Nostos In The Odyssey

Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey describes the journey of Odysseus trying to make it back to his island of Ithaca through many obstacles. All these interruptions along the way turned Odysseus’s journey home into a 10 year-long trip. Homer elongated Odysseus’s Nostos by composing the poem for listening as well as separating each major event into different books. Homer does this to keep showing the readers that Odysseus is an epic hero who must go through hardships during his long adventures. Homer elongates Odysseus’s Nostos to support the auditory experience and show his character by using literary devices in each book. One instance of Odysseus’s Nostos is during his visit with his mother in the Underworld. While in the Underworld to talk to

Once Odysseus finally confronts his mother, he starts to talk with her and let his emotions run free. He is curious and in grief which leads him to say to her, “Mother - why not wait for me? How I long to hold

The crew’s ship was let loose from the docks, the men were set sail for home, and as soon as they “swung back and the blades tossed up the spray an irresistible sleep fell deeply on his eyes, the sweetest, soundest oblivion, still as the sleep of death itself.” Odysseus is overcome by sleep because he finally feels calm that he is on route to take his rightful place as king and reunite with his family. Once the crew reached land, Odysseus failed to know his own kingdom that he had ruled. Odysseus has not been home for 20 years, in which he does not recognize Ithaca “for the goddess Pallas Athena, Zeus’s daughter, showered miss over all so under cover she might change his appearance head to foot … to the king himself all Ithaca looked strange.“ Athena disguised Ithaca and Odysseus, which allows him to keep his identity a secret until he can bring revenge upon the suitors. When Athena disguised herself and Odysseus, she confronts him to explain where he is. During the conversation of Athena and Odysseus, she finally tells him, “the name of Ithaca’s reached as far as Troy, and Troy, they say, is a long hard sail from Greece.” When Odysseus heard the name of his kingdom, he is filled with joy that he has finally made it home after 20 long years of going through a tough adventure. Although Odysseus has physically arrived at his island, he still has a little more to do to complete