In Book IX in The Odyssey, titled “A Pirate in a Shepherd’s Cave”, Odysseus and his crew are attempting to return home from Ismarus. After being attacked by the Cicones, the weary men wept for their fallen comrades, slaughtered by the attackers. The troubles were just beginning, however. The God of the skies, Zeus, “hurled North Wind at [their] ships, a terrible typhoon, and covered up the sea and earth with fog” (Wilson, 242). This imagery, combined with the alliteration of “terrible typoon” signals just how dangerous and significant the conditions were. This in turn highlights the sheer, pure anger Zeus must have felt for Odysseus. For about two weeks, the crew was lost at sea, until they finally landed on the island of Djerba, in the southern part of the Mediterranean Sea. As Odysseus’ crew set up camp on the beach, he sent two men and a slave to scout out the island. The scout team encountered humans on the island; a unique group of people, known as The Lotus-Eaters. More specifically, the Lotus-Eaters were nonviolent people who dined on Lotus, a delicious fruit from the Lotus flower. They shared the fruit with the scout team, and something strange occurred as soon as the fruit touched the scout teams tongues; they lost all motivation to return home, completely content on staying with The Lotus-Eaters, eating the addictive fruit. Odysseus, catching wind of what had happened, forcefully drug his men back to the boats. To expand, Odysseus describes how the men under the influence of the Lotus fruit were crying as they were forced back onto the boats. They even had to be tied to the beams in the stomach of the ship. The imagery of strong, grown men (who are soldiers, as well) sobbing and being forcefully taken away from a fruit tells the reader just how strong the Lotus is.

            The encounter with the Lotus-Eaters shows the audience that Odysseus cares about his crew and is determined to get home. When his scout team submits to the fruit and loses their motivation, Odysseus jumps in and “dragged them back in tears, forced them on board the hollow ships, pushed them below the decks, and tied them up” (Wilson, 243). These actions show me that Odysseus has a type of ‘no man left behind’ mentality. Odysseus knows that without his crew, he won’t be able to get home, and he wants his crew to return home as well. Furthermore, this humanizes Odysseus. While he is often represented as the brash, tough warrior that he is, these simple actions demonstrate to the audience that he is more than that; he is a human with feelings and emotional desires, too. However, Odysseus acts on his emotional desires through a militant strategy. He uses brute force in order to help the scout team that is under the influence. This highlights that above all, Odysseus is a soldier, and that aspect creeps into all other parts of his character.

            While describing the Lotus-Eaters, Emily Wilson utilizes imagery in order to pinpoint the struggles faced by Odysseus and his crew. Furthermore, certain militant diction enforces the idea of Odysseus as a warrior, while at the same time an empathetic individual who longs for home.