It’s
necessary for Odysseus to go through all those trials before he gets back to
Ithaca. He is obviously already one of the smartest men around, he knows how to
use his head, but sometimes he still doesn’t listen, although he tries his
hardest to do what is best for him and his men to be able to return home. Like
we’ve mentioned before in class, Odysseus’ mindset needs to be different than
it has been while he’s been away at war, and now finding his way back home. He
has to know how to talk to people and interact with others instead of simply
fighting and strategizing all the time, which is what he had done for ten years.
He does still have to have a plan to get all the suitors out of his house, and
by this time he knows what he has to do to survive and get what he wants: he
should listen to advice given to him, because it’s generally going to point him
in the right direction (especially if it’s from a god), and accept help from
others. He’s changed so much over the last twenty or so years trying to get
back home, wearing a disguise shows that no one will recognize him, obviously,
but I don’t think he might have been recognized anyways. His demeanor will have
changed and the way he acts; twenty years is a long time to be away.
Eumaeus represents the good parts of
Ithaca, not the godless, chaotic place where all the suitors are eating all
Odysseus’ food and taking over everything. Eumaeus is thankful to the gods, and
sends them offerings before they eat. He’s like the other kings that Telemachus
met, treating guests kindly and the right way. Going to his hut certainly means
a move away from uncertainty on the sea, and not knowing how to find their way
home and being influenced by all sorts of different things, whether it be one
of the gods or simply the weather out on the open sea. Being back on land,
Odysseus knows what he has to do, and now he has a concrete plan, although we
might not know what it is yet.
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