The Odyssey narrates the days of the king of Ithaca, the great hero Odysseus. In the story Odysseus is kept captive and away from his home for many years. Odysseus endures a really long journey and he has to survive endless ordeals in order to return home to his waiting wife, Penelope, and his son Telemachus; “Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twist and turns driven time and again off course, […] many pains he suffered, heartsick on the open sea, fighting to save his life and bring his comrades home. […] But one man alone… his heart set on his wife and his return.” (A, 259)
Similar to the ordeals Odysseus suffers, are the ordeals encounter by the 33 miners trap for more than two months beneath the earth in Chile. These miners are kept away from home and their love ones enduring a physical and mental challenge by being trap beneath the earth with little room, air and food. Like Odysseus, these miners are setting their hearts to overcome and do everything they can to make sure they come back home with their families; “There have been hard moments, beautiful moments, sad moments, moments filled with happiness, nights where we were cold here,” said Juan Sánchez, 48, the father of Jimmy Sánchez, the youngest of the trapped miners. “But we just kept going, trusting in God that this would all work out. Right now all I feel is happiness; it’s like calm has come over us.” (The New York Times)
Alexei Barrio Nuevo and Christine Hauser. “Drill Reaches Miners in Chile, but Risks Remain.” The New York Times. Web October 09, 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/world/americas/10chile.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=miners&st=cse>
