We all change throughout our lives as we learn from our experiences, and Odysseus is no exception. Odysseus lives despite some crazy things and through his experiences he learns more about himself and some of his traits change, for the better, by the end of the Odyssey. Odysseus' experience with the Sirens shows that he is learning to trust people outside of himself and that he is learning to be a better leader. Throughout the epic, we see Odysseus struggle to accept the "gifts" that the gods give him. Odysseus likes to be in control of what happens in his life, and since the gods are a higher power than him, he is not in complete control and learns to accept this over the course of his journey. Ulysses' experiences facilitate his learning and change into a better person and leader; at the end of the epic, he is more accepting of the plot twists thrown at him by the gods and has more faith in people. Odysseus begins his journey by relying on himself more than others. He doesn't distribute responsibilities but does everything himself because he doesn't trust people. Odysseus not trusting others is a sign that he is failing as a leader. He doesn't trust his wife Penelope to stay home alone for all those years without him while he's away with Calypso (which is why he wants to come home to her) and he puts no trust in the members of his crew, who will be traveling ahead for many years into the future. His lack of trust in others is seen when he receives the bag of winds from Aeolus as a parting gift and does not allow the men of his crew to open it and refuses to inform the men what is in the bag. This of course backfires once the crew members open the bag and it is assumed that high winds... middle of paper... is how life works in Odysseus' world and at the end of the epic, he he recognized this and accepted this fact of life. Odysseus certainly changes during his epic journey. His experiences shape him into a more confident person, which aids in his ability to lead his crew in the right direction and allows his crew to reciprocate their trust in him. Odysseus faces the obstacles the gods place before him and overcomes them, eventually returning home to Ithaca and his wife Penelope. Learn to accept the words of the gods as they are the supreme power; in this way he learns his place in relation to the gods. At the end of the epic, Ulysses is less stubborn and learns to accept the "gifts" of the gods with peace. He changes as a person and truly becomes “he who [knows] the world” (Book 18, line 144). Works Cited Homer's Odyssey