Odysseus: A War Hero In Homer's The Odyssey

Whether in ancient Greece, Mesopotamia, or modern day America, all warriors no matter the time or culture each face the same obstacle; transitioning from the exciting unexpected world of war to civilian life. There are three different stages which each soldier faces when reintegrating back into ordinary life; the impact phase, the immediate post-disaster phase, and finally, the recovery phase. Within The Odyssey, an epic poem written by Homer, is the tale of a war hero named Odysseus and his journey from the extraordinary back into everyday life. Odysseus, like all war heroes, is faced with the challenge of reintegrating into normal everyday life and throughout the epic poem, he goes through the different stages of his transition. The first stage which any war hero goes through is the impact phase, which is when a person reacts to a disaster in order to protect their own life. When Kirke, a witch with god-like power, gives Odysseus advice for how to advance in his journey, she says to him, “Better to mourn six men than lose them all, and the ship, too” (XII. pg. 212 lines 129-130). While far from home, Odysseus is forced to make hard decisions in order to assure the …show more content…
By looking at Odysseus’s transformation from the extraordinary to the ordinary, modern day readers are able to see the transformation which a war hero, from any time period, goes through. While no one makes the transition the same, the common phases soldiers go through link them. Like Odysseus though, it is near impossible for soldiers to completely forget the events which they have gone through, making complete reintegration a fantasy. By looking at the past we can learn to make a better future for all those who face the challenge of coming back from a traumatic