Many authors have explored the theme life is a journey in their works. Homer
portrays this as a central idea in his works the Lotus Eaters, The Cyclops, The
Sirens, and The Challenge, from his epic The Odyssey. Storytellers told these
stories through word of mouth, and not only did they learn important life lessons
but also recorded history, learned about customs, beliefs, and values of the
cultures from which they sprang. Homer’s works included many details on Greek
culture such as the many gods and monsters they believed.
After leaving the land of the lotus eaters, Odysseus and his crew
sailed through the murky night only to arrive to the land of the Cyclopes, a race of
giant one-eyed monsters who “have no muster or no meeting, no consultation or
old tribal ways.” (Homer 1050) By stating this, Odysseus emphasized how
uncivilized this group of creatures were. They then dwelled in the cave where the
Cyclops lived, and once the Cyclops returned from pasturing his sheep, he was
angered to find Odysseus and his men eating his food and drinks. The Cyclops
trapped Odysseus and his men there tormenting them as it states here “he
clutched at my companions and caught two in his hands like squirming puppies to
beat their brains out, spattering the floor. Then he dismembered them and made
his meal, gaping and crunching like a mountain lion-everything: innards, flesh,
and marrow bones. We cried aloud lifting our hands to Zeus.” (Homer 1053).
Odysseus had to get out of there. And he knew exactly what to do. He got the
Cyclopes drunk, and made sure he was fast asleep. Then sharpened olive log to a
point and positioned it above the Cyclopes eye and once the Cyclopes woke up,
they drilled it in his eye. Now once the Cyclopes was screaming for help from his
brothers, cleverly,