Theme Of Grief In The Odyssey
In “The Odyssey” by the ancient Greek poet, Homer, feelings of grief and old memories haunt the characters throughout their journeys. These feelings of what could have been and mourning what was lost drive the characters and push them on to better things and also keep them from making poor decisions that could impact their lives forever. Grief because of memory is considered a healthy and valued emotion but in order to achieve this they must balance memory with despair and make sure that they are mourning for the right reasons. In the time of Odysseus, grieving for petty reasons such as selfish sadness is considered shameful. In other words, lament without memory is reprehensible. Memory is important to the characters when it comes to making