‘Lead me back the same way that you came’” (238, 287-290). He planned to confront Circe knowing that she had powers. This shows that he is fearless and willing to risk his life for his crew. He also demonstrated his bravery when leading Telemachus, Eumaeus, Philoetius in their battle against the suitors. They were greatly outnumbered, but in order for Odysseus to reclaim his home, they had to kill the suitors. Odysseus devised a plan in which he would disguise himself as a beggar while Telemachus hid the weapons. He stated “If they abuse me in the palace, steel yourself, no matter what outrage I must suffer” (347, 305-306). Not only was he brave enough to fight them, he was also brave enough to endure their taunts before the slaughter began. I think this was the hardest task for Odysseus throughout the entire story. Unlike the previous fights, he had to have