Odysseus Journey Home Analysis

There is always a reason for everything. Weather it be why someone gets up in the morning, or the reason for going to work. In the epic poem, The Odyssey written by Homer, the main character Odysseus’ heroic story is told. Odysseus is a Greek king, he was forced to leave his wife Penelope, and newborn son Telemachus. It was mandatory that he fought alongside his military in the Trojan war. He was the mind that thought up the idea of the Trojan horse to end the war. After the ten year long war, Odysseus and his men had to go on another ten year journey home. Through it, Homer displays that Odysseus’ reason for returning was not the desire of a heroic status, but rather the Greek value of loyalty family and home. Homer uses the way

His home, for example, and his stories and actions in it, show it is a reason for his journey home. When Odysseus leaves the island of Ogygia, he lands at Phaeacia. There, he tells his story to the Alcinous, the king, in exchange for shelter and a way to Ithaca. When talking about why he wants to be home throughout the story, Odysseus says, “Where shall a man find sweetness to surpass/ his own home and his parents? In far lands/ he shall not, though he find a house of gold” (Homer 35-37). The use of a question show the importance of this statement to Odysseus. The question asks if anything can be better than your home. And because he asks Alcinous it forces Alcinous to think about it. Also, the symbol of the house of gold shows that Odysseus has found many forms of paradise on his journey. But none of these places have appealed to Odysseus more than his own home, Ithaca. After his stay at Phaeacia, when Odysseus has infiltrated his own home to stop the suitors from marrying his wife. Disguised as a beggar, he asks some of the suitors for food. But then Antinous, the lead suitor, asks Odysseus why they should give away someone else’s food. To which Odysseus responds, “[. . .]A pity that you have more looks than heart./ You’d grudge a pinch of salt from your own larder/ to your own handyman. You sit here, fat/ on others’ meat, and cannot bring yourself/ to rummage out a crust of bread for me!” (Homer 1215-1223). This is dramatic irony, because this man denied to give food to his supplier, Odysseus. These men do not show the hospitality to him or his family for years. And Odysseus asks for a single piece of bread, and these men retaliate with verbal assault. Asking why they should give Odysseus’ bread to him. The irony shows how the men had no respect for anyone but themselves, since they were the ones getting fed. Odysseus used his home as encouragement to make it back to