Cedric Chan

September 20, 2010

H3D IB-B

Mr. Nicolay

Books XIII – XIX

I think that how Eumaios described about eating swine directly

reflects on the state of Ithaca. This is because, as we have learned

from the previous books, the suitors are very power-hungry and also

drains Odysseus’ home of all its contents, squandering his resources.

We can also infer, based on this passage, the social structure of Ithaca

because when he depicts that they only get to eat the young pigs since

the fattened ones are for the suitors, it shows that all of the good

things in Ithaca are only for the rich and powerful such as the suitors,

and that the average and poverty-stricken people, such as the rest of

the population of Ithaca, is left to fight over the leftovers of the rich,

that the rich basically govern their lives. This can be seen in numerous

circumstances during Odysseus’ journey such as dealing with the

Cyclops Polyphemos since it was during this time that Odysseus seems

very helpless when faced with the challenge of escaping the giant.

Polyphemos’ attitude towards Odysseus and his men and also towards

the gods also reflect on the suitors’ attitude towards the other Ithacans

since they believe that power is everything and that by gaining

Penelope’s hand in marriage, they can attain absolute power over the

entire kingdom, something Telemachos wanted to prevent from

happening.

This crumble of social structure can be seen widespread, not only

within the story of Odysseus and Telemachos, but also in real life,

especially in history. A good example to clarify this statement would be

the period of martial law of the Philippines under the rule of Marcos.

During this time, the society was crumbling; people were becoming

lawless and creating this façade or image that “crime is legal”. If we

look at this portion of Philippine history in the context of the Odyssey,

we can easily tell that Marcos and his government and cronies are the

suitors because while they both drain the Philippines and Odysseus’

house of its resources respectively, they are also simultaneously

gaining more wealth and more power. As for the rest of the Filipinos

suffering during that time, they can be compared to the likes of

Eumaios, whom I believe represents all the common people of Ithaca,

because all these people wanted was what was good for the people

and for the country. They seek only peace and nothing else but despite

this, the ruling power still abuse the authority bestowed upon them for

their personal gains.

As for the latter part of the message, this is true in the sense

that when we look back that all of the Christian teachings, it seems
that both the Greek and Christian gods abhor and disapprove sins and

abuses done by people against others. We see here that the gods are

just and will deliver justice to those who deserve it. Despite this

though, I think that this could also be wrong in the context of primarily

books 13 onwards, after Odysseus comes back home because since

the Greeks have this code of Xenia, which explains that the Greeks

always welcome anyone, even if they are strangers because they think

that these strangers are gods in disguise, they let Odysseus in, but

after Poseidon turned the ship to stone, the Phaiakians resolved never

to send conveyance to strangers, which inexplicably states that they

broke the code of Xenia. This shows that although the Greek gods are

just and will help those who deserve their help, the gods are also

selfish since Zeus allowed Poseidon to destroy the ship, which directly

resulted in the Phaiakians’ resolve, in order to keep the peace between

gods. So this act of Zeus shows that the gods are more worried, and

probably cares more about their own welfare and structure rather than

the people who worship them.

Word Count: 637

Books XX – XXIV

In my opinion, I believe that this passage depicts the clever side

of Penelope, just like how Odysseus has his cunning ways of getting

information; even Penelope shares this common trait with him.

 If we look at the Odyssey as a whole, it seems as if the whole

story is full of lies and deceit, two forms that depict cunningness. The

reader sees people, left and right, lying to each other like there’s no

tomorrow. Although this is pretty prevalent in the story, we, the

readers, have to also understand why do these characters lie.

Comparing this story to our lives, the most common reason people lie

would be to protect their own interests; they fear that the truth would

destroy them so they decide to hide it. I believe that this is true

because whenever I watch movies, or TV shows, people will lie to

protect those that they love. I remembered when I watched an episode

from the TV show “Bones”, there was a murder case in which a female

was apparently killed with a stapler and then thrown down an elevator

shaft. After much investigation and deliberation, the investigation team

manages to track down the suspect. The viewers later on realize that

the suspect wasn’t really the true suspect at all, that he was just an

accomplice. The accomplice tries to protect his officemate and friend

because of his love for her, and when the real suspect was found, the

suspect explains why she did it, and later on realizes that her friend

tried to protect her. So we see in this example that lies are most

commonly used as a preventive measure, we use it to protect others or

our own interests. Despite these things, lies always seem to be broken

and the truth revealed. Back to the context of Penelope, despite

Odysseus trying to tell her that he is really Odysseus, she lives on a lie
that he may not be Odysseus because she believes that he must’ve

already died. This can be seen as a precautionary measure to protect

herself because she had already gone through a lot of suffering under

the suitors’ reign of terror. So she tries to use the bed in order to test

her husband because even though she is technically lying to herself

about Odysseus, this act of asking to bring down their bed is the way

for her to discover the truth behind her own lies, lies that blind her and

cloud her judgment.

This act of protective lying is also seen during the encounter with

Polyphemos. When Odysseus lied to the Cyclops about his name to

protect himself and his companions, and also as a clever strategy in

order to escape, we see that later on in the story, Polyphemos actually

still ends up finding out about Odysseus’ true name, albeit because of

Odysseus himself. Another example would be when Odysseus lied to

both Eumaios and Telemachos about his identity in order to protect

himself from the suitors and their supporters while at the same time

testing the loyalty of both the swineherd and the son, which he was

forced to reveal later on.

In the end, being smart and cunning also has its risks in which

the person will be forced to do things that are not really considered

morally correct such as lying. Despite this, the acts committed in this

act of cleverness never stay closed and that sooner or later, the truth
will be revealed and that karma will take its effect.

Word Count: 588