Finished!

I finally finished reading out the book and I must say...I was dissapointed at the end. The poem just finishes abruptly. If you're going to make literature that lasts the ages, at least end it when a really good quote or something. Nonetheless, the book is absolutely thrilling and greatly told, the demons exactly as horrible and coniving as they should be, the kings talking exactly how a king might talk, and a happy ending happening exactly how it should. A great read to anyone interesting in a book like this!

Females

I see Odysseus as well as Telemachus going through some brutal things and Athena and the rest of gods are just looking at them as if they were watching Jerry Springer. Poseidon keeps throwing storms after storms at Odysseus as revenge for poking his son's (Polyhemus) eye out, Telemachus is running around as if he's trying to catch the moon and Athena is just watching them and pushing them here or there. That's what brings us to the beginning of the book- if Athena knew Odysseus was alive, why didn't she just tell Telemachus? It's either I missed a vital clue, or Homer left it out on purpose in order to make a good profit. Also, I just adored it when Calypso argued with Zeus saying that how come gods can woo human females but goddess are not allowed to bed mortal men. Just you just love it when females make a point and the men are lost for words?

A Hero?

Odysseus doesn't seem like a proper hero to me. What I'm saying is that, he doesn't really have the right qualities of a regular hero that you would see, that being always getting the upper hand of things, looking as good as it gets, and so on and so forth. There is a part where he is stranded ashore and Homer depicts him as naked and not having a sense of where he is. I found this very disturbing because I am always used to seeing a hero in glory most of the time. For instance, Super Man. He's always spotless clean with his cape and his big 'S' on his costume, his hair nicely sleeked back, and he tends to always do the right thing. This is the hardly the case with Mr. Odysseus. While his wife is at Ithaca, leading the suitors on and staying loyal to her husband, Odysseus spends his time in Calypso's bed at night. He doesn't even show a slight knowledge that he has a wife or any loyalty in the matter. Is that how men differed from women back then? Women strived to preserve their loyalty while the men eagerly awaited the next maiden willing to go to bed with him?

However, even though he doesn't act the "part", he certainly is a favorite of mine mostly because of all I've listed. He's different, unique and I applaud Homer for that. A contemporary character for contemporary time even though it took place in ancient times. You can't help but love Odysseus for the not-so-perfect hero image he portrays. Homer does not sensationalize at all, but gives the word "hero" a new meaning.