Book XVI--Father and Son
|Summary|Characters & Their Lessons|Symbolism|Connections|Links & References|
Summary
In Book 15, Athena tells Telemachus that the suitors will kill him if he comes straight home, so when he arrives at Ithaca in Book 16, he goes around the island to Eumaios’ hut. Eumaios is the family’s swineherd, and he is one of the few who is still loyal to Odysseus. He greets Telemachus enthusiastically, and Telemachus returns the greeting. After inquiring about his mother and the palace, he notices Odysseus as the beggar and is introduced. Telemachus then asks Eumaios to run to tell Telemachus’ mother the good news. While Eumaios is at the palace telling Penelope that Telemachus is home, Odysseus reveals himself to his son. Telemachus does the whole Beauty and the Beast “Can it be? Is it he?” He finally believes Odysseus, and they cry and hug and so on. Then they set up their plan to kill the suitors. Odysseus emphasizes the need for secrecy. Meanwhile, the suitors go down to the shore to greet the ship they sent out to ambush Telemachus. When the do not find him, they get really mad and they try to come up with another plan to get rid of him. In the great hall, the suitors hear the news of Telemachus’ return being relayed to Penelope, even though they had ships stationed to kill Telemachus before he came back. Antinous was on the ship and tells the suitors there was no way he could have gone by them. He proposes that they should go now and immediately kill him to earn the upper hand with the first strike. Amphinomus says that they should first consult the gods, and the suitors approve. When Penelope hears their chatter of murdering her son, she scolds Antinous for the plots and is angered (obviously). She says they should not be pilfering from Odysseus’ house, and Eurymachus says that Odysseus doesn’t exist and they never planned to kill her Telemachus (He’s a liar). Odysseus is changed back to a beggar before Eumaeus returns.
Characters & Their Lessons
Character: Odysseus
Description: He went to fight in the Trojan War and was the one responsible for the Trojan horse. After being successful at battle, he journeys home, only to annoy the relative of a god. It is just his luck that that the god is Poseidon and whenever Odysseus is on water, Poseidon makes Odysseus’ life hell. In each book and at each stop, Odysseus learns or does something major that changes his future actions. In this book, obviously, he meets his son which is why the book is called “Father and Son.” This book is a critical part of Odysseus’ return because he meets his grown up son, who doesn’t even recognize him until he is told it is his father. This is also a very emotional book for him as he is meeting is son in a way that you wouldn’t expect a father to greet his son back from a long journey. They get some hugs and tears but then must plan the killing of other men.
Lesson: Odysseus goes through this book acting like a beggar and having to think before every action to make sure his true identity wasn’t revealed. He learns, throughout the book, who the good and bad suitors are. He gets a better understanding of what his plan about the downfall of the suitors is and how to go about accomplishing it without the suitors finding out that the great Odysseus is home. Odysseus learns that if you talk back to the leader of the suitors he might throw something at you.
Character: Telemachus
Description: Since he has grown up without a father figure in his life, he doesn’t have a backbone. In earlier books, Athena told him to go out and ask about his father. That trip gave him courage since so many people told him that he was just like Odysseus. When he meets his father, he readily agrees to help kill the suitors. Actually now if you think about that, he only said yes after he was told that Athena would be helping them. So maybe he only got half of his spine. The point is that he is more “manly” now. This book was very emotional for Telemachus, just as it was for Odysseus. Meeting a father he never knew was shocking, therefore explaining the disbelief (along with the fact that Odysseus’ appearance changed before his eyes). That isn’t the only part in this book that Telemachus displays disbelief. He also cannot understand at first how two men will defeat over 100 men. This trait can be positive, as he will test someone before accepting someone but can also be negative in the way that he will have a hard time creating strong bonds with people in tight situations (warfare).
Lesson: For Telemakhos, he gets a better understanding of the suitors and he sticks up for what he believes is right about how to treat the beggar. He also learns more about the plan to defeat the suitors. Throughout the book, Telemakhos has to act in a way that will help him and his father defeat the suitors. For instance, he has to get as much info as he can about the suitors while not revealing what he is trying to do.
Character:Antinoos
Description: He is portrayed as the leader of the suitors and is the mastermind behind the attempted killing of Telemachus. He failed trying to kill him on sea and proposes they should kill him on the spot. His name means mindless. These two are the main suitors of Penelope and they are determined that Telemachus must go. For Antinoos, he acts in a manner that is beneficial to the knowledge of Odysseus because Odysseus now knows that Antinoos is one of the worst suitors. Antinoos is just getting totally baffled about the situation and getting a false sense of security by thinking that he is in control of the situation.
Character: Eurymachus
Description: His name means wide fighting. Eurymachus is a main suitor of Penelope. When Penelope comments on their topic of killing her son, he says they never had any intentions of killing him.
Character: Eumaeus
Description: Eumaeus is the first to greet Telemachus when he comes home. That is because Telemachus trusts Eumaeus to tell Penelope of his arrival without letting the suitors know. Eumaeus rushes to the palace but another messenger spreads the word of Telemachus’ arrival before Eumaeus can stop him. Eumaeus shows his loyalty by doing whatever is asked of him, including rushing back and forth between the palace and his hut.
Character: Penelope
Description: Penelope is first pulled aside by Eumaeus to tell her of Telemachus’ return, but a messenger shouts the information first. When Penelope hears the suitors talk of killing her son, she is furious and tells them they shouldn’t be pigging out in the hall of Odysseus and eating his food. This is when she finally shows her anger towards them, and that they are ruining her life.
Character: Athena
Description: Throughout the epic, Pallas Athena was the guardian of Odysseus and Telemachus. In book XVI she changes the appearance of Odysseus to have him be recognized to Telemachus and also changed back to a beggar when Eumaeus is present to hide his identity.
Character: Amphinomus
Description: Amphinomus is the reason that Telemachus stays alive after Antinous proposes they kill hi sooner rather than later. He suggests that they consult the gods before killing the son of a king.
Character: Other Suitors
Description: In total, there are: fifty-two from Doulikhion, twenty-four from Same, twenty from Zakynthos, and twelve from Ithanka.
Literary Devices
Theme
Love and Loyalty- Penelope shows this theme the most. Imagine if fifty hot guys showed up at your door saying they wanted to marry you. Would you say no? I didn’t think so. Penelope, on the other hand, remains hopeful that Odysseus will return. Unfortunately for her, her husband isn’t as loyal.
Symbolism
Bronze/golden sword
Supreme spiritualization
Black armor
How things were ruined when Odysseus left.
Black ship
Evil since the suitors wanted to kill Telemachus.
Eating Odysseus’ food
Taking advantage of him.
Homecoming
“Cries burst from both as keen and fluttering as those of the great taloned hawk, whose nestlings farmers take before they fly” (p. 296, lines 257-259). This is related to the theme of homecoming (Odysseus). It is saying that when the father is away, his young are taken (in Telemachus’ case, by adulthood) before the young are ready, but when the father returns, the young are no longer dependant on the father.
Argos
Argos symbolizes what has happened while he was gone. While Odysseus was gone, nobody took care of Argos. Argos could have been great, but because Odysseus was gone, he did not reach his full potential. Replace Argos with Odysseus’ palace. Argos represents the palace to Odysseus before he enters it.
Suitors' Food
The second symbol in this book is the food of the suitors. While Odysseus goes around to each of the suitors, begging, the amount of food each suitor gives him, in Odysseus’ mind, determines the greatness of the suitor. If the suitor doesn’t give food, he is a bad suitor.
Connections
Reunions
In real life, reunions happen all the time. This mostly happens with foster children. Either the child is very curious or the parent wants his or her kid back, and they track each other down. There are also family reunions where people meet relatives they never knew before. Also, there are reunions in other mythology. The best example is the story of Persephone.
Iraq
When a U.S. soldier finally returns from war in Iraq, most everyone is relieved to him/her. This can be related to Odysseus’ homecoming when Telemachus is overjoyed to finally see his father who was gone for twenty years. These ideas share the same emotions-tears, hugs, kisses, and the feeling that someone they know is finally home safe after a long journey.
Plans
The situation in this book isn’t your everyday story but a spin off can be made. Right now, American troops are in
Iraq. When the troops need to take over an area with the bad guys in it, they have to make a plan. That is just what Odysseus and Telemakhos are doing. They are formulating a plan to take down the suitors, without the suitors realizing a thing. The best thing that the troops could do is surprise the bad guys and be in a strategic formation. Odysseus and Telemakhos are formulating their strategic formation and how they are going to go about killing the suitors. They will have the element of surprise later when the beggar turns back into Odysseus.
Other Mythologies
The Odyssey is connected to many mythologies. For example, one of them is
The Voyage of Bran Son of Febal. This book in the Odyssey is also related to other mythologies because Odysseus is a trickster. In this book, Odysseus tricks everyone by assuming the shape of a beggar thus, making everyone believe he is a beggar. Hermes in Greek mythology is a trickster figure, as is
Eshu in West Africa and
Coyote in many Native American legends. Odysseus is a trickster. He is the "man of twists and turns", as Homer describes him. But so is Athena in the Odyssey, with her constant shape-shifting. There are many female trickster figures in world mythology.
Links & References
There really isn't any extra stuff to put here. Sigh. What a sad thing. I don't like it when things are sad. Be sure to try and be happy! It makes life a lot more bright. Like a LiteBrite!
This Section By:
Kendall N., Trevor N., Derek R.
