Quest In Homer's The Odyssey

In How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, he informs the readers that the real reason for a quest is always for the character to gain self-knowledge. A quest is a journey that is long that one searches for something. In Homer’s The Odyssey, Odysseus goes on a quest and learns the importance of patience.
Odysseus, at the beginning, is very determines to get home and would do whatever it took to get there. In the story of “Calypso, the Sweet Nymph,” Odysseus does everything in his power to get home. Calypso asks him to stay with her, but Odysseus refuses. He kindly puts her down and says “it is true, each day I long to be home,” after being offered immortality (Homer 117-118). This event shows his determination to get back

to his home, Ithaca, after 20 years. In “The Cyclops,” Odysseus wants to get out of the cave to get home. The Cyclops told them that he would eat all of Odysseus’ men and then eat him last. Odysseus does not like the thought of this because he wants to go home, so he comes up with a plan. Odysseus plans to get out of the Cyclops home by puncture the Cyclops in the eye and get him to open the door. Like Odysseus, the Cyclops had things that only he could do, and that was moving the boulder to get in and out of the house. This event shows how he did anything to get out because, he hurt the Cyclops in the way to getting what he wanted, not really concerned about how his men were feeling. In “The Land of the Dead,” Odysseus goes to the land of the dead to learns his destiny. This story is important because the readers learn that Odysseus is impatient due to the fact that he does not want his life to just pan out itself, but instead he wants to know everything that is happening to him. His impatience kept him further back than getting him ahead because of all of the stops he made.
Odysseus gets discourage but learns that it will take time. In “The Meeting of Father and Son,” Odysseus is designed to look like a beggar after he finally returns to Ithaca, by the goddess Athena. Odysseus is at the house of Eumaeus and Eumaeus is waiting on Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, to return from his search for Odysseus. Odysseus sees Eumaeus and Telemachus’ relationship, which mimics how his relationship should have been with Odysseus. Of course, jealous Odysseus watches but eventually tells Telemachus who he is, and with the help of Athena, is transformed from a beggar to Odysseus while Eumaeus is gone. Telemachus does not believe Odysseus once he tells him who he is, but Odysseus assures him that he is really Odysseus by saying “No other Odysseus will ever come, for he and I are one... I am back again on my own land...” (Homer 1023-1024, 1027-2027). After Odysseus sees how Ithaca is, he realizes that people may not be as acceptive of his as he thought. In “The Test of the Great Bow,” Penelope test the suitors to string Odysseus’ bow, and she will marry that man. Of course, no one could string the bow, but Odysseus. Since Odysseus was back being disguised as a beggar, he decides to join the suitors in their challenge as he comes up with a plan to get his throne back. The suitors doubt that he can do it, but he does, so they hate on him. So as Odysseus comes up with his plan, he comes to the conclusion that it will be hard for him to be accepted again. This takes time, because he then has to get people to help him execute his plan. Although he is disappointed in all of the detours he has to make, he takes him, so that he can have Odysseus back to himself.
By the end of The Odyssey, Odysseus realizes that his presence alone won’t be accepted without time. Even after Penelope is convinced that the beggar is really Odysseus after the test of the great bow, she does not automatically accept him, since he has been gone for 20 years. Even though she is very devout to Odysseus, she test him again to be confident that it is really him. Odysseus understands why she would do this, but Telemachus doesn’t. Telemachus tries to get Penelope to rush back into Odysseus’ arms as if nothing happened. Unlike the old Odysseus, he goes along with Penelope test, and he passes it. This shows his maturity, because in this things did not go the way he planned it to be and he permitted that. By the end, Odysseus and Penelope are together again, like Odysseues hoped for, through time.
In The Odyssey, Odysseus learns the value of paitence on his quest. Quest are important because they expose the characters to self-knowledge.