Odysseus just needs a positive attitude! :) I think you're right, though, he fails to acknowledge how much his struggles have changed him and give credit to humans for their ability to persevere!

Odysseus's vision of the human condition

Odysseus's vision of the human condition is absolutely negative. The meaning of existance of human is to suffer according to him. He mentioned that once he thought he was chosen to be a fortunate man, but this totally changed after the journey. Therefore, the reason of the change is his journey. He met so many diffculties and lost all of his crews in order to go home. This is too violent for him. Also, he may feel like that he is a toy of gods. Though some gods, like Athena, helps Odysseus, little actions of the others still can destroy him. That makes him feel sad about human. However, I don't agree him. Gods didn't give us strong bodies but brilliant brian, which is the best of all the other parts. And how people feel depend on their attitudes to life. Consequently, Odysseus can feel happy and lucky if he had a positive attitude. Sadly, he is the bringer of pain. He brings afflication to both himself and his family members...

Kingdom of the dead...

Bill--your description is really interesting and moving. I like the fact that your kingdom of the dead is pretty much a figurative representation of the kingdom of life...greed and uncurbed desires take us to dark places.

Thoughts from the chameleon ...

From this story，I realized that Bourdin，who is the artist of deceit，didn‘t really want to con people. He is actuallly a poor child according to his birth and childhood. When he was young，he was lack of love. In addition to being alone，his mother，who was still immature，made fun of tricking her son. I think that should be where Bourdin’s idea of deceiving people came from. He was a genuis. Absolutely he knew how to cheat people rightly and successfully. "The key is actually not lying about everything，" Bourdin said. "Otherwise，I'll just mix things up." He said that he adhered to maxims such as "Keep it simple" and "A good liar uses the truth" . He had plenty of good experience，but he said，"I know I can be cruel，but I don't want to be a monster".

Bourdin even has fans who worship him for his talent. In fact，I don't feel strange. He is great，a human recorder. He knows human nature deeply. Some people call him "The king of imposters"，but I'd rather "The king of psychologist". Tricking was not what he really wanted to do，but he is really a human recorder.

How the Kingdom of Dead looks like?

In my opinion, the Kingdom of Dead should look beautiful at first sight. It can be a grand palace which is decorated by precious jewerly. Moving music comes out and enchants people, and it smells fragrant. You are easily corrupt in this atmosphere. Then, desires are easily produced. However, if people don't curb them, what you see suddenly becomes different. Endless dark is all around, undyings groan, and it smells choking, just like dead bodies surrounded. And there is no rules. People have absoulute "freedom".