Looking at the character Katniss Everdeen, from The Hunger Games, we see a multitude of similarities between her and Odysseus. Katniss is a witty character who sacrificed herself and has the goal to make it back to her family, just as Odysseus does. Throughout the Hunger Games Katniss is faced with many challenges that hinder her goals and test her character. During her time competing in the Hunger Games we see Katniss begin to lose sight of her goals and in later time becomes more preoccupied with the life that is associated with the Hunger Games, just as Odysseus became obsessed with adventure on his way home and begins to negate returning home. The emotional narrative and perspective that Katniss was written with and is read with adds a deeper human connection between the reader and Katniss. 

In The Odyssey, Homer focuses on the physical settings and surface level feelings during encounters and adventures rather than focusing on the psychological and deeper emotional aspect of the characters. In The Hunger Games we see a deeper level of emotions that come to Katniss throughout each and every obstacle that she encounters, and the lasting effects that they have on her. In the book, we see that Odysseus faces a lot of trauma and lives a violent life, yet he has little to no emotional reaction to these happenings. This lack of insight into Odysseus’s character is more than likely due to gender and the emotional strength we assume men have, but having insight to the emotions of his journey would give the reader a deeper view into what Odysseus’ journey is truly like. This new narrative of emotion would give insight to a deeper level of understanding to who Odysseus is as a person and not just as a leader. Without emotional depth Odysseus is no longer human to the reader and lacks the connecting factor between the reader and character that makes the story both more “relatable” and captivating.

Odysseus’s story lacks an answer to a question many readers may find themselves asking, “Why?”. Why is Odysseus doing the things that he is doing? Doesn’t he want to return home to his family? There seems to be little to no reasoning behind his actions, making him an easily unlikable character. While reading The Odyssey I saw Odysseus as an inhumane character who is a terrible leader. He is always doing things that benefit himself and tends to not think about the consequences of his actions. Odysseus is painted as the man that every man should be and caters towards a more societal view of masculinity. Using the lense of emotion that we see in The Hunger Games can give the reader a diverse understanding of why Odysseus has done and continues to do certain things that put him in danger and go against his ultimate goal of returning home. Without emotions Odysseus is an inhumane character who is selfish and is nearly impossible to empathize with. When Homer wrote of Odysseus crying on the beach alone it made me think of Odysseus as a person and I was able to put myself in his shoes, but when Odysseus was fighting the cyclops I was uninterested and had a disliking towards his character form.  The obvious disconnect between the reader and Odysseus creates a distant reading experience that makes it difficult to analyze which is something we don’t see in the reading of The Hunger Games.