People : An Invasive Species, Victims Of Invasion Themselves

This book unites characters and events from the past, present, and future to help Odysseus see why he needs to get home quickly. Odysseus's mother is the most important character from the past with whom Odysseus reunites. Odysseus did not know his mother died while he was away and found out while he was looking for Teiresias. Odysseus states, "now came the soul of Antikleia, dead, my mother…seeing this ghost I grieved" (187). She asks him how he came to Hades, a place that is "no sight for living eyes" (190). Odysseus tells her he came to see Teiresias, then asks her about the rest of his family. She tells him Penelope is grieving for him and his son has taken over his kingdom. Odysseus then asks, "what was the bane that pinned you down in Death?" (190). She answers that she died of a broken heart, longing for her son to return. This conversation is a direct link to Odysseus's past.

Odysseus, dressed as a beggar went to Troy to gather information. While there, Helen saw and recognized Odysseus. To learn if it was truly Odysseus, she bathed him to remove his beggar’s clothes. To have called a guard would be an easy way to arrest Odysseus, but she didn’t. Instead, she learned what would happen while also giving Odysseus information about the Trojan side of the war. If Helen did not like Menelaus and wished the Trojans to win, many situations could have happened to allow Helen to betray Menelaus. Helen sincerely liked Menelaus and her abduction by Paris was not with her consent. In addition, when Helen puts a drug in everyone’s wine to prevent sadness the only reason for this action could be to prevent the pain of past events from resurfacing. The book specifically says, “she cast a medicine of Heartsease, free of gall, to make one forget all sorrows.” This action was done out of care for her husband. Helen seems a loyal wife, but the Helen in Trojan Women, not so

Odysseus thinks that his reasoning are final and his activities are constantly just and right, although he frequently allows his ego control his rational thinking, resulting harm to his group and messing with the gods’s plans. His men could have went back home Securely for it is the desire of Athena and the other heavenly gods who surround to her in Mount Olympus, however Odysseus takes it to himself to outrage and blind Polyphemus, the monstrous son of Poseidon, adored by his dad yet abhorred by the people, In this way distrusting their whole arrangement . Subsequent to being blinded by the heroine, Polyphemus tosses huge pieces of rocks at Odysseus's ship, nearly obliterating them at the same time. But instead of retreating for safety, Odysseus keeps on provoking Polyphemus and “[calls] out to the cyclopes again, with [his] men hanging all over [him] begging him not to”(Book 9, 491-492). His feeling of pride and presumption influences to disregard the requests of his people even in these critical circumstances . He will fulfill his own feeling of interest and pleasure without thinking of the result it would have on his crew. Despite the fact that he is bound to get away from all passings and assaults, his group isn’t so blessed. Their lives are in mortal peril since Odysseus considers them as child sheeps who should forfeit their lives for him when the circumstances comes, much the same as how mortals make conciliatory offerings of sheeps for the heavenly gods. He is willing to fulfill his own feeling of interest without thinking of his groups lives or their suppositions and is regularly infuriated when they negate his request. If they hurt his sense of pride and self-importance and pomposity , Odysseus will be overcome with outrage and

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.

While Odyesseus was gone his son Telemachus has grown into a man and his wife Penelope is overwhelmed by suitors who think Odysseus is dead. These suitors have been living in Odysseus’ home eating his food trying to overrun his palace. While Poseidon is away from Olympus, Penelope convinces the other gods to help Odysseus return home. In disguise in Ithaca, she convinces Telemachus to look for his father. Telemachus goes to Pylos and finds out that Odysseus is being held prisoner by Calypso. Zeus orders that Odysseus be allowed to go home so he leaves on a raft.

Odysseus’s wife, Penelope lives back in their town, Ithaka, is being pressured by unwanted suitors. Their son, Telemachos, is visited by the goddess Athene. Athene was quite close with Odysseus, and she tells Telemachos to go looking for his missing father. He travels to Pylos to see the King, Nestor. Nestor takes him in, gives him dinner and then tells him to go see King Menelaos in Sparta. Telemachos does as he’s told and travels to Sparta to see King Menelaos. He tells him that his father Odysseus is alive and is being kept captive on Kalypso’s island. He also tells him that his brother, King Agamemnon, has been murdered by his own wife, Klytamestra, and her lover Aigisthos. But, Agamemnon’s son, Orestes has killed his father’s murderers

The Odyssey by Homer is a literary classic that presents many themes about the natures of both man and god. Although the characters of the book display characteristics relatable to those of the people today, one of the most prevalent differences between the two eras and their people is the intense violence that takes place throughout the entirety of the epic. This violence serves several functions in the work as a whole. The violence that is enacted upon the characters of The Odyssey serve as a device to convey the Greek cultural value of reverence of the gods and as a method for the author to create nuances to his characters.

During Odysseus’ absence, his family faces conflicts regarding his wife’s suitors trying to take his fortune and his son, Telemachus, not being of age to inherit the wealth.

After twenty long years away from his family, Odysseus still has motivation to return to Ithaca. Odysseus could have stayed with the princess of the Phaeacians, but instead he wants to go home to his family. Odysseus’ wife, Penelope and their son, Telemachus motivate Odysseus. Alkinoos offers Odysseus his daughter’s hand in marriage: “My daughter should be yours and you my son-in-law, if you remained. A home, lands, riches you should have from me if you could be content here” (Homer 120). Odysseus refuses the king’s offer: “O Father Zeus, let all this be fulfilled as spoken by Alkinoos! Earth of harvests remember him! Return me to my homeland” (120). Odysseus knows that his family has been waiting for him for years. The motivation to see his family and homeland help Odysseus win his battles and continue his journey home.

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).

Now we return to the re-encounter of the father and the son. They spend twenty years apart from each other undergoing trials and hardship that poise them for their final confrontation. Telemachus and Odysseus both arrive on the island of Ithaca within more or less the same time period. And they both, out of prudence and devotion, seek safety in the swineherd's security; in this they are analogous. Odysseus' restraint is shown when he abstains from revealing his identity to his son until Eumaeus has exited. Before father and son first recognize each other, and before Telemachus knows that he is talking to his father, an interesting phenomenon occurs in which both father and son demonstrate their humility and likeness to each other. The event involves Odysseus offering his seat to Telemachus and Telemachus refusing the offer. The significance of this event is that Odysseus, who is in disguise as a beggar, is a more dominant man than Telemachus and modest enough to offer his seat. Telemachus in turn knows that he is a better man than a beggar but refuses chivalrously to take the beggar's seat. The

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

Ten years after the fall of Troy, the victorious Greek hero Odysseus has still not returned to his native land Ithaca. A band of rowdy suitors, believing Odysseus to be dead, has overrun his palace, courting his faithful—though weakening—wife Penelope, and going through his stock for food. With permission from Zeus, the goddess Athena, Odysseus' greatest immortal ally, appears in disguise and urges Odysseus' son Telemachus to seek news of his father at Pylos and Sparta. However, the suitors, led by Antinous, plan to ambush him upon return.

Menelaus greets Telemachus with a great reception, and he is recognized as Odysseus' son before a large gathered crowd at the palace. Menelaus takes very good care of Telemachus as his guest. Athena (still in disguise as Mentes) was not treated as well as her goddess status afforded her to be. After another recollection of old stories, and war legends, Telemachus was able to once again set sail, still in search of his father, Odysseus.

            Odysseus is no god.  He is man, and with that comes the mistakes and errors in all of us.  In many situations Odysseus' mortal side is seen.  An example of the power of Odysseus coinciding with his human flaws is his battle with Polyphemous the Cyclops (son of Poseidon).  After escaping the lure of the lotus-eaters and their island, Odysseus and his men find themselves on another island, rich with food and shelter.  After feasting, the men grab a large container of potent wine and go off exploring the new island.  Later in their search they stumble across a large cave filled with food.  Curious where the owner's whereabouts are the men encourage Odysseus to steal the food.  Odysseus (showing his hospitable and genuine character) decides to instead wait for the