The Epic Tales of David & Goliath & The Odyssey - Essay Example

Introduction

The story David and Goliath is a Biblical story found in the book of first Samuel chapter seventeen. The story was written by Prophet Samuel, one of the many prophets in Israel. The artifact was written in the late 7th Century BCE. The physical setting of the story is in the Valley of Elah, where King Saul and the Israelites are at war with the Philistines. While the narrative, the Odyssey is an epic Greek poem written by Homer. The poem was written in 725 BCE. The physical settings of the story were Egypt, North Africa, the Western Mediterranean, and Ithaca. The central theme of the two cultural artifacts is hardship and resilience. Even though the obstacles encountered in the events within the two stories could have discouraged the characters from succeeding, they managed to overcome the challenge by looking for different ways to solve the problem.

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Hardship and Resilience

The theme of hardship and resilience is expressed when King Saul gave up and felt like they were not winning the war. When David appeared before him and told him he could beat Goliath, he assumed that David could not kill Goliath. David’s elder brothers thought it was not possible to win the war if Goliath was the man they were to fight (Veiss, 2020).). But when David was given a chance to fight Goliath, it showed that King Saul was flexible in changing his chances of winning instead of depending on the Israelite soldiers alone.

In the poem the Odyssey, the theme of hardship and resilience is expressed when Telemachus started a journey ten years after the fall of Troy to return to Ithaca and look for his father (Markie, 2017). Odysseus encountered many challenges, and to overcome the challenges, he had to look for other ways he could survive throughout the journey. According to the poem, Odysseus almost drowned when the makeshift boat he was in wrecked, but he was flexible and swam to the shore (Markie, 2017). He was also held as a captive for seven years in Calypso’s island when he was captured by Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon, who was known as giant one-eyed cyclops.

Personally, the theme of hardship and resilient has made me realize that every individual reacts to hardship differently and that it’s not always possible for me to rise above challenging circumstances in life, and negative experiences in life can be overcome through narrow escapes. For example, one can share what he or she is going through with another person to find a solution to the hardship.

Nursing Profession

Professionally, the identified theme could be used in the nursing profession. In many cases, nursing practitioners undergo a lot of stress dealing with different patients with different diseases. The theme helps the nurses to understand despite the negative experiences they may encounter in the line of duty; there is a way an individual can overcome the problems. They should try to change their daily routine and innovate other ways of doing work within the healthcare facilities. They should adopt the use of new technologies, for example, to reduce the workload. When King Saul felt that he was not winning the war, he was ready to surrender. But when he offered a reward to a person who was willing to fight Goliath, he was flexible in his actions, which made David come forward (BibleStudyTools Staff, 2017). In the poem, after the captivity, Odysseus escaped from his captors and returned to Ithaca. Despite the challenges he faced like shipwreck and half of his men turning into swine, he was flexible to encounter every challenge using different ways.

When investigating the narrative of “David and Goliath,” the three human resources that can be used are textbooks, bible, and written records(University Libraries, n.d). The three human resources used for the poem the Odyssey are textbooks, written records, and bibliographies (University Libraries, n.d). The similarities in the content of the sources above include; they are all primary sources of information used by the historians to write the story down. Another similarity is that all the resources used when recording the narrative provided firsthand evidence so that people may understand that particular historical event (University Libraries, n.d). finally, another similarity is that the results of the study are typically found in scholarly articles. The differences between the three sources are the resources are found in different formats that are the original documents are found in archives and libraries while the printed materials are in published sources like collections of letters, digitized web, among others. Another difference is some sources are primary sources such as the bible and written records, while others are secondary sources such as textbooks.

Investigation

What makes the mentioned resources relevant for investigating the issue is because they contain the original information of what happened during the war between the Israelites and the Philistines in the 7th century (Veiss, 2020). The sources also contain the original poem the Odyssey by the famous Greek poet Homer. My thought process when I was searching for the sources was focusing on the accuracy, objectivity, currency, and coverage of the relevant source that can be used to investigate the theme as well as the cultural artifact. There was no obstacle that I encountered when I was searching for the sources because the narrative is a biblical story that can easily be found since many scholars have analyzed the narrative. The poem the Odyssey is also a familiar Greek poem narrating what happened after the fall of troy. The circumstance in which the biblical narrative “David and Goliath” was written was during the war between the Israelites and Philistines during the reign of the first king of Israel, King Saul. On the other hand, the circumstance in which the poem “The Odyssey” was written ten years after the fall of troy.

The similarity I have observed in the two artifacts include; they both tell a story of what happened at a given time in the past. In the bible, there was war between the Israelites and the Philistines, while in the poem, there was war between the Trojans and the Spartan in Greek mythology. Another similarity is that they are both written narrating what happened either during or after the war. For instance, the war between Israelites and Philistines, and in the poem, the war was between the Spartans and the Trojans. In both artifacts, the main character emerges as the winner in that David killed Goliath, and Telemachus managed to return to Ithaca. In both artifacts, there is a loose of lives before an individual emerges a hero. David killed Goliath, and he became a hero among the Israelites while Odysseus killed two generations before there was peace in Ithaca. The death of the shipwrecked sailors and the executed suitors made Ithaca be at peace. The difference between the two artifacts I have observed is that one story was written during the war while another was written after the war. Another difference is that the story of David and Goliath is a real-life occurrence, while the poem is Greek mythology.

The writer of the story, David and Goliath, used the medium of literature to tell people the details of the war. It begins with David’s father sending him to go and check his brothers who were in the field fighting, and it ends with the Israelites winning the war against the Philistines( BibleStudyTools Staff, 2017). The medium of literature enabled the writer to explain in detail what happens that particular day. The author wrote every essential detail that the reader should be aware of for him or her to understand the story. In the poem, Homer also used literature to narrate what took place between the times when Telemachus decided to return to Ithaca up to the time when Odysseus revealed his true identity to his wife and father.

Conclusion

The audience that will benefit from hearing the message are young adults within the society. They encounter everyday life challenges, and the theme of hardship and resilience will enable them to understand that there is always a way an individual can do things differently as a way of overcoming the challenges. I will communicate effectively with my audience through the use of simple language, where I will use synonyms in terminologies that my audience might not be familiar with, or I will use dictionary definitions to explain the terms.

References

BibleStudyTools Staff. David and Goliath - Bible Story. (2016, Jan, 18). Retrieved from https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-stories/david-and-goliath.html.

Markie, C. (2017).Guide to the Classics: Homer’s Odyssey. The conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/guide-to-the-classics-homers-odyssey-82911.

University libraries. Primary and Secondary Sources in the Humanities and Social Sciences. Retrieved from https://library.albany.edu/infolit/resource/primary.

Veiss, S. D. (2020). David and Goliath: Sensemaking under crisis. In Leadership Growth Through Crisis (pp. 141-153). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. Retrieved from
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-25439-1_9.