Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus' struggles are revealed to the reader through the well-written epic. His journey is very difficult and he is tormented by the loss of his entire crew and the seemingly impossible task of returning home to his family. On the journey home, Odysseus makes the mistake of harming the Cyclops, who appears to be the son of Poseidon. Poseidon is so angry at Odysseus for the harm he has inflicted on the Cyclopes, that through the influence of the almighty Zeus, he punishes Odysseus along with his other sons, the Phaeacians, who can be seen in parallel and contrast with the Cyclopes. When he first begins his journey, Odysseus is leaving for war and when the war is over, he wants nothing more than to bring his men home safely and see his wife and young son. This wish, however, is delayed, mainly because Poseidon has made it his personal mission to prevent Odysseus from returning home to Ithaca. This was all due to Odysseus' poor treatment of Poseidon's son, the Cyclops. On his way home from the war, Odysseus sets sail for the island of the Cyclops and tries to find food and shelter for his crew. It becomes apparent to Odysseus that this Cyclops society lives in what resembles “the golden age, in which the earth continually produces its fruits without toil and yet… they seem entirely uncivilized; they live isolated.”(346 Hernandez). For this reason, when the crew and Odysseus come across the Cyclops' cave, they steal the food and linger in the large cave. When the Cyclops returns to find the thieves, he locks them in the cave and eats some men. This goes on for a few days, until many men die and Odysseus is fed up with being trapped. H...... middle of sheet...... Phaeacians." Classical Philology 28.4 (1933): 305-305. JSTOR. Web. 5 November 2011. Dimock, George. The Unity of the Odyssey. Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 1989. Print.Fagles, Robert. The Odyssey: Viking, 1996. Print.Frangoulidis, Stavros "Polyphemus' Prayer to Poseidon: Hom. "Oh." 9,528-535." Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica 43.1 (1993): 45-49. JSTOR. Web. 6 November 2011. .Hernández, Pura. "Back in the Cave of the Cyclops." The American Journal of Philology 121.3 (2000 ): 345-366. Web. 14 November 2011. Rose, Gilbert. "The Unfriendly Phaeacians." November 2011. Segal, Charles. "Divine Justice in the Odyssey: Poseidon, Cyclops, and Helios".. 2011.