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THE WORLDS OF HOMER

Professor Roessel

Dylan Carr

As the ages pass and stories are passed onto the next generation, who will be remembered

and who will be forgotten. Homer tells stories of heroes and gods alike, trying to achieve

greatness. This eternal memory is the closest thing that mortals can hope to achieve and in by

doing so people attempt to do things that historians will tell for ages. The past stories were told

by Homer but today many writers try to convey the stories of heroes who have done heroic acts

but suffer from the scars of wars. One such writer is David Finkel author of , Thank You For

Your Service, where he tells the stories of Adam Schumann, Amanda Doster. In the following

paper you will read the analysis of emotions shared between key characters from both Homer’s

stories and Finkel’s.

The first event that I would like to bring up is the actually event that took place in the

prologue where Adam Schumann reveals his experiences during his deployment. In the

beginning Schumann stated, “I loved it. Anytime I get shot at in a firefight , it’s the sexiest

feeling there is”(Finkel 5), this was showed a great comparison to Achilles from the Iliad.

Schumann’s feelings were that of a warrior, wanting to be in the thick of it proving not only to

others but himself that he was a fearless and most of all a selfless leader. The men underneath

him looked up to him and came to rely on his abilities. The fact is, Schumann was actually able
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to spot roadside bombs on multiple occasions and saved lives in his convoy. However,

Schumann found himself in a number of explosions and firefights while out on patrol. His fire

that once drove him to view combat as a source of adrenaline rush for him while deployed. Then

the thought of death began to creep into his mind; the reality that death was knocking at his door

and taking people whom he once knew. The fact was that Schumann began to experience combat

stress and this dealt a huge blow to his confidence as a leader. When he told his men, “I don’t

know what I am going through. I know that I don’t feel right.”(Finkel 5), not only did this deal a

critical blow to his career, leadership but to his men whom had relied on him.

Schumann’s experience would appear to coincide with the infamous Achilles, whom his

glory became a legend from his actions. Homer depicts Achilles as a young and fearless warrior

seeking that eternal glory. The fact is that Achilles shared the same qualities of Schumann,

though Schumann did not outright state his actions were meant for glory; his mindset was that of

a warrior and leader. Both Achilles and Schumann experienced their lust for glory reach a

climax point, though both had different scenarios. Achilles’ turning point was when he lost his

dearest companion,Patroclus, in the battle where Hector lead a charge against the Achaeans.

Resulting the Achaeans being pushed back to their great warships. Achilles never saw this as a

possibility, He prayed to the almighty Zeus to protect Patroclus along with sending his

Myrmidon soldiers to accompany him. Achilles’ combat stress peaked when he received the

news that Hector killed the one friend whom he cared for with the utmost adoration. Achilles

stated, “My comrade is dead, / Lying in my hut mangled with bronze, His feet turned toward the

door, and around him, Our friends grieve. Nothing matters to me now” (19.222-26). The lost of

a comrade is shared between Schumann and Achilles, seeing the ones they care for die; sets both
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characters down a path of rage, self hatred and the realization that war, just like the gods in ,The

Iliad, can take away a man’s desire to fight and wreak havoc on their mental state. Slowly the

breakdown of the mind from combat stress transforms into post traumatic stress disorder, even

after the battle is fought the horrors comeback. This is clearly shown when Odysseus goes to the

underworld in book 11 of the Odyssey, he crosses paths with Achilles. Achilles whom is dead

says, “No winning words about death to me, shining Odysseus! By god, I’d rather slave on earth

for another man—some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to keep alive—than rule down here

over all the breathless dead.”(547-558, Odyssey). This feeling of being dead inside one's self is

portrayed time and time again. The soul within ourselves just disappearing just feeling dead to

the point where all you can look or remember is that rage and devastation. This creates a cancer

within the heros as it just erodes and eats away at them from within, clawing its way through a

level minded person, forcing them to do horrible things in order to seek peace for themselves.

Another relation between Homer and Finkel is the fact that when men come home from

war they do not recognize their home or loved ones. Schumann’s wife, Saskia, bought a house

while Schumann was deployed. She bought this home in dreams of a what she describes as,

“That fairy-tale homecoming/ everybody’s happy. Kind of like an it-never-happened kind of

thing.”(pg.13,Finkel). All of this in hopes of when Schumann returned home that he would be

the very same man whom she had fallen in love with. However, life seems to be able to twist

such hopes and dreams to the point where is it is unrecognizable. Once Schumann returned home

he did so a broken man, Saskia describes him as being unhappy, unable to interact socially. All

of this she tried to bring back the man whom she craved his sanity. The fact is that Schumann

does not recognize home anymore. He left the battle zone and has no physical scars of his time in
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combat, the only scars are the ones deep within his mind and heart. The only scars you can get

from seeing men that you know die before your very eyes. Even though Schumann was

physically home, his mind rejected the notion of being home and in a safe recognizable

environment.

The stories that are in, Thank You for Your Service, this one stood out and reminded me

of what Odysseus first experienced when he returned to Ithaca. Odysseus was dropped off by the

Phaeacians who not only transported him but his treasures that he had obtained from his journey

home as well. He awoke and immediately did not see his treasures and began to cure the

Phaeacians, however, he discovered them shortly. This scene shows that Odysseus had trust

issues as well as stuck in a defensive mode, never to let his defenses down. This was shared with

Schumann because even though he was with his wife, he would assault her with harsh verbal

language. Which he would later apologize repeatedly for. His trust was tested during his

deployment and also his honor was question time and time again by those whom he once served

with. The feeling of your own comrades blaming you and letting their combat stress directed to

someone whom he once trusted with his life, such cases may make any man build this great wall

of mistrust; for the feeling of people you trust just stab you when you are at your weakest.

Odysseus then was approached by a shepherd, which was actually Athena in disguise. Telling

Odysseus that he is finally home, but warns him of the dangers that await him. The suitors whom

have entered his home, causing mayhem and distrest to Ithaca, his home. The connection here is

between Homer and Finkel, Homer was portraying how Odysseus had to deal with issues even

after his long journey home. Athena which is the goddess of wisdom and civilization, she

represents the path to recovery. Because the suitors can be related to Finkel in such a manner that

the suitors are the reasons or challenges that must be overcome in order to live a normal life once
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more. During this last and final challenge he does so in hopes of being with Penelope and family.

Finkel told Schumann’s story and Saskia represented Athena or closely enough that she helped

guide him on the road of recovery, but they faced the challenges just like Odysseus did with the

suitors but instead of suitors it was the Veteran Affairs. Who stood in the way for their recovery

to truly take roots and move on from the horrors of the past that wish to drag down Schumann

and all those around him.

The last and final corresponding events that took place between Homer and Finkel that

really stood out was the relative comparison of Amanda Doster (Thank You for Your Service)

and Odysseus son Telemachus (Odyssey). When the suitors came to the island, they did so with

complete confidence that Odysseus was dead, for he had not been heard from since he left for

Troy. Telemachus mother Penelope was bound to hospitality law to house, feed and entertain the

suitors that have come to Ithaca. In total there was a one hundred and eight suitors competing for

Penelope’s hand in marriage. But Telemachus refused to believe that Odysseus was dead, even

though he as not seen his father in twenty years; he refuses to accept that his father is gone.

Telemachus goes even to the point where he confronts the suitors and states, “My guest, since

indeed you are asking me all these questions, there was a time this house was one that might be

prosperous and above reproach, when a certain man was here in his country.” (231-233, book 1).

That one man clearly being his father and not accepting that the suitors keep claiming his

father's’ death. The lost of a father can be a traumatic event within itself, even though Odysseus

is indeed not dead, which pushes people to not accept death. Homer portrays this concept so well

through Telemachus whom rejects the notion as even as an option and continues to battle to

suitors the best his can. However, what is odd is that Penelope, Odysseus’s wife, does not share
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the same passion but instead goes about it in a manner where she would appear to be stalling for

time. There is another aspect of Penelope that should be taken in consideration, maybe viewing

her as to stalling for time could be an optimistic view. When it really could be perceived as is

that Penelope is trying to move on and Telemachus prevents her from doing so, therefore

creating and holding on hop for Odysseus’s return. The emotional situation here might be

unbearable, just how Penelope tests Odysseus about their bed. She thought the gods were playing

a cruel trick on her to even further breaking her heart. Deception is a world trail and brokes those

whom are left weak with the loss of a loved one.

Amanda Doster lost his husband, James Doster, who was a sergeant first class on

September 29, 2007. She not receive the news from a bunch of suitors knocking on her door

asking her hand in marriage but nor did she live on a island in the mediterranean sea. Doster

found out the news when she answered the door and described the following, “Death would be

dressier soldiers, in their Class As, asking to come in”(pg 23, Finkel). Amanda before allowing

the soldiers to give her the news, she took care of some issues that would prove challenging once

her fears would be confirmed. Finkel goes in great detail of the emotions that are rocketing

through Doster’s mind, as if her very life is flashing before her eyes and seeing James once more

at the door looking into her eyes. Doster also states, “I am staying here forever. I am never

leaving” (pg 26, Finkel), she knew what she heard when the two men told her how her husband

died and remembered how the news passed through her ears, sinking deep within her memory. It

is this woman that shares the same experience of emotions of Telemachus. The notion of how

death just comes in swinging in their lives, they both cope in their own way. For Doster, she had

two daughters to care for but she goes into this hollow shell of hers. This woman knew that her

journey has just begun, she at first refused to believe his death was real. Still thinking that James
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would come through the door, the phone calls came and finally the autopsy report. If Doster was

in a different era where information was not so easily associable; she would have done the same

things Telemachus did. That would be to fight those who would tell her that her husband is dead

and taken that emptiness and make it into a drive to find her husband. The daughters though not

mention greatly in the chapters of the Amanda Doster, still add the connection of how accepting

death or death entering people's lives does not take or care about age or conditions. The doster

family had to come together and move on from this horrible event, they left their home and

moved where new memories could be created. They started their journey of recovery just as

Telemachus started his journey to seek the truth of his father’s fate. Within that very truth

Telemachus would find peace of mind and just like the Doster family, he would move on after

accepting death. The rage and disbelief that comes from the news of the death of a loved one just

sticks out in Homer and Finkel, allowing the readers to be able to relate between the stories for

they try to achieve the same goal and that is to convey the emotions of the characters.

In conclusion of what I perceived between ,Thank You For Your Service, The Iliad and

The Odyssey, is that the emotions and scars left on warriors will stand the test the time over and

over again. Adam Schumann, whom I saw shared traits that of the great warrior Achilles and his

struggles of the loss of a comrade and the emotions that come with trying to accept that fact.

Schumann also had a lot in common with Odysseus when he first arrived home from his long

journey, not recognizing his home after being away for so long and returning home from a war.

Finally there was Amanda Doster, a now widowed mother who had to accept the concept of

death yet still held onto that small flame of hope. Telemachus had that very same fire, he held

onto the notion that his father was not dead. They both went through the emotion of accepting

the notion that death was indeed a possibility of why their loved one has not returned home. The
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point that I would also bring up are the emotions themselves and how they are key to telling

these stories, they drag you deeper and deeper. This in turn creates a link and you relate to these

characters and watch as well as learn of their struggles. We all take our own journey home and

we all seek redemption after a loss of a loved one. This sometimes leaves us all with regret and

rage, distorting who we truly are and twist what we truly want.

References

1. Finkel, David. Thank you for your service. Place of publication not

identified: Scribe Publications, 2016. Print.

2. Homer, and E. V. Rieu. The Odyssey. London: Penguin , 1996. Print.

3. Homer, E. V. Rieu, D. C. H. Rieu, and P. V. Jones. The Iliad. London:

Penguin, 2003. Print.