Odysseus A Hero

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A hero is someone people look up to and want to be. Some people may consider Odysseus in The Odyssey a hero or not. In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his men are on the way home from the Trojan War. They face many barriers on their journey home. In Homer’s Epic Poem, The Odyssey, Odysseus is not a hero because he never tells his crew anything, he is self-centered, and he either lost his men at stops or had to go and save them. One reason Odysseus is not a hero because he doesn’t tell his crew anything. One example of this is, “Within sight of home and while Odysseus is sleeping, the men open the bag, thinking it contains gold and silver.(pg.386)” This happened when Odysseus’ men opened the bag that Aeolus gave Odysseus. They opened it …show more content…
One example of this is, “Odysseus and his crew raid the Cicones, robbing and killing them, until the Ciconian army kills 72 of Odysseus’ men and drives the rest out to sea.” This happened when Odysseus and his men stole from the Cicones because the Cicones and Odysseus are enemies. The ciconian army then comes and kills some of Odysseus’ men. This matters because this is when some of Odysseus’ men first die. Odysseus let his greediness take over and he robbed them. That is not a good trait for a hero. Another example is, “Tell him Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye: Laertes” son, whose home’s on Ithaca(pg.384 lines 417-419)! This happened when Odysseus and his men were leaving the Cyclopes. At first, Odysseus told Polyphemus that his name was nobody, but when they were leaving he revealed his name. This matters because Odysseus was being cocky and self-centered. He didn’t think about how him revealing his name to Polyphemus could impact him and his …show more content…
One example is “Driven by hunger, they ignore Odysseus’ warning not to feast on Helios’ cattle.(pg.398)” This happened when Odysseus and his men landed on the island Thrinacia. His men ate Helios’ cattle even though Odysseus tried to stop them. This matters because all the men die after this because Zeus sinks their ship and only Odysseus survived. A hero would have tried to save his by demanding his men not to eat the cattle and not let their hunger take over. Another example is “Eurylochus leads one platoon to explore the island, while Odysseus stays behind on the ship with the remaining.(pg.386)” This happened when Odysseus and his men land on Aeaea. Odysseus splits up his men and sends half to explore the island. This matters because a hero wouldn’t send other people to do something. They would do it themselves. An outcome of this happening is that Odysseus has to go in and save his
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