The Odyssey Blog 1

I just began reading the Odyssey, since i wasn't hear when the rest of the class read it, and i think that it is quite interesting. I've only read the first book entitled, "Athena Inspires the Prince", and it is a style of writing that I'm very unfamiliar with. But other than the type of writing being not what I'm used to, i understand the plot and what is going on in the first book. I know that Odysseus was in the battle at Troy and that his son, Telemachus, and everyone else in Ithaca think that he is dead. The one person that Telemachus doesn't think this is Athena and she tells Telemachus: "Yet i tell you great Odysseus is not dead. He's still alive...held captive" (Homer 83-84: 228-229). Athena brings this news to, so that he can have hope and begin to start acting more like a leader: "You must not cling to your boyhood any longer-- it's time you were a man" (Homer 87: 341-342). I think that this quote may be a huge hint to what may be a large part of this novel, and that is the growth and maturity that Telemachus is going to have to have in order to survive. While reading, this was the only theme or foreshadowing that i could pick up on but i think i will read it again in order to understand it better. The story seems interesting and I'm not quite sure where its going from here, but all i hope is that Odysseus comes home safely so his family doesn't have to worry about him any longer.