What Are The Obstacles In The Odyssey

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World Literature Do Not Go Setting Me Back Life is filled with hardship and obstacles. To have the life anyone would want that person most overcome all their hardships and obstacles. In The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crewmates encounter many hardships and obstacles. Each of these set them back on their journey home. They encounter obstacles like Polyphemos, a giant Cyclops that likes to eat humans for breakfast, Kirke, a magical sorceress that turns his men into swine and holds him captive for a year, then there is Zeus, god of the sky and he threw a lightning bolt at Odysseus and caused him to wash ashore an island for 7 years. There is also Skylla, a monstrous six-headed beast that has a taste for the flesh of others. Each one holds Odysseus…show more content…
It also harbors Helios’s sacred cattle which one must not eat or fear the wrath of the gods. They stayed there for some time looking for food among other things. Eventually while Odysseus was away doing something, his crew found the cattle, not knowing it was sacred, they ate it and all went down from there. When Odysseus returned he scolded his men and they left immediately, though this would not help him escape the wrath of the gods. Helios asked Zeus to strike at Odysseus and his crew for they have defiled him and eaten his scared cattle. Zeus agreed and struck he did. He threw a lightning bolt at their ship, which was now destroyed. All crewmen died and Odysseus washed upon Calypso’s Island. There he was held captive by her for seven years until Athena sent Hermes to tell Calypso that he must be set…show more content…
He had to escape Polyphemos’s lair for which he was stuck for a few days only to get cursed again to make the rest of the journey much harder for him. He had to beat Kirke at her own game only to find out that the few days he was there was actually a year. Then there was Zeus, the big all mighty god of the sky, Zeus destroyed the ship and he got washed ashore Calypso’s island. There he was stuck for seven years before Hermes was sent to make Calypso set Odysseus free. Also there was Skylla, a six-headed monster, who may look scary and nasty, she did not do much to hinder Odysseus’s journey. Odysseus had to be without Penelope for twenty years, ten of them knowing that the rest of the soldiers had already returned home and that Penelope did not know he was even alive anymore. If this ever happened in our modern world, how devastating it could be to either

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