Job-Odysseus Comparison

The author does not describe Job's physical appearance. He only says he is blameless and upright and feareg God and shunned evil. Job is the main character who lives in the land of Uz. He has seven and three daughters and a large flock of animals. Most notably he is very faithful to God.

"With all this, Job did not offend, nor did he put blame on God."

Job says, "A pact I sealed with my eyes--I will not gaze on a virgin."

Job says, "For I would free the poor who cried out, the orphan with no one to help him. ... And I cracked the wrongdoer's jaws, from his teeth I would wrench the prey."

Job is the protagonist because he is the leading character who faces conflict with Satan.

Job does not change his blameless, God-fearing ways throughout the story. After Job's children and flock are killed, he still did not put blame on or offend God. "With all this, Job did not offend, nor did he put blame on God." Also, after he was stricken with a sore all over his body, he still did not offend or curse the Lord. "With all this, Job did not offend with his lips."

Job's stuggle is internal. He has to decide whether to put faith in God or turn away and curse Him, which is what Satan and everyone else wants him to do. His wife tells him, "Do you still cling to your innocence? Curse God and die."

Physically, Odysseus has the looks of a strong man. "His build is impressive enough, his thighs and calves, his arms and stout neck. This man is stong!" Odysseus is the main character of the story and a very cool character. He is a stong leader, a powerful and smart fighter, and has the perseverance to make it home, despite the many obstacles he has to overcome.

Eurylochus says, "You are a hard man, Odysseus. Your force is greater, your limbs never wear out. You must be made all of iron."

Odysseus often outsmarts his opponent. For example, he gets the cyclops drunk, so Odysseus can blind him and eventually escape. "[The cyclops] was sound asleep, bleching out wine and bits of human flesh in his drunken stupor. ... my men lifted the olivewood stake and drove the sharp point right into his eye..."

"No other mortal has a mind like his, or offers sacrifice like him to the deathless gods in heaven," says Zeus.

Odysseus is the protagonist of The Odyssey because he is the main character in the story stuggling to get home to Ithaca.

Odysseus is static in that he never changes his mind about wanting to go home. "Only Odysseus still longed to return to his home and his wife." This is at the beginning of the story.He says in the middle of his journey on the island of Phaeacia, "Now i sit in the middle of your assembly, longing to return home, a suppliant before your king and all the people."When he is finally about to set out on the final stretch home he says, "All is now here that my heart has desired--passage home and cherished gifts that the gods in heaven have blessed me with."

There are many external obstacles Odysseus has to overcome to reach his homeland of Ithaca. One of the major ones is Poseidon, who tries to prevent Odysseus from getting home because Odysseus blinded Poseidon's son. "But Poseidon is stiff and cold with anger because Odysseus blinded his son, the Cyclops Polyphemus, the stongest of all the Cyclopes, nearly a god."