According to the description in the passage, Oaigha Odigha likes mahogany and ebony better than other hardwoods
has rescued gorillas from becoming extinct
was brought up in an idyllic area
believes everyone has fully understood the fate of rainforests
used to destroy the forest by logging
We understand from the passage that the course Odigha Odigha followed to go to school as a child is now closed to children
used to be very safe
has now become a desert area
was a long way to go for a child of his age
was private property, so he was trespassing
It is obvious from his statements that Odigha Odigha does not believe that he deserves to be awarded for what he did
believes that what was done to the forests can be fully reversed
has created a model paradise in his hometown similar to the landscape of his childhood
is not very hopeful about the fate of his country's forests
has managed to stop the logging activities in his area
180 THE ODYSSEY Although set within the circumstances of the Trojan War, Homer's Odyssey is a far different book from his Iliad. With the latter, the book itself as well as the archaeological excavations supporting it makes it reasonable to infer a real historical event as background. With the Odyssey, such an assumption is impossible.
The book is a tale of adventure at sea and of homecoming after a long absence. These two themes have pervaded Western literature ever since the Homeric epic was written, and the story may well have proved a popular one well before Greek history began. The story could just as well have stood on its own without any relation to the conflict of the Greeks with Troy.
The vividly fictional characteristics of the story have not prevented critics, past and present, from seeking to place it in a specific geographic context. Hesiod, who wrote later than Homer, believed that Odysseus and his ships sailed around in the general area of Italy and Sicily, to the west of Ithaca. Later analysts tried to set the wanderings within the Mediterranean Sea generally, while others suggested the Atlantic Ocean as more likely.
The ancient astronomer Eratosthenes, who lived in the 2nd century BC, regarded all such speculations as foolish. For him, the world of Odysseus was a completely imaginary one. Indications of this are found within the text itself. Some of the hero's wanderings could well have been based on the even older story of Jason and his Argonauts, who sailed east in search of the golden fleece. To sum up, in the case of the Odyssey, it is quite likely that several ancient legends were woven into one continuous epic.
