Sindb d and Odysseus
... The protagonists of both stories, Odysseus in the Odyssey and Sindbad in Sindbad the Sailor (Sindbad,) spend a good deal of their stories at sea. ... Sindbad’s voyages stem from his wanderlust and love of money “My soul began to long for travel and sightseeing and commerce and profit” (Sindbad 17), whereas Odysseus’ adventures occur while he is trying to return home to Ithaca. ... In the Odyssey, although the majority of the actual text is taking place currently, from a chronological perspective the four books that comprise “The Wanderings of Odysseus” (the only part told by Odysseus in the first person,) constitute the majority of the books ten-year timeline. ... (Odysseus has been away from home for twenty years; and Sindbad’s seventh voyage alone lasts twenty-seven years.) This is especially true in the case of Odysseus, for if he is ever to see Ithaca again, he must leave behind the brashness of his youth. For Odysseus, almost everything that he is forced to endure can be directly linked to his blinding of the Cyclops, Polythemus. Odysseus and his men stop at the Island of the Cyclops to rest and forage for food after departing the country of the lotus-eaters.