Anthony Solis

Mrs. Parrott/Mulvey

English

05 june 2017

Collection 6 Summative Essay

Its funny how people always want to change but they never do. But, when you dont want

to change or when youre not expecting to change, thats when change will happens most. The

are many ways people change sometimes they change through journeys. In the epic poem the

Odyssey, a mortal man, Odysseus who plundered the stronghold on the proud height of troy with

his mighty trojan horse. He fooled the romans the won the small battle. But on his way home he

was cursed by the water god poseidon. He ended up staying out at sea and meeting gods for 20

years. In the nonfiction novel The Good Soldiers by david finkel, its about how an american

soldier named Cummings helps out an Iraq family. He goes out of is way to help a family he

doesnt even know. Cumming just like odysseus he changes in a small way.

In the epic poem The Odyssey by Homer, odysseus is cured and is traveling across the

seas cursed by Poseidon, god of the sea, and Poseidon wants odysseus to see and change his

ways. One small way Odysseus changed is that now he is more grateful to the gods. Odysseus

starts of as a person who is over confident and he is a bit of a show off. The text demonstrates

my idea when Odysseus says, cyclops, if ever mortal man inquire how you were put to shame

and blinded, tell him Odysseus, raiders of cities, took your eye: Laertes son, who homes on

Ithaca!(Homer book9 416-419). This means that right after Odysseus had taken out the

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cyclops eye he started to boast and he became overconfident . Odysseus became overconfident

in how he had taken the cyclops eye and that small plan, or set back destroyed the rest of his

travel for Ithaca. this matters because this shows how he was before his change. He is a

overconfident,self motivating man that has too much pride. He doesnt have a big change after

poseidon has cursed him but he had still changed into a more modest man. He shows that he

changed when he says, An old trunk of olive grew like a pillar on the building plot, and I laid

out our bedroom around that tree, lined up the stone walls , built the walls and roof, gave it a

doorway and smooth-fitting doors(Homer book23 41-44). This means that Odysseus is trying to

convince his wife that he is who he is. Also this is a part where he shows his small change. He is

becoming less full of himself and more worried about the things around him. In The Odyssey

the mortal Odysseus changes ever so small but it affects him greatly.

In the artical, The Good Soldiers, an Amrican, Brent Cummings, is a man who cares but

with a set back in a complicated time he gives up on himself. Cummings is a type of person who

questions himself before he try's to acomplished his task. He shows this trait when the says to

himself, If the daughter who was injured had been born in New York City, did that make her

eligible? Could an American-born Iraqi who was injured by a non-American bomb receive

medical care in an American military medical facility?(Finkel 46-49). This means that he is

second guessing his action in telling Izzy, an Iraqi translator, that he should go to an American

medical facility. This matters because he is second guessing himself there is a more likely chance

Izzys daughter won't have a chance at making it. Then there's a part in the story where

Cummings acts out of will without thinking. This happens as he is figuring out what to do for

Izzys daughter, and this is what he does, next he called the battalions physician and told him

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to be ready to treat one female, age unknown, in the matter of minutes a US citizen he added,

and then to that he added maybe(Finkel 78-80). This means that as he is rushing to help Issy

he is acting without thinking. This matters bc this is the part that shows Cummings small but

huge change. It happened to him at random at a point where it needed to happen.

In conclusion people change in the most random moments or in the moments where it is

needed. Just like Cummings it was a random moment that he can changes but it was highly

needed. Then Odysseus he changes over his journey but it's is very hard to notice. Now for me,

in my freshmen year of football is when I changed the most. It was in our summer program, but

before this I was a person who liked to take the easy way out. But the first day of hell week, beat

me straight without me even knowing about it. On this day all we did was Conditioning and we

were given a chance to get water but if we get the water we were kicked off the team. But for me

if i didn't do all of that conditioning before hand I would have gotten that water. Journeys have

the ability to change people because you are out seeing and doing new things that change your

view on everything. So therefor I believe that people change, we all do but its just how you

Change that affects you.

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