A Crew Worth Complaining About

Louis C. K. once said, “You can’t direct without a good crew.” Similarly, as a result of the crew’s faults, Odysseus does not have a basis for any type of quality leadership .Having the wrong kind of crew will create trouble in your journey and ultimately lead to despair.

Like the story of Odysseus and his crew’s journey. In his epic poem “Odyssey”, Homer shows that the crew themselves contribute greatly to their own demise. For instance, Homer shows that the men’s disobedience led to to their own annihilation. For example, before Odysseus explains the feast and power his men gave themselves he claims, “My men were glutinous fools” (47). This piece of evidence demonstrates the disobedience of Odysseus’ men. Odysseus knows his mean are disobedient, and due to their ways, we see many times in the story that he does not fully trust them.

Also, after hunger drive them to rash action, Eurylochus persuades “Come, we’ll cut out the noblest of these cattle for sacrifice to the gods who own the skies” (868). This example shows the crews disobedience towards a direct order from Odysseus to not kill any cattle. In addition, the crew’s ignorance contributes to their obliteration. At the same time, after being told what to do to successfully fave Scylla, Odysseus shares, “oars flew from their hands; the blades went knocking wild alongside until the ship lost way, with no oar blades to drive her through the water” (785). This example of ignorance shows that the crew doesn’t follow Odysseus’ orders, as a smart crew would do. Furthermore, Odysseus admits to not giving them anymore instruction because “they could do nothing” (784).

This shows that Odysseus had given up on giving the crew direction. Odysseus knows that they will make the mistake of letting their fear get the better of them. Ultimately, the crew’s selfish acts cause their dissolution. Moreover, after conquering and enslaving people of Cicones, “Sheep after sheep they butchered by the surf, and shambling cattle, feasting” (50). This shows that they think everything belongs to them, therefore they are selfish. Another example of selfishness is, even though they are not allowed to eat the cattle, “hunger drove them to scour the wild shore” (850).

This tells us that they are selfish yo let their hunger drive them to do wrong. This is significant because their selfish acts led to a large amount of their deaths. This story demonstrates that a bad crew will lead to a sorrowful end. All the crew’s character flaws put together, and through pressure from one another, led them down the wrong path. Fortunately for their leader, Odysseus, he gets to travel all the way back home to his wife and son.

Although the crew is at fault for their eradication, Odysseus will always be blamed for leading them to there.