The theme of travel is as multifaceted and controversial today as it was in the ancient and medieval worlds. The characters and stories encountered in the Culture and Expression readings embody this fact, revealing the spectrum of feelings and values ​​associated with various aspects of crossing geographic divides. On the one hand, crossing borders can cause feelings of sadness, degradation and loss of identity. On the other hand, the act of crossing borders evokes glory, social mobility and splendid adventure. I agree with these concepts presented in Culture and Expression, but I particularly believe that the experience one has while traveling to a new place has everything to do with the circumstances surrounding their trip, particularly whether the catalyst for their migration is linked to an external force or an internal desire. . Whether it is the ancient and medieval worlds or the current period, the given migration catalyst is the main factor determining the outcome of the journey. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay When a journey is forced upon a reluctant traveler, the ensuing journey far from home is filled with heartache and sorrow. Because of the association of home with identity, exile can elicit extremely negative emotions and experiences. In the literature of the ancient world, a forced journey is often the result of divine punishment of mortals for their transgressions. As mentioned in the introduction to the "Book of Ezekiel" in the Jewish Study Bible, the task of the people of Israel was to "preserve their holiness, but according to Ezekiel, the sins of the people, mainly idolatry, all throughout its history, have desecrated the people, the Temple and the divine name, and have ritually defiled the city of Jerusalem.” The people of Israel are therefore exiled from the holy land of Jerusalem because "to achieve their holiness, the people must be purified and all impurity must be removed from the land upon their return." In this sense, the journey outside Israel carries a heavy and painful burden. It's exile, and exiled people don't want to leave their homes. Their journeys are a punishment and therefore cause anguish and repentance. And driven from their native country, they are degraded as a society; they lose a large part of their identity when they are no longer in their true home. The major journeys of Odysseus, the main character of The Odyssey, are also forced by divine vengeance. While dining with the Phaeacians, Odysseus tells King Alcinous how he tricked the savage Cyclops Polyphemus by making him drunk and blinding him with a heated olive spear. Out of pride, Odysseus reveals his name to Polyphemus, saying that "if a mortal asks you how / your eye was mutilated and blinded, / say that Odysseus, the reaver of the city, / the son of Laertes, who lives at Ithaca, / has destroyed your sight.” Polyphemus happens to be the son of the god Poseidon and he prays to his father to "make sure that Odysseus, the city's wrecker, / never returns home." Or if he is / destined to see his family, / when he arrives late and without honor, / in pain and lacking ships, and having caused / the death of all his men, and he finds / more problems in his own home. Poseidon, angry at Odysseus' transgressions against his son, ensures that Odysseus is delayed in his journey, killing all of his men in a shipwreck and putting multiple obstacles in Odysseus' path of return. Poseidon forces Odysseus to travel even further from home, going back years. Ulysses only suffers from anguish during this period, even though he finds the beautifulgoddess Calypso. Although Odysseus is offered comfort and immortality, his removal from his home of Ithaca, and thus his identity as a glorious warrior, king of Ithaca, husband, and father, makes him desperate and discouraged until he finally has the opportunity to return home. But the peril and sorrow of geographical travel can become quite exhilarating in the context of desire. When a trip is born from desire, the traveler is sure to have a wonderful, if not entirely perfect, experience. As the works presented to us show, the desire to travel generally corresponds to the acquisition of something greater, whether it is fame or personal social mobility. The 15th-century Egyptian folk tale “The Capture of Joppa” provides an explicit example of a desiring boundary. crossing resulting from lack of glory. In the story, Djehuty, Thutmose III's Egyptian general, deliberately uses trickery to get his men inside the walled city of Joppa; he makes those responsible believe that they captured him, “and his wife and children,” and that they won. This perceived victory led the Joppa authorities to allow two hundred baskets meant to be tribute into the city, although the actual contents of the baskets were "people, handcuffs and ropes" ready to be released and "seize all the people of the city.” city". Through this clever tactic, Djehuty eventually captured Joppa, bringing glory to the Egyptian people and the Egyptian emperor. The choice to cross borders to a new location can therefore improve the perception that a cultivation of itself through pride and conquest. Sinbad the Sailor, a character from the Arabian Nights, actively seeks new journeys and adventures to support himself and become rich and powerful. story of “Night 546,” he tells Sinbad the Bearer how his travels helped him gain wealth and status. He “stayed in Baghdad for a while, enjoying his good fortune with happiness and contentment, but then. he began to feel the need to travel again and see the world, as well as make a profit by trading.” Sinbad is well aware of the dangers of traveling to new places; he encounters all kinds of monsters every time; let him leave. But he nevertheless wishes to cross geographical borders; he craves the excitement and social mobility that his adventures will bring him through the acquisition of wealth, making the experiences ultimately positive. Just as the negative connotations of forced travel are consistent from ancient times to today, the overwhelmingly positive connotations of desired travel are also present today. During my own personal adventures over the past month, I frequently find myself connecting my own experiences to those relayed in the literary texts Culture and Expression. Lately, New York City has held a particular attraction for me; I looked for it often during my time at Hofstra. The desire to become better acquainted with geographic, intellectual, and cultural boundaries as well as my own ability to cross those boundaries led me to venture alone to New York. This solitary endeavor has many challenges, including the problem of navigating a maze of trains, people, and streets as well as the problem of vulnerability that comes with being alone, but I'm willing to risk that for have the chance to have a pleasant time. of adventure and the ability to say that I challenged myself. However, I also think about the less personal and much larger modern crisis of travel and migration: how groups of people such as Syrian refugees are being forced to leave.