Few novels and stories can withstand the test of time and still exist in a modern pop culture. The Odyssey by Homer translated by Robert Fagles and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky translated by Constance Garnett manage to pull this off with incredible storytelling and revolutionary works of writing in history. Both of these stories follow a same broad idea, the story of a person and their journey to home. These stories both have striking similarities despite their extreme differences, such as the protagonists’ respective roles in society, the historical aspects of these novels, and the character’s search for a resolution at the end of each story.
Straightaway in The Odyssey the reader follows a war hero on his journey home while facing …show more content…
In The Odyssey, Homer immediately expresses the heroic aspects of Odysseus’ character design when he states “Could I forget that kingly man Odysseus? There is no mortal half so wise; no mortal gave so much to the lords of the open sky" (Homer, chapter 1, lines 84-86). Homer begins his book writing Odysseus as a grand hero, and encourages the reader to cheer for Odysseus alongside the characters. Throughout this entire book, the reader is reminded how magnificent Odysseus is through his great feats, whether it be outsmarting a cyclops to save his crew or shooting an arrow through a line of axes. Odysseus does no wrong in this story. Even his mistake of allowing the crew to open the bag of wind can be blamed on the crew for being curious and opening the bag, not Odysseus’ lack of warning before giving them the bag. To contrast, in Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky begins the book by with much more emphasis on the main character and his flaws. Raskolnikov’s poor living conditions drive him to murder as he struggles to make enough money to live. Dostoevsky makes this clear …show more content…
Homer was an ancient Greek author, and Dostoevsky was a writer living in Saint Petersburg in the 1800s, while poverty crushed him and those around him. In The Odyssey, Homer throws the reader into the time and setting in which this book takes place as he writes "Tell me, Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered far and wide after he had sacked Troy's sacred city, and saw the towns of many men and knew their mind” (Homer, Book 1, lines 1-3). The story takes place in Ancient Greece, the time in which the author Homer lived in. Homer’s telling of The Odyssey is greatly influenced by the world that is established around him, as well as the culture and folklore that already existed in his time. Crime and Punishment also takes place in a historical setting, Saint Petersburg, and is also based on the author’s life. Dostoevsky describes the setting immediately to the reader when he writes “The heat in the street was terrible: and the airlessness, the bustle and the plaster, scaffolding, bricks, and dust all about him, and that special Petersburg stench, so familiar to all who are unable to get out of town in summer” (Dostoevsky, part 1, chapter 1, 1). These books take their influence from the author’s personal lives and time periods. This gives a more authentic perspective on what the citizens of the time idealized, dreamed of, and
Straightaway in The Odyssey the reader follows a war hero on his journey home while facing …show more content…
In The Odyssey, Homer immediately expresses the heroic aspects of Odysseus’ character design when he states “Could I forget that kingly man Odysseus? There is no mortal half so wise; no mortal gave so much to the lords of the open sky" (Homer, chapter 1, lines 84-86). Homer begins his book writing Odysseus as a grand hero, and encourages the reader to cheer for Odysseus alongside the characters. Throughout this entire book, the reader is reminded how magnificent Odysseus is through his great feats, whether it be outsmarting a cyclops to save his crew or shooting an arrow through a line of axes. Odysseus does no wrong in this story. Even his mistake of allowing the crew to open the bag of wind can be blamed on the crew for being curious and opening the bag, not Odysseus’ lack of warning before giving them the bag. To contrast, in Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky begins the book by with much more emphasis on the main character and his flaws. Raskolnikov’s poor living conditions drive him to murder as he struggles to make enough money to live. Dostoevsky makes this clear …show more content…
Homer was an ancient Greek author, and Dostoevsky was a writer living in Saint Petersburg in the 1800s, while poverty crushed him and those around him. In The Odyssey, Homer throws the reader into the time and setting in which this book takes place as he writes "Tell me, Muse, of the man of many devices, who wandered far and wide after he had sacked Troy's sacred city, and saw the towns of many men and knew their mind” (Homer, Book 1, lines 1-3). The story takes place in Ancient Greece, the time in which the author Homer lived in. Homer’s telling of The Odyssey is greatly influenced by the world that is established around him, as well as the culture and folklore that already existed in his time. Crime and Punishment also takes place in a historical setting, Saint Petersburg, and is also based on the author’s life. Dostoevsky describes the setting immediately to the reader when he writes “The heat in the street was terrible: and the airlessness, the bustle and the plaster, scaffolding, bricks, and dust all about him, and that special Petersburg stench, so familiar to all who are unable to get out of town in summer” (Dostoevsky, part 1, chapter 1, 1). These books take their influence from the author’s personal lives and time periods. This gives a more authentic perspective on what the citizens of the time idealized, dreamed of, and