The Odyssey, Books 9 to 16

In book 9 of Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus tells the tales of his journey. Odysseus talks about the encounters he came across such as when he entered the land of cyclopses. Personally this book affected me by making me humble, I learned through Odysseus’ actions that glory isn’t always necessary and sometimes can come back to haunt you. A part of this book that really caught my attention was how Odysseus presumed that the cyclops Polyphemus would actually have hospitality to him, since the cyclops was neither human nor God I understood that the huge monster would likely not welcome Odysseus. The fact that Odysseus eventually took the cyclopses eye because he didn’t give any hospitality shows how important Xenia was in their society and this caught my attention quite rapidly. A part from this book that made me laugh was when the cyclops prayed to his father Poseidon after Odysseus self identified himself, I found it extremely funny that all of the horrible experiences and grief Odysseus felt while returning from Troy all stemmed from Odysseus Kleios and a cyclopses lack of Xenia. In my opinion this text was very abstract and original I’ve never seen anything quite like it. This text supports my beliefs because I feel like hospitality is very important and that having to much glory or pride is harmful and toxic. This reading gave me new insight in the way Greeks lived after the Trojan War and the culture and beliefs they followed and shared, some of which relates to common values Americans hold.