How Is Odysseus A Hero

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The Odyssey is the story of an ancient Greek named Odysseus. It tells the story of Odysseus’s journey back home to Ithaca from Troy after the Trojan wars. The journey took him twenty years. He and the men who followed him endured unbelievable hardships during that time. Odysseus’s intelligence allowed him to outwit many adversaries and overcome all sorts of obstacles that he and his men encountered. Odysseus is a hero because his intelligence, determination and perseverance are finally rewarded when he completes the journey back to Ithaca. One of the first heroic acts performed by Odysseus occurs when he and his ship’s crew had to withstand the call of the Sirens. The Sirens would sing beguiling songs that would enchant sailors and lead…show more content…
Polyphemus was a frightening adversary. He was a giant one-eyed man eating creature who had captured Odysseus and his men and imprisoned them in a cave where he kept his sheep. Odysseus had an idea to poison Polyphemus with undiluted wine to make him unconscious. As he was drifting off, Polyphemus wanted to know who wronged him and Odysseus yelled, “Nobody.” Once the creature passed out, Odysseus hardened a wooden stake in a fire and drove it into Polyphemus eye while he was asleep. Polyphemus woke enraged and shouted to his fellow Cyclops for help. When they arrived, Polyphemus kept yelling “Nobody is hurting me!” They thought he was insane and they left. The next day the blind Polyphemus opened the cave to let his sheep graze. He knew the men would try to escape so he would rub the top of the sheep to as they left the cave. He was feeling for their wooly backs to make sure that the men were not leaving with them. Odysseus decided to fasten his men to the bottom of the sheep to fool Polyphemus. It worked and the men made it back onto their boat. The whole incident is a testament to the wit and poise that Odysseus was able to maintain during an abominably bad situation (Homer, book

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