Poseidon: The Antagonist In Homer's The Odyssey

When there is protagonist in a story, there exist antagonists. They are used as either an obstacle to the main character’s journey, or as another form of motivation to get through. Posidon, without a doubt, is the antagonist in The Odyssey. There may be many insignificant characters that are obstacles to Odysseus’s episodes of adventure; however, Poseidon’s existence becomes the main objection to Odysseus returning to Ithaca.
… “Ah poor man, why is the god of earthquakes so dead set against you?
Strewing your way with such a crop of troubles!
But he can’t destory you, not for all his anger. …”
In Book 9, Homer explains the reason of Poseidon’s anger, and why Odysseus was kept away from Ithaca for so long. When Odysseus took Cyclops’ only …show more content…
Since Athena is Odysseus’s protector and mentor, Poseidon’s bitter actions are counteracted by Athena, who keeps on finding ways to help Odysseus reach Ithaca. Athena doesn’t stop guiding Odysseus in spite of Poseidon’s anger, which progresses the story further. From this, readers are able to understand that Posiedon’s reckless actions work as motivation for Athena, therefore Odysseus, to travel more to reach Ithaca and protect the household. In Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, Mom with Ron plays as an antagonist who doesn’t fully interfere with the journey but motivates Oskar even further. Even though later it is revealed to both readers and Oskar that Mom has been helping him secretively and loves him more than anything, Mom appears as an antagonist for most of the novel. As readers are analyzing Mom through Oskar’s perspective, they are provided with limited information of a boy in depression after losing his Dad.
I zipped myself all the way into the sleeping bag of myself, not because I was hurt, and not because I had broken something, but because they were cracking up. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I gave myself a