Books 4-6

The instance in which Penelope discovers that Telemakhos has left in search of his father reveals a great deal about the relationship between mother and son. She thinks of him as her baby, not a full grown man yet and this is precisely what Telemakhos is trying to move beyond. I think that this is what has made Telemakhos so nonchalant and soft in the beginning. He has all this potential stored within him, yet Penelope can't see him as more than her little boy. Without a father's presence to toughen him up, Telemakhos remains a quiet, passive child. It can very well be that Homer is trying to show us how the lack of a father's presence has prolonged Telemakhos's childhood in a sense. It is very obvious that Penelope is tough in her own way for showing the suitors a cold shoulder, but it's also true that mothers tend to baby their children more than fathers. This is imperative in revealing how Telemakhos was, and most importantly, what he was seen as.

It's kind of sad to think that on one hand we've got Penelope being a faithful wife amidst a mob of men who want her, while on the other hand Odysseus is having affairs with countless women on his way home. I would say that he's delaying his homecoming on purpose on the account that the longer he stays away from home, the more women he can encounter and have affairs with. What's holding me back from that conclusion is that the reader must not forget that Odysseus angered Poseidon multiple times by being boastful and blinding the Cyclops and so, Poseidon is giving him a hard time in the form of natural obstacles. I can sympathize with Odysseus for the latter because if you've got a giant, freaky-looking monster about to eat you, you'd want to do anything to stop that from happening. However, Odysseus's over-confidence gives off a certain essence of his character. He is a flawed hero and all this time he doesn't bother to get on better terms with Poseidon. This is not only a statement about his pride, but also a statement that raises the question of how badly Odysseus actually wants to go home. Clearly, the gods are petty. In many ways, they are childish and just as flawed, if not more flawed than mortals. If you sacrifice enough animals along with a few materialistic objects, the gods are happy. The way I see it, Greek gods and goddesses have always been favorable towards mortals who keep reminding them of their authority and grandeur. Athena is a goddess and has no need for gold and heaps of animal flesh. She has enough of that but to sacrifice a heifer and have its horns guilded in gold is like sucking up to Athena and telling her that she is the best. Odysseus could easily win back Poseidon's favor if he wanted to and quite frankly, a man who really wants to go home after years and years of being tossed around from island to island would do all in his power to make the situation more agreeable for himself. Instead, he chooses to stick around and enjoy himself with Kalypso. If he could trick a giant Cyclops, he could clearly have found a way to get away from Kalypso. I think he clung to her more than she to him.

All this time, Odysseus may have been physically deterred in many ways from getting home, but mainly he was mentally deterred. Odysseus is a thinker and he has proven his capability of thinking himself out of the stickiest situations, time and time again. Yet when Homer first reveals him to the reader, he is crying over his situation rather than doing something to get himself out. He feels guilty perhaps for cheating on Penelope or more likely, he misses the place where he has the most authority and respect, but clearly not enough to do something about it (I mean, come on, the choice is between immortality and all this other trivial stuff). Also, since the question of Penelope's fidelity has been brought up, I really don't think Penelope would have secretly cheated on Odysseus and then pretended not to have done so. The idea just goes against the whole act of going through the effort of weaving and unravelling her work each day. She's clever but not conniving. To me, it makes more sense to think that Odysseus goes home to a wife who has remained faithful to him unlike Klytemnestra and Helen, yet he still wont be happy. Odysseus becomes defined by his troubles and endless journeys. As insensible as it sounds, it's almost as though Odysseus cannot settle down with a trouble-free life. Sometimes achieving your highest goal too soon is not such a good thing. It leaves you with nothing more to strive for so you can't even live satisfied with your accomplishment--the satisfaction actually comes from the active pursuit of that goal. As long as Odysseus is in the act of trying to get back home he is satisfied, as his pursuit of that goal has much more to offer than the goal itself.

Some initial thoughts on the Odyssey

The Odyssey is a work of literature that I have long been familiar with, just not as well as I would like to be. I believe that there are certain works of literature that one should not miss out on reading, the Odyssey being one of them. Reading the Odyssey now makes me a bit nostalgic, as it takes me back to my sixth grade ELA class.

Being that I was only 11, I was certainly not able to appreciate and evaluate all that the Odyssey has to offer. I addition to that, I read a version written in the form of a novel instead of a poem. Of course, I didn't get the real essence of it. Nonetheless, my teacher covered a tremendous amount of background information before we began reading the Odyssey; this information is essential when it comes to actually understanding the references that Homer makes. We started off with basic Greek mythology--the story of Gaea and Uranus and the lineage of gods and goddesses that followed. Greek mythology intrigued me then and it has held my interest to this day.

There is a certain quality about Greek mythology which reaches out to the reader across the centuries. I've always seen Greek mythology as a window into ancient Greek civilization--a window through which one can see a vivid image of what the land looked like, what the people looked like, how they dressed, how they interacted with one another, the values they cherished, and most importantly, the fear and uncertainty in their minds ameliorated by the beliefs they held. Greek mythology serves as a testimony of the ancient Greek mindset which is not unlike the mindset of any young civilization. To give the mysteries of their everyday encounters a meaning, these people came to develop myths. The Mayas were notorious for having done this (ironically this attempt at coming to better terms with their mysterious and unpredictable world ultimately led to their demise), and so were the Aryans of ancient India. I have found striking similarities between Greek mythology and Indian mythology; this says a lot about the nature of mythology: The unknown which is so deeply connected to people's daily lives intrigues them to the extent that they seek a divine explanation for it.

I would have forgotten most of what I had learned about Greek mythology in sixth grade (though most of the myths such as Athena's birth from Zeus's head are memorable) if I hadn't been required to brush up on it last year in AP English, as Greek mythology is often alluded to in the classic works of literature, as well as the contemporary works. This exposure certainly gives me the advantage of not having to grapple with complicated Greek names for the first time! In reality, I don't even think Greek names are that hard to pronounce, but that's just me. However, I do think that in spite of delivering a phenomenal rendition of the Odyssey, Fitzgerald does tend to complicate the spelling of the names. It could either be that, or it could be the simple fact that I'm so used to seeing Achilles spelled a certain way, yet Fitzgerald spells it as Akhilleus.

The fact that Homer orally delivered this epic poem and had the whole thing memorized is something I did not know. This is remarkable and also explains why I keep finding repetitive lines as I read.