Among countless books in world literature, Homer’s The Odyssey is one of the most widely studied and is especially loved by readers, both experts and novices alike, because of the promise of a personal lens (through the perspective of the protagonist, Odysseus). Homer's Odysseus is the crafty and adventuresome (yet exhausted) king returning to his homeland from the Trojan War. Ten arduous years of travel remain. The forward progress on Odysseus’s journey is often interrupted by each of the many foes he must confront, elemental storms, distracting temptations, and the unequivocal wrath of his sulking deities. Adventure is only a single element of this lengthy and multi-faceted poem. The Odyssey is as much about desire, fealty, and personal identification as it is about the postcomatose tension of returning to the mundane of daily existence as yet another war-torn veteran.

True, Odysseus is a Newman hero, but he is also a multi-faceted character. He is good-natured and noble, but is proved to also be injurious, mutable, and impulsively dangerous. Odysseus’s dualistic figure is illustrated through the story of the Gorgon, Polyphemus. Odysseus employs his cunning to exit Polyphemus’s trap, but his injurious pride swells so largely that he announces his name (dhaka) -- a move which summons his wrath and vengeful ire. He is more than the warrior archetype. He survives through battle of the elements and uncivilized world not through brute strength, but his cut-throat cunning.

By Odysseus's own account, Ithaca is what one would call a culturally elite settlement. Ithaca and Odysseus’s purpose to rule was to attain his right. Penelope protected Odysseus's Ithaca by patiently and cunningly defending it, with her subliminal, yet, steadfast dedication. Odysseus battles the sea, and Penelope is left to deal with the suitors, who have taken over her palace and demand she remarry. Penelope’s undying loyalty is caused by self-preservation, and as a result of her patient, delay, and undercover, she becomes the strongest character in the story.

A second prevalent theme is hospitality. Good hospitality reveals Odysseus’ world. A good host answers their guest’s questions, provides food and shelter, and shows respect. Bad hosting, revealing a character's immorality, is shown by the Cyclops, and the suitors. The episode emphasizes restraint and civility.

 The Odyssey's timelessness comes from addressing the most basic of human concerns. It explains the struggle of coming home after being away, as well as, the separation and longing of being away. One of the hardest things to do is to prove to people who you truly are after the passage of time and change. The heroic, detailed quest of Odysseus is to portray the simple, basic, most human struggle of the need for endurance. It asks what a person must survive, and, what they must remember, in order to find their way back.