Jourody Journey of Homers Odyssey, Joyces Ulysses and...

The Journey of Homers Odyssey, Joyces Ulysses and Walcotts Omeros This essay explores how the theme of the journey, pervasive in Homers Odyssey, find expression in James Joyces Ulysses (1922) and Derrick Walcotts Omeros (1990), epics written in very different historical periods. Common to all three epics is a plot structure that involves a protagonist who longs for home but who must first endure a life-altering change before he returns. The theme of the journey provokes an image of both a natural and spiritual quest occurring simultaneously, both significantly viable because each passage contributes equally to the manifestation of the maturing male identity. Homers Odyssey, captures the essence of the†¦show more content†¦The gods concoct a plan that makes a liaison between the goddess of lust, Kirke, and Odysseus that encourages his transformation into a mature mortal man. James Joyces Ulysses captures the essence of the journey by juxtaposing Leopold Blooms day travels in Dublins shanty town against the psycho-neurotic journey of his conscious state, as he negotiates his frustrations about Mollys liaison with Blazes Boylan. Like Odysseus, Bloom inevitably returns home but not before he encounters the demons that make him subservient and which force his tolerating Mollys behavior. Blooms internal journey makes his austere and subordinate disposition self-respecting and whole. A transgression with a prostitute in a brothel provides Bloom with the experience he needs to ready his return home to Molly. Leopold Bloom lives, in exile from Jerusalem, in Ireland with his wife Molly. Bloom an advertising salesman and Molly a singer, the couple had a son, Rudy, who died eleven years ago. Neither Bloom nor Molly cope adequately after the loss of their child but make attempts to recover. Bloom seeks another son, a desire that manifests in hallucinations about childbirth. Bloom projects his desire onto Stephen Dedalus, a young Irish school teacher. Stephen himself desires a new father, unlike his real one, Simon Dedalus, who he deems to be wholly incompetent and untrustworthy. Molly attempts to recuperate from Rudys death by withdrawing from