Odysseus and the Repetition of Power
             Societies cannot exist without power. Its effects and presence are natural to human nature, its existence, inseparable from our condition. To deplore or downplay its significance is to smash a window on every culture that has ever existed, every government that has ever claimed land, and to forego its study is to accept blindness. In all human interaction, there is a chance for love, a chance for anger, a chance for any of an infinite set of possible outcomes, yet there is always a structure and playing field to the meeting of two people, and its only rule is power. Burning somebody's house down is power, as is bringing your child home through love, and conjuring a tidal wave is power, as is having the ability to persuade through words. No society can escape the desire to glorify control; as soon as any one thing is celebrated more than another, power is created, and it does not appear quietly. It is birthed whenever any two people or things are different, and any discrepancy maintains and nurtures it. Its presence, because of its ubiquity, is not interesting; its path of manifestation, however, is. Following this, in Homer's The Odyssey, and in the present day, power is multifaceted; every character possesses it in some way and usually in many different ways. In some instances, though, a certain type of power is lauded by the bard, and is reinforced and aggrandized to the point where it dwarfs any other concern and commands the full attention of the reader. The development of Odysseus' character illustrates this practice perfectly; whenever the wanderer is spoken of, a literary repetition of his barbaric past and unique ability to kill people and sack villages is always close at hand. The Odyssey does its best to make sure that the droning, repetitious idea of Odysseus primarily contains the pillar of death, and his character is defined in large part by his ability to destroy.
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