e, each day I long for home, long for the sight ofhome... (Homer 87). Another chance for Odysseus to start a new life is offeredby the king of the Phaecians to marry his daughter and live there; ...seeingthe man that you are, seeing your thoughts are my own thoughts-my daughtershould be yours and you my son-in-law, if you remained. ( Homer 120). In eachcase, Odysseus, only wants to return to his wife Penelope, his son, and most ofall his homeland. Odysseus, who endures many hardships throughout his journeys, alwaysseemed to be one step ahead of the reader in knowing what to do to get out of asituation. The problems during the stories come not from Odysseus judgment, butthe judgment of his men. This became evident more than once when his men woulddisobey his orders, which resulted in death or peril. To illustrate, the storyof the men taking the bag from Aiolos from under the deck right when they wereat the sight of their homeland: Nine days and night we sailed without event, till the tenth weraised our land. We neared it, and saw the men building fires along shore; butnow weary to the bone I [Odysseus] fell into deep slumber...but while I sleptthe crew began to parley: silver and gold , they guessed, were in thatbag....[bench mates] 'Who has gifts from Aiolos? He has. I say we ought to crackthat bag, there's gold and silver, plenty, in that bag!' (Homer 166), withsuch greed, by opening the bag, the adverse winds are unleashed with full fury. Then every wind roared into a hurricane; the ships went pitching west with manycries; our land lost(Homer 166). With these trials of Odysseus, and throughoutthe journey, we see Odysseus spares nothing on his return home. He loses men,ships, and wealth from Troy and the gods. With all the losses he sustains overthe long journey he is unmoved, for his only passion is to return home. Odysseus's biggest attribute is his personal control of emotions and events.He has many emotion...
