Friday, April 17, 2015
I'll Follow You to Hell and Back: Odysseus as a Leader
Odysseus leaves Troy with nine ships full of men. By the time he is rescued by Calypso, however, all his men have perished. His men are killed by Ciconians, Polyphemus and the Laestrygonians. Yet at the same time, he rescues his men from Polyphemus' cave and Circe's enchantment. Is Odysseus a good leader who is just cursed by the gods? A good leader with a mutinous crew? Or is he a poor leader who causes his own problems because of misplaced ideals, or reckless behavior or poor leadership skills? Or perhaps somewhere in between or none of the above? Explain your answer using examples from the text to support your point.
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Though Odysseus has the potential to be an extremely skilled leader, his amount of pride in himself and his often hot-headed nature makes him into an unreliable, and thus incompetent leader. The biggest flaw in the way that he leads is the fact that he consistently disregards the men he is traveling with by constantly putting them into unnecessary situations that lead to their deaths. Though there deaths are caused by his own original actions, Odysseus is quick to blame his crew for their own deaths. An example of this type of behavior is found when Odysseus is telling the story of the Cicones. He tells how it was his own idea to take an unnecessary detour to loot the land of the Cicones, but blames his men for their deaths when they do not escape fast enough, completely ignoring the fact that if he had not felt it necessary to loot the Cicones, no one would have been killed. On the land of the Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus shows slightly more regard for his crew when he helps them to leave, yet he still forced them to go ahead “to scout out who may live there.” Odysseus often seems callous about the death of his men, and obviously cares more about his own safety than theirs, to the extent of doing things like docking his boat further away so that he can escape more quickly. Though in the previously mentioned situations and others, such as Charybdis and Scylla, Odysseus is ultimately able to save a majority of his crew, a large problem lies in the fact that when he tells the story of his journey, he speaks more of his pride in himself than his regret to have lost so many men. His huge love of pride often leads him to make careless decisions that lead to large casualties: telling Polyphemus what his real name was, wanting to fight Scylla, etc. A good leader should have the interests of everyone under him as the top priority, and though Odysseus might make some good decisions in the course of the Odyssey, they are done purely for his own benefit, not the crew’s. When taking into consideration all of Odysseus’ actions, he never once does something that might harm him if it will save anyone he travels with. Finally his disregard for his crew is taken too far when he doesn’t warn them about the consequences of eating the cattle of Helios- and they are all killed. It must be a sign about Odysseus’ talent as a leader if he cannot manage to keep even one of his crew members alive. Even though some of his earlier actions might still be redeemable to some, I find it impossible to call a man who managed to kill off his entire crew to be a skillful leader. Odysseus’ disregard for his crew and often foolish actions show him to be an extremely bad leader in my eyes.
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ReplyDeleteThroughout The Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew struggle to find their way home. As this journey progresses, the controversial topic of Odysseus as a leader comes in to play. Odysseus shows many examples expressing positive and negative characteristics of leadership. However, as the book progresses, his leadership skills, through communication and trust, begin to evolve. Earlier in the book, Odysseus and his men, through the help of Aeolus and his "bag of winds", are almost home being able to see their homeland, Ithaca. However, several of Odysseus' crew members open the bag as Odysseus sleeps, believing to be some kind of treasure. "'Hurry, let's see what loot is in that sack, how much gold and silver. Break it open--now!' A fatal plan, but it won my shipmates over. They loosed the sack and all the winds burst out and a sudden squall struck and swept us back to sea, wailing, in tears, far from our own native land." (10.49-54) This leads them back to where they started with no further help from Aeolus. During this account, Odysseus has no control over the situation, although there is an open gap between him and his crew. The crew lacks communication and trust in Odysseus, while Odysseus is left in awe in what his crew has done. On the other hand, Odysseus' crew members should have trust in their leader and have communicated with him instead of making decisions on their own. Shortly after, Odysseus is displayed as selfish and lacking in communication and trust skills. This can be shown when Odysseus and his men come to port outside of the home of the Laestygonians. Odysseus, having some idea that they may be endangered, makes sure that his boat, and his boat only, is father away from shore than the others. This account, after every ship in his fleet is destroyed except for his, expresses that he puts himself ahead of others, is selfish, although he always tries to get as many of his men to safety as he can. This act, through lack of communication, could also have been due to the earlier example with the bag of winds and his crew not trusting and respecting him. Further along in their journey, his leadership skills, through communication and trust, begin to evolve, especially after the incident with the bag of winds. Odysseus learns from earlier situations in the text. An example of him expressing strong leadership skills is before they travel through the Sirens. He tells his shipmates, "Friends…it's wrong for only one or two to know the revelations that Circe made to me alone. I'll tell you all, so we can die with our eyes wide open now or escape our fate and certain death together…" (12.167-171). This quote expresses trust and communication with him and his crew. This is a dramatic change in Odysseus character, for the better.
ReplyDeleteThroughout the story, Odysseus is leading many men back home from Troy. I think that Odysseus is a good leader but is reckless in his decisions. He is willing to do what he must to ensure that he and his crew get back home. Even though there comes a time where he loses some men; despite that he is trying and doing anything to get back home. An example is when they stop at the lair of the lotus-eaters. There was a risk of everyone staying there forever without wanting to go home, but Odysseus had to take that risk for supplies that would ensure they make it home. Odysseus is willing to take risks which is what every good leader must make eventually. There are times where it seems Odysseus risked too much for something so little. An example of this is when they go to the Cyclops, Polyphemus’s island. During this event, Odysseus lost four out of twelve people and was also cursed by Polyphemus. What they got out of it was being able to eat some cheese. This sounds absurd because people died and they were cursed all for just some cheese. This is an example of Odysseus risking too much. Although Odysseus makes some bad decisions, I feel as though he is under a lot of pressure by not just the crew, but the families of the crew to make it back home safely so the families can be together again. Being pressured by so many people can sometimes cause bad decisions but can also drive a leader to do good things. Odysseus can improve as a leader by not feeling so pressured, but until then, there will be sacrifices he has to take for pleasure of returning home.
ReplyDeleteIn the Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew struggle through harsh times and dangerous feats while they journey home to Ithaca. They encounter about 6 different incidents that, while they may gain in the short term, the majority is a loss in the long run. For example if they stop at an island to gather supplies and food/drink, Odysseus risks lives and time. Odysseus is not a good leader because he doesn’t think about his crew's lives. In Odysseus’ mind, it seems as if his crew is there for armor or protection. I feel like he wants to return home so very badly that he is blinded when lives are at risk. Odysseus is too hasty instead of being careful and taking his time. For example, Odysseus sends his crew before him to investigate before he, the supposed leader, risks his own life on certain islands such as the Lotus-Eaters and Circe's Home, where if Odysseus hadn't been lucky by receiving help from Hermes on Circe’s Island and forcefully dragging his men away from the Lotus-Eaters, his crew would never had returned. Yet, Odysseus was never the first to explore the island, he only seemed to save the day. Everywhere they journey, a life or lives are lost, and however it was never Odysseus’. Yes, Odysseus saves his crew from the Lotus-Eaters, Circe, and Polyphemus and I do believe that he is conniving. I do not think that Odysseus thinks twice when it comes to sacrificing himself over his crew. However Odysseus risks his crew’s life, blinded by his desire to return home to his family.
ReplyDeleteIn the classic epic, The Odyssey, Odysseus, a great leader, lives through a great journey in which he encounters many challenges as he tries to return home from the Trojan War. Because of his bravery in the Trojan War, he is leading twelve ships, totaling six hundred men. As a war leader, your subordinates’ lives are in your hands, and Odysseus sometimes does not act as though this is a responsibility. Although there were parts in the story where he saved his men, there were many more parts where he could have saved a significantly larger amount. One example of this is when his flotilla of ships lands on the Laestrogenians Island. Odysseus orders all ships but his own to land on the beach, where it would take time to escape, while he moors his ship hidden in a cove, where he could escape quickly if needed. This selfish act pays off when the Laestrogenians come and kill all of the exposed ships left on the beach; Odysseus was the only one to escape with his crewmembers. This is not the only instance where Odysseus put himself before his comrades that fought beside him in war. There were instances where he was clever, and saved his crewmen; when they were in Polyphemus’s cave, he came up with the plan that saved them. But he took all of the credit for carrying out the plan when, in reality, he had help from five of his men. Also, while escaping from the island, he shouted back at Polyphemus to gloat, which caused more hardships later in their journey and almost got him and his crew killed by Polyphemus.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus is one of the most well-known leaders at the time this book was written. If Odysseus is a good leader or not is a question that many have been asking themselves. People do not truly know that Odysseus is a good leader. Over Odysseus’s journey he has encountered many difficult obstacles that sometimes he cannot prevent, like when he encounters Polyphemus cave and Circe. In situations like these when he is risking his live to accomplish such a goal, he needs to do what he has to. For example when he goes into Polyphemus cave and is capture along with his whole crew. He plans a way to get out but is very risky and can potentially kill some of the crewman. Sometimes these sacrifices need to be made to accomplish such a mission. Some people think that Odysseus is a selfish leader because he does not care about people dying but in fact he is put in bad situation where he needs to decide what is right and wrong. Some of the most distinct traits that Odysseus has is that he is almost fearless and will attack any task that he is faced with. Some people say that Odysseus goes into situation that are too dangerous and could risk the lives of shipmates but without his courage nothing would be accomplished. Other leaders would not go into these types of situation because of the fear of death but leaders should be fearless. In the end Odysseus is a good leader because he does what needs to be done and it’s not afraid to do so.
ReplyDeleteOdysseus is a poor leader when it comes to controlling his crew. He tries his hardest to get his men proper food and health and to get them to the right destination, but can’t immediately because of his poor leadership skills and his men's stupidity. Such as when they opened the bag of winds which sent them back in their journey. It is partly his fault for his crew opening the bag of winds because he never told them what was in it, which shows poor communication skills and little trust between him and his men. Odysseus puts his own life before his crew's. For example when he sent his men out to Circe and they were turned into pigs. A good leader would be less selfish and put his men’s life before his own in an unsafe situation. He also loses a lot of men when they go to the Cyclops Island and go into Polyphemus's cave, because of the dumb decisions he made in a short amount of time. When he makes decisions he does not think about the amount of men he could lose by the danger he is putting them in. overall I think Odysseus is a poor leader, and is not able to keep his men in proper health because he does not try hard enough and is a selfish leader.
ReplyDeleteIn the Odyssey there have been many occasions that have made me think of Odysseus as a great leader. As he journey’s back to Ithaca, he and his crew encounter many challenges. Odysseus is forced to make difficult the right choice not only for himself but also for his crew. Even though Odysseus is the only man left in the end, there were many occasions where he just couldn’t control the situation as he dealt with forces stronger than him. This can be seen with Polyphemus, the cyclops who is stronger and faster than Odysseus. When Odysseus was trapped, he did everything he could do to get him and his men out which he did but unfortunately he couldn’t save 4 of his men because he just couldn’t control the situation. However, an example where Odysseus doesn’t set up a good example of what a leader should be is when Odysseus tells Polyphemus his name. This was a mistake because when he told him his name, Polyphemus cursed him to the gods which later affected their journey home. Another example that demonstrates that Odysseus is a good leader is when some of his men were turned into pigs and Odysseus saves them. When his men were trapped and Odysseus saved them by risking his own life, it shows that he is a good leader because he cares about his people. Overall, Odysseus is a good leader because when it comes to making difficult decisions, Odysseus usually makes a good call but he isn’t perfect, no one is.
ReplyDeleteI think that Odysseus is a good and bad leader. He has good leading qualities including being very loyal and responsible for his men. But he can also take too many risks and lose a lot of men in the process. He losses men left and right but seems to not care just like when he lost 6 men from all 12 ships. But when they get to the land of the lotus eaters he does save them by locking them up. Overall I think he is a good leader but he should take the lives of his men more seriously and care more not just about himself but others. Also being a leader involves taking care of your men. I think that Odysseus is always trying to do the best things for his men. Just like when he had two options trying to get back home. Either he had to lose his whole ship by going near Charybdis the whirlpool, or lose six men from Scylla. He chose to go to Scylla because he knew that it would be the least cost for the crew. Even though he knew he was going to lose men he took the risk because he cared about losing the whole ship and possibly losing everyone than losing just six people. Although Odysseus losses a lot of men in the process of getting home, he does it out of his knowledge and there was no way he could have made it home without losing anyone.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Odysseus does many outstanding tasks to help save his men, Odysseus is ultimately a poor leader who only truly cares about himself. Odysseus lacks one of the most important qualities an acceptable leader requires, communication. In many situations throughout the story Odysseus does not communicate with his crew members which leads to the death of many. One example of this is when Odysseus and his men are finally in site of their homeland after an extremely rough journey. Odysseus falls into a deep sleep because of all the work he has done to get the ships back home. Odysseus had previously been gifted with a bag from Aeolus which if opened would send the ships back far away from their destination. His crew got curious of what was inside and decided to open the sack, only to find discover strong winds that swept them all to sea. A good leader would be sure to communicate with their crew to make sure they know everything before proceeding to do what pleases themselves, however Odysseus being the poor leader he is falls asleep knowing that if anyone opened the bag it would send them all back to sea. Another example of Odysseus being a horrible leader because of absence of communication is when Odysseus fails to tell his remaining crew the dangers of eating Helios. Odysseus again falls asleep, giving his crew a chance to eat whatever they desire, which takes away their lives. Odysseus is evidently an awful leader because he fails to tell his crew anything, which lacks in the death of them all.
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