In the late Bronze Age, war fought by the Greeks and the city of Troy defenders in Anatolia emerged. This war was known as the Trojan War. In this case, Odyssey refers to the adventures of the Odysseus in the Trojan War that is his return from the Trojan War. There are several characters involved in Odyssey. They include Odysseus, Penelope, Aeolus and Telemachus (Cline, 2013). In this paper, I have chosen Odysseus as a character from the Odyssey who was the Ithaca king in Greek who had involved in the Trojan War for ten years. The paper exemplifies how my life is like that of Odysseus in the Odyssey experience regarding the issues highlighted.
Travels and New Things Seen/Observed
On his way back home from the Trojan War, Odysseus traveled and came across and observed many new things. For instance, Odysseus came across the Cyclopes Island (Parks, 2002). In there, they were attracted and lured by wine and cheese into the Cyclops cave. Consequently, Odysseus and his men were trapped inside the cave by the Cyclopes and the Polyphemus. However, Odysseus and his men were able to blind the Cyclops, where they were able to sneak out of the cave under the heard of sheep of the Cyclops. The Odysseus experience is comparable to my life experience whereby I have traveled on most occasions, and I have seen the same things as Odysseus. For instance, in my teenage life, there are various temptations that I have experienced due to peer influence. Just like Odysseus, peer influence, I was almost lured into drugs which in these case cane seen as the cave in the Adventures of Odysseus. Like Odysseus, I was able to overcome this enticement (Cline, 2013).
Moreover, in the Islands of Aeolus, Odysseus was given all the bad winds by the God of winds so that he could sail home safely after the defeat of the Troy. However, the Odysseus men go against his orders where they opened the bag. As a result, all the winds escaped. The things that Odysseus experienced in this encounter are similar to a situation I have experienced in my life. For instance, after my high school education, in was offered a scholarship to advance my studies and my parents gave advice that I should restrain from peer influence that almost resulted to drug addiction. Just like the Odysseus men, it was too late before when I took the advice seriously, and the scholarship was dropped which is comparable to the way Odysseus men went against Odysseus order which caused the winds to escape.
Lessons about Life and the World I Learned from the Experience.
The other lesson I learned is that the distance and the time are not determiners that define true love. As long as you love someone, you can wait for them forever. In this story, Odysseus wife-Penelope was willing to wait for as many as 20 years till Odysseus return from the Trojan War (Parks, 2002). Also, I learned that life involves a lot of making tough decisions. Odysseus in his adventure had to make a lot of decisions which were critical to his journey back home.
How I have been involved in Restoring/Maintaining the Social Order
In my life, I have been involved in various occasions where I have been able to set standards as well as rules in the society that maintain its organization just like Odysseus. In the Odysseus social order restoration and maintenance, he was able to exemplify these through various examples such showing both good and bad hospitality depending on the situation at hand. For instance, there is a warning to those who are unreceptive in the Cyclopes cave where Odysseus reminds the Zeus the vitality of protecting an offending guest (Parks, 2002). Consequently, I have been able to show hospitality that restores social order in many occasions in my life. For instance, I expressed hospitality in some part of life that I had been visited by refugees.
How I have been involved in the process of Identity Formation
In life, I have been involved in individuation where I have been able to develop a personality in some life stages where I was able to be recognized. For instance, I have been involved in the cultural identity formation. Within these identity formation, I have been able to have a feeling of the culture I belong to which has enhanced my belonging to the culture. Similarly, Odysseus was involved in the various process of identity formation. For instance, on the return to Ithaca after Greek victory in the Trojan War, Odysseus exemplifies the cultural identity by having a feeling of his culture.
Obstacles
My life just like that of Odysseus, I have experienced various obstacles. For instance. Odysseus faced obstacles as he was trying to go back home. As he left Troy, Odysseus’ ships were hit by storms that almost thwarted his belief of getting back home as Poseidon kept his determination of preventing him from getting back home. He also met obstacles in the island of the circle as well as the island of the Cyclops. Consequently, I have come across challenges such as dealing with peer pressure, which took me a great amount of retraining just as Odysseus to overcome them.
Works cited
Cline, E. H. (2013). The Trojan War: A very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Parks, A. J. (2002). Homer's The odyssey.
