A Book With Twenty-Four Chapters In Homer's The Odyssey

Cristina Hernandez
Period 4
December 4th, 2017

The Odyssey is a book with twenty-four chapters. It is about a king that went to a war a Troy and took a long time to come back. He faced many difficulties along the way as well of his son. Through the book, there are many themes and morals to be learned. The audience should learn that no matter what the obstacle is, you can always overcome it.
There are many times this was shown in the story. For example, Odysseus did not give up trying to go home. The gods and many tried to get him to stay. “ Odysseus, now alone before the palace, meditated a long time before crossing the brazen threshold of the great courtyard. High rooms he saw ahead, airy and luminous as through with lusters of the sun and the moon, bronze-paneled walls, at several distances, making a vista, with an azure molding of lapis lazuli.” (Homer, Book 7)They offered him nice things and more but he refused to stay with them for the rest of his life. Instead, he decided that it would be best to keep on overcoming whichever obstacles were thrown his way. Doing as so, he eventually got home safe with his family. This shows that with anything is possible with perseverance and great determination.

Another example is the following.

Telemakhos searching for his father. His father had been gone for about ten years. He starts searching once the kingdom is getting out of control. This is mostly because of the suitors destroying and abusing the palace’s hospitality. Some kings he finds along the way tell him little bits of information.”And there is one I miss more than the other dead I mourn for; sleep and food like grow hateful when I think of him. No soldier took on so much, went through so much, as Odysseus. That seems to have been his destiny…” (Homer, Book 4) Some true while others were not. After a while had passed, the grey-eyed goddess, Athena, gave him a bit of help to reunite with his

father.
These are not the only themes there are. Another is vengeance. Some people think that this is a good theme. Odysseus killed the suitors and others for various reasons. The suitors were damaging his palace and being disrespectful to his wife, Penelope, and his son, Telemakhos. I believe that this theme is not very important because people should learn to forgive not to harm. This theme came up at the end of the story when Odysseus and Telemakhos killed the suitors. The audience should learn to forgive rather than killing people.
Overall, the theme of the story is that perseverance can get you anywhere. Evidence of this is as follows. With perseverance, Odysseus made his way home even though there were many obstacles. This is the same way Telemakhos found information about his father whether he was alive or died at war.