Achilles, The Hero Essays - Trojans, Achilles, Iliad, Hector

Achilles, The Hero I have chosen Achilles to write my paper on because his character is the central story line in the Iliad. Although it may seem that the main theme is about the totality and gruesomeness of when the poem is first read, this is not the main focus. The actual fighting and Trojan War could be compared to Saving Private Ryan. We get raw details of the war without missing any of the descriptive details. Achilles is the character I was most interested in because he was an extraordinary fighter, man, and hero. We see how Achilles matures from a bloodthirsty warrior in the beginning to a more reserved and thoughtful man by the end of the Iliad. Achilles is a semi-god because his mom, Thetis, is a goddess and his father, Peleus, is a mortal. Achilles shows the greatest military skill of any Achaean and has the greatest fighting ability of all Trojan and Achaean warriors. He is considered to worth an entire army when fighting in a battle. In the beginning of the Iliad Achilles is known as a ruthless and unstoppable killing force. Anyone he could not send to the House of Death he would hold as captives on his ship. He did all of this killing and destruction for the glory. When the Argives asked Achilles and his friend, Patroclus, to help them conquer Troy and get Helen back, Achilles agreed only because of the glory and fame he could achieve from it. Achilles had no reason to fight the Trojans because they had not wronged him, at least not yet. He joined the Argives because he felt this war would be the quickest way to gain glory. Achilles wanted to become famous. Achilles quickly became the Argives main fighting force. Agamemnon, the leader of the Argives, called him the most violent man alive. When Agamemnon takes Briseis, his favorite prize, Achilles become angry. The reason Agamemnon took Briseis is because he had to give his own prize, Chryseis, back to her father. Until she was returned Apollo would wreak havoc on the Argives day and night. The taking of Briseis hurt Achilles pride. He was disgruntled because he had not way to gain his glory back. He could not retaliate and put up a good fight in front of his men. This scenario reminds me of the bully picking a little kid on the playground, while all the other children are watching. Achilles decides to get even with Agamemnon for taking his prize so he prays to his mom to go to Zeus, the god of gods, and beg a favor. He wants his mom to ask Zeus to have the Trojans begin winning the war. At this point Achilles has stopped helping the Argives in their battle against Troy because he is mad at Agamemnon. Thetis warns Achilles that if he returns to the battle instead of going home he will die under Troys walls. Achilles has a big decision to make. One choice is he can change his attitude and start respecting life, which means he would go home. Achilles other choice is to ignore his mom and fight anyway. If he continues fighting he would die a famous and almost godly warrior. While Achilles is still deciding what to do Zeus sends Patroclus, Achilles best friend, back into battle where he dies at the hand of Hector. Achilles is furious. He returns to battle in a fury of anger. Achilles does not return for glory this time. Instead, he returns because he valued his friend and wants to avenge his death. Achilles chases the Trojans back to the walls of Troy. There is chases down Hector and kills him. Then he displays his body in the most disgraceful fashion. Zeus sends King Priam. Priam is Hectors dad and he has come to retrieve his sons body. He wants to give his son a proper burial. Achilles does not want to return the body at first, but Priam is able to change his mind. Priam convinces Achilles what the effect of killing has. He shows him the pain, suffering, and destruction that it causes people. The King even reveals his pain at Hectors death to Achilles.

Going Full-time or Not

Going Full-time or Not Part of the reason so many people want to write full-time  is to escape the responsibilities of the day job, the commute, and all the baggage that comes with working for someone else. Truth is, writing full-time  is not all its cracked up to be. You experience the pressure of juggling when you have a day job and then attempt to write at night, during lunch, or on weekends. If you wrote full-time  life would be so much less stressful, or so you think. But writing full-time  means you also have to squeeze writing into your day, because once you become your own boss, you are faced with: 1) estimated taxes, more serious bookkeeping, and administrative duties consuming 10 to 20 percent of your day; 2) marketing, which consumes a minimum of 20 percent of your day; 3) researching business techniques, keeping up with the industry, learning how to publish differently, vetting publishers/agents/clients consuming 10 to 20 percent of your day if not more. Suddenly you realize most of your day is still committed to items you dont enjoy doing . . . just like when you worked the day job. As a full-time  writer, I cannot keep up with the changes in freelancing, blogging, podcasting, publishing, and marketing. As hard as I try, I end the day a little frustrated, feeling like I lag behind so many others. The truth is, you cannot learn it all nor do it all. You write what you like, and you publish the best you can. You market intelligently instead of just checking it off your to-do list. But you cannot be like all the other writers out there. They are also ignoring aspects of the profession, because they, too, cannot work everything into their day. You have to remember to keep this profession fun. When it ceases to be enjoyable, stop and rethink what you are doing. Better to work the full-time  day job and enjoy your writing at night than be dragged into a full-time  writing business and have it suck the life out of your joy.