Is Odysseus or anyone else in The Odyssey a hero? If so, what does this tell us about western ideas of heroism? Do any of these ideas remain in place today or have they changed? If so, how or how not and why or why not?
I think that Athena is the true hero in the story because without her neither Odysseus nor Telemakhos would have the will or courage to incite on their journey. Athena is the one who got the ball rolling with getting Odysseus out of Calypso’s captivity, while he was reduced to longing for home during the day and sleeping with Calypso at night. To me Athena embodies what it means to be a hero which I believe is to be someone who stands up for what is right. Someone who is willing to help push people in the right direction but not force their beliefs onto another. This is what she has done, Telemakhos knew that it was his time to stand up to the suitors and find out what truly happened to his dad but he just needed the motivation to do it. In today’s world I feel like we lost the meaning of a hero and people really just focus more on what others think of them rather than how they think about themselves.
I agree with you that Athena is the one in the story who gets the ball rolling and is the one in the story who does things because they are right. However, I don’t believe that Homer thought Athena was the hero of the story because of the values he portrays as strong in the story. I believe that Homer thought a hero was one who overcame obstacles and one who “finds a way to win”, which describes Odysseus perfectly. So, I believe that Athena would be a hero if a hero was necessarily brave and just, but I don’t believe that Homer, or the many western writers he may have inspired, did.