I Am Number Four discussion

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore is a very action-packed, and adventurous book. It is the first book of 7 in the series the Lorien Legacies. It was written in 2010. The story is about a 17-year-old boy, his real name is four, yeah I know who names their kid four, but he wasn’t born on earth. He was born on a planet called Lorien. Several years ago when four was very young almost too young to remember the planet of Lorien was invaded by mogadorians. Pretty much all of the Lorien population was wiped out but the 9 young guardians and other Lorien civilians were able to take an escape pod to earth. The 9 guardians are essentially protecting the whole Lorien race from the mogadorians, who are these murders that are trying to kill all Loriens especially the guardians. When the story starts in present time four gets a third Lorien scar burned into his leg and he knows that he is the next guardian in line to be killed. Like Homer's Odyssey, the characters go through series of challenges spiritually and physically. The Odyssey was written in the end of the 8th century B.C. The Odyssey is a story about Odysseus' very long struggle of returning home to Ithaca after he was at the Trojan war. Four is called to adventure right in the very beginning when he is just young and is now in charge of protecting several lives. Four is already put with a mentor named Henri right from when they left Lorien.

Whenever one of the guardians gets killed by a mogadorian Four and Henri have to cut up and burn all of their “identification” and “legal papers”, move to a new state and find a new fake name. Henri has to make all of the new identification and papers himself because he can’t let anyone know that he and Four are aliens and there are many more aliens on earth(pg 11). Also when one of the guardians gets killed a circle spiral shape burns into the skin of the other guardians so they are able to keep track of who is next in line. After the flashback of Lorien in present time, Four gets the third burn into his leg and He and Henri do their rituals and move to Paradise Ohio. There Four takes the name John Smith (which is what I will now be calling him throughout the rest of this essay). Henri doesn’t change his first name he just changes his last name every time. John didn’t really have a choice of starting this journey he was just chosen and got wrapped into it. I think that in the Odyssey Odysseus kind of did have a choice, after he escapes the cyclops and he and his men are out sailing away he shows his hubris and tells the cyclops all the good info name, address, social security number, everything he would want to know. So now the Cyclops is able to tell Poseidon to send Odysseus on a long, challenging journey, which yes Odysseus can’t control getting pulled into the journey but before he would have been able to sail home to Ithaca quickly and safely(pg. 669-670).

I am number four clearly goes through the hero's journey that is portrayed in the Odyssey, along with several obstacles that he goes through. As I have mentioned several times John has a mentor named Henri just like how Athena is Odysseus’s mentor. Odysseus and John both have bad traits Odysseus shows lots of hubris and John is very stubborn, especially with having to leave to a new state every now and then. Before Odysseus’s journey really started he had the Trojan war right before which is similar to I am number four with Lorien getting invaded (pg 1-4) and John and the others escaping. When the guardians get older they develop legacies which eventually come with powers that will help them defeat the mogadorians. When one of them “unlocks” a legacy they go through a mini spiritual journey almost like they’re in a dream.

After so much trial and error, John comes to the return stage, but he doesn’t return to Lorien nor does he return back to Paradise Ohio because he doesn’t go on a physical journey where he’s going from place to place. Since this is a book series he doesn't go through a full return stage he actually leaves Paradise Ohio and continues his journey but skipping the very end of the return stage. But at the end of this journey, John is stronger and smarter than he was before the journey started, just like Odysseus. At the end of the Odyssey there is a huge battle between Odysseus and suitors. At the end of I am number four John fights the mogadorians(pg.384-405) but I won’t spoil anything.

In conclusion, I am Number Four a modern text is quite similar to the Odyssey a very old text. Both John Smith and Odysseus go through the same three stages in the hero’s journey departure, quest, and return. It’s funny how in many books they have a character go through hero’s journey but yet all the stories are so different from each other. You don’t really notice how similar stories can be until someone points it out to you. Both of them have mentors and have bad character traits that can get them in trouble. I highly recommend I am number four, especially if you want to read a really good book series as well. Anyone would enjoy this book it is such a page-turner and you always want to keep reading to see what happens next.