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Ms Lee

English 6

6 December 2017

To Die or Not to Die: It isnt your Choice

The kid, happily playing around with all sorts of crayons, suddenly hears a sound. He

pauses, slowly turning his head to his most feared sight, Mom. She looks around the room in

absolute terror, all the colors of the rainbows displayed on every inch of the wall, and turns back

with a terrifying glare which causes the kid to cower in fear, not sure of what will come next.

This current situation involving the kid and the mom is very similar with the relationships

between the gods and mortals. In Homers The Odyssey, it is implied that to anger or disobey the

gods will deal with a very terrible punishment exactly like that situation with the mother and the

child.

Towards the beginning, Odysseus, one of the big main characters in the story, had a lot of

trouble with keeping the gods happy with his decisions. He first had looted Ismarus right after

winning the battle of Troy which had angered Zeus, already messing up his journey home.

Odysseus told the Phaiakians of what had happened after Ismarus, So doom appeared to us,/

dark word of Zeus for us, our evil days.(IX. 59-60). This quote had showed that after they had

looted the towns of Ismarus, killing the men and enslaving the women, they had been punished

by Zeus which resulted in Odysseus and his men sailing past home and towards the Land of the

Lotus-Eaters instead. Another example of when Odysseus had angered another god was when

they were escaping from Polyphemus cave. He gave Polyphemus almost all his information

such as where he lived and what his name was, having had great pride in being the cause of

Polyphemus downfall. This caused him and his men to be cursed by Polyphemus father,
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Poseidon. In these words he prayed, and the god heard him. (IX. 586 ) This quote represents

how Polyphemus, now knowing every little necessary thing about Odysseus, could get his

revenge. Since Poseidon had heard Polyphemus, Odysseus wasnt going to have a very easy time

going back home. If Odysseus hadnt had the angered the gods, then he wouldve made it home

perfectly however he had gotten he deserved. This helps show how in the beginning, Odysseus

hadnt been very cautious about his decisions.

After having angered the gods multiple times, Odysseus learns his lesson and begins to

follow every instruction given to him with caution. Even then, some things arent always

guaranteed. In this part of the text, Odysseus and his men are on the Island of Helios,

unfortunately stranded there for a while. Odysseus told his men to not touch the cattle on the

island, following the prophecy Teiresias had told him. However, the men disobeyed him, causing

the anger of Helios. This quote is when Helios goes to Zeus and asks him to punish them as he

had been angered by the actions of Odysseus men. O Father Zeus and gods in bliss forever,/

punish Odysseus men! So overweening,/ now they have killed my peaceful kine,..(XII. 484-

486) This quote helps show how even though Odysseus was trying his best to not disobey the

gods or anger them, his men had disobeyed him, causing not only their terrible end but also

giving Odysseus the loss of his crew. During the next part of the story Odysseus and his allies

were about to kill the family members of all the suitor when suddenly Athena intervenes. Their

faces paled with dread before Athena,/ and swords dropped from their hands unnerved, to lie/

strewing the ground, at the great voice of the goddess.(XXIV. 595-597) This quote helps show

how much Odysseus had changed from the beginning to the end just by learning the lesson of not

angering the gods by all his experiences. When Athena had told them to not attack and rather

make peace, he and the others suddenly just dropped everything, knowing deep down that if they
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were to disobey, things might not go so well in the end. After these moments it is very clear to

see how Odysseus had learned his lesson from the beginning to the end.

Now Odysseus is not the only one who had faced the wrath of the gods and had dealt

with the fear of angering the gods. In this next quote, Odysseus, disguised as a beggar, is testing

the suitors to see which are the worst and must be killed first. Odysseus decides that one of the

suitors he should let go however he couldnt leave since Athena had kept them there believing he

still had to face the punishments that all the other suitors will be getting for being absolutely

terrible guests. Now his heart foreknew/ the wrath to come, but he could not take flight,/ being

by Athena bound there.(XVIII. 194-196) This quote helps show that the action of the suitor,

who was being graciously let go by Odysseus, couldnt because the fact he had been there for so

long overusing the hospitality given to him had angered Athena, making her decide he should be

given the same punishments as the others since he had still done the same bad stuff they had.

Another part where fear was shown about disobeying the gods was when Odysseus had went

back to the island of Aiolia to ask for help from Aiolos since his men had opened the bag of wind

and sent them back. He asks for more help, however Aiolos refuses to have anything else to do

with him. to help a men the blessed gods detest--/ out! Your voyage here was cursed by

heaven(X. 84-85) This quote helps to show that not only do mortals fear punishment from the

gods, but other gods fear the others. This is shown by how Aiolos, realizing that Odysseus has

been cursed by the gods, refuses to help him anymore showing some fear that perhaps Aiolos

will get in trouble with the other gods if he assists Odysseus even more. These two quotes help

show that no matter who you are, you can still face the wrath of the gods if you were to make

them upset.
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To not anger the gods is a lesson that many people in The Odyssey had to learn, whether

they learned by terrible punishment or by observing others. It is a great thing that can affect your

life and really allows for the development in character if taken in the right way. It is also not

limited to certain people, whether you were mortal or immortal. Now remember, behave and

dont act like the kid or Odysseus in many of these scenarios or else terrible punishments are to

come.