Mother Son Conflict In The Odyssey

Telemachus was the son of Odysseus, mighty king of Ithaca and hero of Athena. Telemachus was a mere infant when Odysseus set sail for Troy where he helped to conquer the Trojans and retrieve Menelaus’ wife Helen. Despite emerging victorious from the Trojan war, Odysseus hadn't succeeded in returning home to Ithaca, and so twenty-one years after his departure for Troy, his family and kingdom believed him to be dead. Telemachus had lived his entire life without his father and as the Odyssey begins, although twenty-one years of age, Telemachus seems to be a child and not a powerful young man. Telemachus was first portrayed as a somber young lad who's heart was stricken with grief for the loss of his father. He was daydreaming and keeping to himself

Zeus was the child of the Titans, Cronus and Rhea, and was the youngest of all his siblings. Cronus , Zeus’ father, had been warned that one of his children would overthrow him. Cronus knew the consequences, for he had overthrown his father, Uranus. To prevent this from

The Odyssey by Homer is an epic from Ancient Greece telling the tale of the great warrior Odysseus. It tells of Odysseus going to war and going through many trials to get back to his homeland, Ithaca. On Ithaca are his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemachus. Throughout the epic, Odysseus faces many challenges and trials in order to get home to his family, and even after he finally does arrive. Through all of the trials, each being extremely difficult, he pushes on to reach his family. This shows there are definitely bonds in the families. Of these, one that is apparent upon multiple occasions is the bond between father and son. Of course, the only father and son relationship isn’t just between Odysseus and Telemachus. There are many other examples of this family relationship, such as Poseidon and Polyphemus. But not only does the father and son relationship play a large role in the Odyssey. All family relations in general play a surprisingly large part in the Odyssey. Throughout the entirety of the story, family appears to be a great stimulus to persevere through the problem, no matter how challenging or fearful. One extreme example is of course is Odysseus. He traveled for 20 years fighting to return to his family, through unimaginable danger and the loss of roughly three crews. Family also appears to cause extreme retaliation and revenge. A superb example is how Poseidon reacts after Odysseus and his crew blind his son, Polyphemus. Another grand example is when Odysseus

Homer shows how Telemachus has grown up in The Odyssey, through how he changes his attitude about taking responsibility for his household. At the beginning of the story, he is not that adamant about taking care of his home. He says, “’Isn’t it quite enough that you, my mother’s suitors have ravaged it all, my very best, these many years, while I was still a boy?’” (Pg. 103 lines 346-8) He just cares about the material wealth of the household. He doesn’t think that it is his duty to take care of it. This is a very immature view. However, Telemachus does take some responsibility for it. He lets the guest into his house and tells his mother to go upstairs, which shows he is taking responsibility for what is his. This is true in some ways, but he is only taking on minimal responsibility because it is required of him, not because he

Father and son relationships in The Odyssey are very important. This novel tells us the story of the hero Odysseus and his journey back home after the Trojan War. His complications start after the fight when he is on his way back. On his journey home, he encounters multiple challenging obstacles. However, Odysseus and the gods are determined to get him back home to his son. In The Odyssey by Homer, we see the importance of father and son relationships between Poseidon and his son Polyphemus and Odysseus and his son Telemachus and we can see which aspects of the relationship that the Greeks valued.

Telemachus’s coming of age, however, is incomplete because he lacks the most important masculine influence: a father. He is unable to fully become a man without Odysseus present; he cannot kill the suitors on his own, and feels abandoned and weak without his father. He says of Odysseus, “He’s vanished, gone, and left me pain and sorrow...All of the nobles who rule the islands...are courting my mother and ruining our house. She refuses to make a marriage she hates but can’t stop it either” (Homer 8). The reason Telemachus’s life is so out of control is because his only parental figure is his mother, Penelope. The text portrays Penelope, untempered by the presence of a husband, as the cause of disorder in the home of Odysseus; she refuses to choose a husband, but is too weak to stop the suitors’ advances. A father figure, Odysseus, is needed to create order in young Telemachus’s life, because only a man can impose such order.

The foiling of father and son relationships is expressed heavily throughout the rest of The Odyssey. In accordance, the most prominent is the one between Odysseus and Telemachus. Odysseus reveal has been planned by Athena and

However, Uranus was afraid that Cronus might overpower him and one day obtain all his power. Knowing this Uranus purposely tried to kill Cronus in multiply occasions, but Gaea would always protect him. One day Gaea and Cronus made a plan to have Cronus challenge Uranus and take over his power. So it happened, Cronnus challenged his father and was victorious during their battle and Uranus was left to rot (Bernard 1) "Now Cronus had become king of gods by killing his father Uranus” (Bernard 3). In both Greek and Roman Mythology, the relationship between parents and children are distorted, strained, and bizarrely transformed, because of their greediness for power and obsessiveness to be better than the other.

This statement is very telling as it defines not only the appearance of the great Odysseus, but also the son he left behind. Furthermore, it begins to develop a timeline of actions by announcing that Odysseus left home when Telemachus was only a baby. Nestor recognizes that Odysseus ' appearance, vivacity, and personality are apparent in his progeny, Telemachus. This is encouraging to Telemachus as he hears that he resembles the great king Odysseus. As Telemachus presses for news of what has become of his father, Telemachus learns that his father may yet be alive and held captive by a goddess-nymph named Calypso. He then glorifies the strong will of Orestes and encourages Telemachus to do the same: "And you, my friend - / how tall and handsome I see you now - be brave, you too, / so men to come will sing your praises down the years." (3, 226 - 227).

Imagine growing up without a dad and having to mature much faster then most kids just to help your mom out? In Homer’s epic poem, The odyssey, Queen Penelope had to raise her son Telemachus all by herself while her husband Odysseus was gone for 20 years. Odysseus faced many obstacles along the way  to come back home to his loving wife and son. Penelope’s hope was much bigger than anything else. She never gave up on Odysseus coming back home.

Through his journey to Pylos and Sparta, Telemachus, who was born into a very privileged and high ranking family, learns how to use his inherited social status and connections for his own interests, which will help him mature into manhood. Telemachus was never old enough to remember what it was like when his father was around. Since Odysseus left, he has lived with his mom and nurse. However, for three years, he has been overwhelmed by suitors, who have taken over his house. Odysseus was never able to show Telemachus how to stand up for himself. Telemachus has been less than passive when going about doing things to get what he wants. When Athena comes and tells him that his father is going to come home, he realizes he has been ignoring what he knows is wrong, such as the suitors throwing parties every night, and that he needs to stop them. He doesn’t have any idea of how he is going to find his father when Athena comes, but he along his way finds that he has many resources and connections at hand that will allow him to find out what happened to his dad. Athena, disguised as Mentor, an old friend of Odysseus, encourages Telemachus to talk to Nestor. "Telemachus, no more shyness, this is not the time!/ We sailed the seas for this, for news of your father —// So go right up to Nestor...// Press him yourself to tell the whole truth:/ he'll never lie — the man is far too wise"(3.16-22) Here, Athena is encouraging Telemachus to be assertive, to get what the needs to know to find his father. Telemachus responds, "How can I greet him, Mentor, even approach the king?/ I'm hardly adept at subtle conversation./ Someone my age might feel shy, what's more,/ interrogating an older man."/ (3.23-27) He is intimidated. The irony is that he himself is of the higher class, and if Odysseus had been home, he would be accustomed to these interactions. This is Odysseus learning that he has high social status and can enjoy the privileges he was born with, such as being able to talk to the king. While there, Telemachus learns of the fate of the family of Agamemnon. Agamemnon came home to find his wife in love with Aegisthus, and together they kill him. Orestes, one of Agamemnon’s sons, avenges his father’s murder and kills

The son of the Odysseus, though he has never seen his father, valiantly defends and believes that he is not dead. He also tries to step into his father’s shoes. He is inexperienced, nonetheless. Yet, this is soon resolved though interactions with Athena and his journey to Pylos and Sparta. Telemachos does not have just hope that his father is alive, but sound faith. We as Christians in the same manner, have faith that our Heavenly Father will come someday to take us home to eternal felicity, our eternal family. In addition, In the Odyssey, we see how the family regards growing up. As head man of his father’s estate Telemachos regards his mother with courtesy and respect. He does, however, rebuke her at times. When she comes down from her bedchamber moved by a barb’s song to tears, Telemachos reprimands her, saying if she did not wish to hear the song, she should go to her own quarters. Thus, Telemachos assets growing into adulthood by the way he interacts with his mother, taking control of the relationship.

In the Myth of “Cronus”, A god has to go against his own son after he found out his son wasn't eaten, which is making the god furious at his own son consequently his son can rise against him. Cronus is the god

He thought the brother cyclops were going to purge the world with their ugliness and make ugly children too. He killed his dad to become the most powerful supreme god so he had power over anyone.his father cared for him and Cronus got greedy over time and wanted to be the most powerful god so no one could talk back to him. Cronus was a greedy god so then he ate all of his children but one zeus because his wife hid him away from Cronus then his son zeus outsmarted him and all the greed made him

1) I was intrigued by the map because I myself have a biological father, and a man that I actually look up to as a father. I have been reading the Odyssey and the Iliad over the past couple months focusing on the story telling of the books and never paying much attention to the father aspect. I do remember many times when I was reading, I would start thinking that this sounded somewhat like the bible in terms of is speaking to family lineage so often, but I never really just focused on fathers in this book. I remember in book 9 of the Iliad, Phoenix is speaking to Achilles and says to Achilles “I have made you my son, I tried, so someday you might fight disaster back”. He goes on to try to speak words of wisdom to Achilles. This still lingers in my mind because I am trying to guide my 17-year-old step son to graduation and hopefully he will have a good life. That conversation reminded me of several conversations that I have with him. When I found this map, I figured I would dive in because fathers and father figures are huge issues in todays society, and I thought it would be fun to dive into fatherhood from an ancient standpoint.