The Odyssey: Book 21

Book 21 (Margaret & Hannah)

Quote 1:
…he leapt to his feet and dropped his bright-red cloak, / slipping the sword and sword-belt off his shoulders. / First he planted the axes, digging a long trench, / one for all, and trued all to a line / then tamped the earth to bed them. Wonder took / the revelers looking on: his work so firm, precise, / though he’s never seen the axes ranged before. (21. 135-141)

Homer’s style includes epic similes, perfect word choice, and various sentence types. We thought this passage did a good job presenting his extensive thought process. The author of The Odyssey takes the simplest scenarios and twists them with intricate language for a further more interesting reading. His word choice is very descriptive as well. It gives the reader a better idea of what to picture while reading. One by one he takes you through the events that take place. In this quote, Homer portrays Telemachus attempting to use Odysseus’s bow and arrow. He looked as though he had done this a thousand times. It’s significant for Telemachus was thought to be like his father. With all his might he tried to prove to everyone that he was the warrior they thought, except it was a great disappointment.

Quote 2:
“And stopped his short despite his tensing zeal. / “”God help me,”” the inspired prince cried out, / “must I be a weakling, a failure all my life?” / Unless I’m just too young to trust my hands / to fight off any man who rises up against me.” (21. 148-153)

Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, is thought to be just as tough as his father. In book 21, Telemachus shows a great amount of character and this quote tells a lot about who he is as a person. It’s evident that Telemachus looks up to his father and wants to be like him. He’s admitting though that he is not as great in strength as his dad. The prince is not a failure, but instead has qualities he has not yet discovered. Odysseus was born with great prudence and power which his son might not inquire, at least though Telemachus can acknowledge it which shows a big step forward for his character.

Quote 3:
“ So they mocked, but Odysseus…once he’d handled the great bow…like an expert singer skilled at lyre and song- / …with virtuous ease Odysseus strung his mighty bow” (21. 451-456).
The significance of this quote is Odysseus’ whole persona throughout this scene. An image is created of this beggar looking so poor, but on the inside a man so intellectually wealthy. Odysseus will always be a king at heart. A bow so tight that not any man in the room could string it, and Odysseus does so with eloquent ease. This passage says yet more about what a strong man- physically and mentally- he is.

Elements of Monomyth
This book of The Odyssey, “Odysseus Strings his Bow”, is the Rescue from Without portion of the monomyth hero quest. Odysseus comes home at last, just to overcome the final obstacle to get rid of the suitors in his house. When he arrives he is a total stranger and must prove his identity to the two king’s men outside of his house. He does so by revealing a scar he has on his foot. “The men gazed at it, scanned it, knew it well, / broke into tears and threw their arms around their master- ” (21. 249-250). Now that Odysseus has overcome the challenge of proving he is the king of their house, he now continues in his Rescue from Without portion of his hero quest. He receives help from a close servant of the household, Eumaeus, along the way. With the aid of Eumaeus he is given the chance to shoot an arrow through the twelve rings and win Penelope’s hand in marriage, which of course, he had all along.

Book 21 (Charlie & Greer)

Important quotes:
“Friends, / I can’t bend it. Take it, someone-try. / Here is a bow to rob our best of life and breath, / all our best contenders! Still, better to be dead / than live on here, never winning the prize/ that tempts us all-forever in pursuit, / burning with expectation every day.” (21, 172-178).

This quote is significant because it foreshadows the death of the suitors at the hand of Odysseus and his bow. The seer prophesizes this after attempting and failing to bend back Odysseus’ bow in order to win Penelope as a wife. The other suitors mock this prophesy openly but it seems as though they are slightly worried that it will come to pass. This prophesy gives the contest an air of uncertainty and intrigue, which is shown when Antinous refuses to allow the disguised Odysseus to attempt to bend the bow. This also shows Homeric style in the form of prophesies used for foreshadowing and setting moods in scenes.

“I’m right here, / here in the flesh-myself-home at last, / after bearing twenty years of brutal hardship. / Now I know that of all my men you two alone / longed for my return. From the rest I’ve heard / not one real prayer that I come back again. / So now I’ll tell you what’s in store for you. / If a god beats down the lofty suitors at my hands, / I’ll find you wives, both of you, grant you property, / sturdy houses beside my own, and in my eyes you’ll be/ comrades to Prince Telemachus, brothers from then on. / Come, I’ll show you something-living proof-/ know me for certain put your minds at rest. /
This scar, / look, where a boar’s white tusk gored me, years ago, / hunting on Parnassus, Autolycus’ sons and I.” (21, 233-246).

This quote is the return of Odysseus to those faithful to him, he chose these two as the only loyal men who had been living in his house, and courting his wife. This quote also shows the beginning of his plan to eliminate all the suitors who had been gorging themselves on his possessions. The passage contrasts between Odysseus and Achilles that we saw, Achilles rage was blind and he would allow others to suffer like the Achaean men that died because he didn’t fight. Odysseus is different. He wasn’t going to kill those who had truly been faithful to him even if they had been with the suitors. His rage is only at those who offended him and he didn’t want to hurt anybody else.

“Not a shred of sense in your head, you filthy drifter! / Not content to feast at your ease with us, the island’s pride? / Never denied your full share of the banquet, never, / you can listen in on our secrets. No one else/ can eavesdrop on our talk, no tramp, no beggar.” (21, 321-326).

This is an ironic passage because Antinous is not allowing Odysseus to use his bow and partake in the games to win his own wife as a bride. Antinous is actually proposing that the suitors are being kind by allowing him to eat his own food. This also shows that Antinous is frightened to allow this lowly beggar to try his hand with the bow, showing that somewhere within Antinous he isn’t entirely self confident if he is taking a drifter as a threat to him.

Elements of the Monomyth:
Our chapter of the Odyssey fulfils two parts of the Monomyth.
First it gives Odysseus the “Ultimate Boon”. In this book Odysseus is give back his trusty bow. This bow is taken out by Penelope and given to the suitors to try their hand with it, they had to string the bow and shoot it through axes. When it is finally Odysseus’ turn to handle the bow, it signifies his ultimate boon. An ultimate boon is a special gift that helps the hero achieve their task and currently, in this book, Odysseus is trying to clear the suitors from his home. This bow allows Odysseus to kill the suitors and find peace at home.
Secondly it is a test which falls into the “Test/Ordeals/ Hero Deeds” category. In this book Odysseus has to string his bow in a competition to see if any are as strong as Odysseus (himself). This is a test to prove his strength over the other suitors and he wins the competition over all of them. Proving that after twenty years he is still the same man. Even though Odysseus is weary from his journey home he is still able to string his old bow which awes and frightens the suitors and then he shoots. His aim perfect. Odysseus passes this test flawlessly which helps him in the next part of his quest, slaying the suitors.