What theme is best revealed by this conflict?

Read the excerpt from Part 4 of The Odyssey.

As long as bread and good red wine remained

to keep the men up, and appease their craving.

they would not touch the cattle. But in the end,

when all the barley in the ship was gone,

so hunger drove them to scour the wild shore

with angling hooks, for fishes and seafowl,

whatever fell into their hands; and lean days

wore their bellies thin.

It is easy to uphold morals when one is not

suffering.

O Resourcefulness is all one needs to survive.

People can endure any suffering with teamwork.

Rules are challenging to follow without a strong

leader.

The epic narrative of Homer "The Odyssey" revolves around the journey of Odysseus and his men as they make their return to Ithaca after the Battle of Troy. And through their journey, they encountered gods and mortals who hindered their progress.

The given excerpt from part IV of the book reveals the scene where the men were 'civilized' and happy as long as their food and resources last. But once that got over, "hunger drove them to scour the wild shore with angling hooks, for fishes and seafowl, whatever fell into their hands; and lean days wore their bellies thin." This is representative of the theme that morality can be upheld until one has to suffer.

Thus, the correct answer is the first option.