o; the divine world, the gods, interferes with the human world. If it hadn't been for these villains Odysseus' journey home from Troy would have been a rather short and plain tale. He would not have been help up on an island or had some of his crew eaten and some of them killed in a storm. But, the gods interfering with the human world in this story are not all villains; Athena and Zeus also interfere. Athena feels her and Odysseus are somewhat alike; she likes him, feels he has been away long enough, and wants to help him return home. Zeus is sometimes like Athena and helps Odysseus, and is also sometimes one of the villains and hurts him. As he did when Odysseus' men ate one of Helios' cattle. Zeus then created a storm that killed all of the remaining men and wrecked his ship, leaving Odysseus stranded. In the beginning Odysseus is a careless, foolish and immature warrior who seems to care only about battle. But in the end we see a completely different person who has seen the error of his ways and realizes the evil in being only a prideful warrior. He has learned that a man is not as strong as he wants to be; a man is only as strong as the gods want him to be. Without the help of the gods Odysseus would not be the truly heroic leader he has become. He embodies all that is an epic hero, and upon his return home to his palace in Ithaka and his victory over the suitors Odysseus is definitely a larger than life hero. ...
