The Hero’s Journey is a timeless plot structure that entails the growth of an individual through the sequence of events in his or hers conquest. Crossing the threshold into the special world is where the Hero must withstand a new challenge in ‘The Road of Trials’. In order to prove themselves, the Hero must face a series of battles that will prepare them for the final challenge. The trials are meant to expose the Hero’s vulnerabilities and highlight their strengths. The Hero uses knowledge that he gains from these tests, and he enacts the skills he has required from the events leading up to these trials. In The Martian by Andy Weir and in The Odyssey translated by Alexander Pope, ‘The Road of Trials’ is portrayed in the same manner with a few
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The ocean, containing no terrain at all, offers a series of problems for Odysseus and his crew. A storm sent by Zeus causes the ocean to become violent. “Wide o’er the waste the rage of Boreas sweeps...now here, now there, the giddy ships are borne, And all the rattling shrouds in fragments torn” (Pope 202). The dangerous environment makes Odysseus fight to surpass the struggle. This series of unfortunate events offsets Odysseus from reaching his original destination. The Odyssey and The Martian compare in this way because both characters were taken off their original routes. Mark Watney and Odysseus sought to return home with their …show more content…
The most evident test present in The Odyssey that was left out The Martian is: The Journey to the Underworld. The Journey to the Underworld, where the Hero is given helpful information, is released to the reader in book XI of The Odyssey. “If scenes of misery can entertain, Woes I unfold, of woes a dismal train. Prepare to heir of murder and of blood; Of godlike heroes who uninjured stood Amidst a war of spears in foreign lands, Yet bled at home, and bled by female hands” (Pope 260). Odysseus is given information Tiresias about his upcoming journey. Information being provided to the hero is a common theme in the journey to the underworld. The Odyssey follows the hero’s journey all the way, while The Martian is loosely connected to that type of plot
The ocean, containing no terrain at all, offers a series of problems for Odysseus and his crew. A storm sent by Zeus causes the ocean to become violent. “Wide o’er the waste the rage of Boreas sweeps...now here, now there, the giddy ships are borne, And all the rattling shrouds in fragments torn” (Pope 202). The dangerous environment makes Odysseus fight to surpass the struggle. This series of unfortunate events offsets Odysseus from reaching his original destination. The Odyssey and The Martian compare in this way because both characters were taken off their original routes. Mark Watney and Odysseus sought to return home with their …show more content…
The most evident test present in The Odyssey that was left out The Martian is: The Journey to the Underworld. The Journey to the Underworld, where the Hero is given helpful information, is released to the reader in book XI of The Odyssey. “If scenes of misery can entertain, Woes I unfold, of woes a dismal train. Prepare to heir of murder and of blood; Of godlike heroes who uninjured stood Amidst a war of spears in foreign lands, Yet bled at home, and bled by female hands” (Pope 260). Odysseus is given information Tiresias about his upcoming journey. Information being provided to the hero is a common theme in the journey to the underworld. The Odyssey follows the hero’s journey all the way, while The Martian is loosely connected to that type of plot