The Bravery Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

Adventures of the Odyssey The Odyssey, written by Homer and translated by Robert Fitzgerald, shows the true bravery of Odysseus and his men throughout the whole book. Filled with many adventures, some that are more know were Odysseus’ interactions with the Lotus Eaters, Kyklops, and Seirenes . Through these adventures, he shows a positive and negative trait. When Odysseus and his men met the Lotus Eaters, they were all hungry for their mid-day meal. He sent two men and a runner to learn who was on this land and if they could find any food. The men picked for this task never came back, because they ate the flowers of the Lotus Flowers. These flowers would keep them there forever. Odysseus found them, and then dragged the three men back and tied them up on the boat and he ordered all the rest of the men not to eat the flowers. Because of Odysseus’ curiosity and carelessness, three men ate the flowers. Luckily, because of his wisdom and care for the men, no other men
ate the flowers and continued on their journey. The next adventure was the Kyklops.
When the Kyklops had gone to take care of his sheep, Odysseus and his men entered his cave. The cheeses, lambs, and more food was all tempting to them. The men asked if they could take some and run off with it. Odysseus refused. When the Kyklops came back, he asked who they were. They explained their story, and the Kyklops took no pity and ate some of the men. He locked them in the cave, slowly devouring them. Odysseus soon came up with a plan to get out. He gave wine to the giant, and he fell asleep. Then, he and his men stabbed him in the eye with a hot pike of olive. The Kyklops screamed loudly, attracting the attention of other giants. Odysseus laughed saying his name was nobody. So the giant screamed that nobody did it. None of the other giants listened to this and ignored his calls. Because of Odysseus’ hunger and curiosity, they entered the cave in the beginning of this adventure. With his knowledge and resources, he escaped the cave and saved some of his
men. Another adventure was with the Seirenes. After coming off Kirke’s island, Odysseus had learned of these creatures. They sang a beautiful song, and it caused people to jump off the ship, to hear more, but fall to their death in the process. Odysseus put wax in everyone’s ears to prevent them from hearing the song. But wanting to hear the song, Odysseus tied himself to the ship, ordering his men to never let him off no matter how much he wanted to. As they passed through the sea with the Sierenes, he heard their song, and screamed to go to hear more. They made it through and all were safe from their melody. Because of his curiosity and wonder, Odysseus heard their song. With his knowledge and advice from Kirke, he tied himself up and heard the song without leaving the ship. With these three adventures, Odysseus shows his negative traits, which made some things more difficult, but overcomes them with a positive trait. With these traits, Odysseus makes it home once again in the Odyssey.