The Odyssey

The Odyssey

The Odyssey, as many know, represents the journey of Odysseus after the Trojan wars. The book starts with Odysseus in Calypso’s island, where has spent the past ten years away from home. He is held as a prisoner by a beautiful nymph Calypso who is possessed by love for him. He desperately wants to return home but has no means. Back at home, his wife and son are forced to stay with several suitors in his palace who came to seek her hand in marriage. Although she remains faithful to Odysseus, they remain there. The book takes the reader through the journey Odysseus has to undertake to regain his palace and family. The meaning of the journey of Odysseus is the obstacles of life one has to go through to realize their full sense of being and their inner spirits. The journey in the book represents the growth one undergoes, as well obstacles that make us stronger. Therefore, the whole journey of Odysseus, from when he is imprisoned to when he sets sail and faces so many obstacles in the way, provides a further meaning to the book representing growth of the inner spirit.

When one starts reading the book, Odysseus is imprisoned by Calypso who has fallen in love with him. He longs to go back home but lacks the means to sail. At the beginning, one sees a person who is in low spirits despite having everything that could make him happy. However, he longs to go back home, where he knows he would find happiness. The hope for happiness is seen when Odysseus learns that he will have a chance to sail back home. However, he is assured that the journey will be full of pain, but still he wants to go home. This illustrates that happiness does not come from happiness. While seeking for happiness, pain becomes a part of the journey. It may be illustrated by the following example, “Good luck to you, even so. Farewell! But if you only knew, down deep, what pains are fated to fill your cup before you reach that shore, you would stay right here, preside in our house with me and be immortal” (Adrian, Robertson and Homer 223). Despite knowing the obvious dangers ahead in his journey, Odysseus does not accept the tempting gifts from Calypso such as becoming immortal. However, his happiness is being with his family. In this journey, as told by Calypso, he meets so many dangers that will test his life, as well as his faith. However, his spiritual strength grows even more. The journey represents such pain as a way of growing spiritually (Lower, 2002).

During the journey, he encounters many painful events that would kill a person. For instance, the god of the sea Poseidon wants to kill him by sending a severe storm. Poseidon does this in revenge after Odysseus has blinded his son. However, Athena intervenes to save Odysseus and lands in Scheria. This being another obstacle in his way of happiness, he has to fight it to survive. He uses his inner self to make decisions. This not only contributes to his character, but also to the whole book. The whole book is about human nature, heart, and inner feelings that guide our decisions. Odysseus is guided and protected by the gods’ trough out the journey to get back home. This also represents the need for believing in the gods, in one’s life. This also serves to show the whole book as representing the life of every man.

Odysseus is talking with Achilles in the eleventh book. In this conversation, the journey is in the afterworld, in the underworld. Odysseus says to Achilles, “… I see you lord it over to the dead in all your power” (Adrian, Robertson and Homer 551). This is after talking about his greatness while he was alive. Achilles, on the other hand, replies, “By god, I’d rather slave on earth for another man, some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scraps to keep alive than rule down hear over the breathless dead” (Adrian, Robertson and Homer 551). In every man’s journey, it ends when one dies. However, not all those who die find peace as people believe. Achilles was great and won many battles while alive, but in death, he finds no greatness and wishes just to be alive on the earth even without greatness, but as a slave. This illustrates the differences of the two worlds, where one wishes to be alive again after death, while some people lack the courage to live. With this part of the journey, one realizes that life comes once, and once gone it is never recovered. This reminds that everybody will have to die. Death chooses no greatness and death will come to everyone. The whole book is about the journey of a person. Great men will die too, and only memories of their greatness will be remembered by the living.

Telemacus embarks on a journey to find out what has happened to his father. Just like his father, he has to stop in some places for rest. There are many natural barriers between places. Besides, people have received hospitality in places where they have to stop. Those who do not offer hospitality are punished by the gods. Therefore, traveling relies on the hospitality offered by other. This is illustrated through the journeys traveled by Odysseus and his son. Polyphemus even kills and jails people. At the end, Odysseus managed to escape and blinded Polyphemus as punishment for his lack of hospitality (Lower, 2002).

Generally, the Odyssey means a journey. In this book, the journey itself develops the book through the experiences that Odysseus encounters on his journey back home. Through this journey, several themes of the whole book are developed such as spiritual growth, the life of a person, pain being part of life that everybody must go through, and perseverance to reach one’s goals among others. The journey does not only represent a mere journey, but a deeper meaning of life, with death being the final part of the journey that does not select greatness. The journey in this book represents the book itself, since it develops all the themes and motifs of the story. Additionally, the meaning of the book is a journey, namely the book is centered on a journey.

Works cited

Mitchell, Adrian, Stuart Robertson, and Homer. The Odyssey. London: Dorling Kindersley, 2000. Print

Lower, Brian. Hidden Themes from Adrian, Robertson and Homer’s Odyssey. www.union.edu, 2002. Web. July 27, 2012.