Odyssey/Books/24

An Odd Ending to the Odyssey

While Odysseus and Penelope are again united, however briefly, Odysseus still has the task before him of placating the parents of the suitors that he just slaughtered. This becomes the primary task of the problematic book XXIV. I’ve always disliked this book that ends with a deus ex machina, suggesting that Odysseus truly did not learn anything on his nostos. The book opens with the suitors’ souls entering the Underworld, and a chat between Agamemnon and Achilles — we’ve come full-circle, for the Iliad began with the contention between the two Achaeans, but now they carry on like two old drinking buddies: Agamemnon still complaining about Clytemnestra and implicating all women in his archetypal disdain for their glib loyalties, even though Penelope provides as example that does not agree with his stereotype. I guess that once you’re dead, you can’t learn any different.

After some words by the two dead heroes who didn’t have much time for the dead suitors, the action shifts back to Ithaca, where Odysseus has chosen to disguise himself in order to fool his father, Laertes. Typical of Odysseus, he approaches Laertes in order to test him (disguised as “Quarrelman” — OK, Nobody was clever, but Quarrelman?), yet atypical of Odysseus he has no ostensible reason to. Why is he testing this poor man with “sharp words” other than to “trouble him” (XXIV.265)? This whole exchange makes little sense to me, nor does that scene that follows.

It seems that Odysseus is ready to do battle once again with the fathers of the slain suitors, many of whom seem as pig-headed and dense as their sons. Even though Athena urges them to “let matters rest,” half of the mob decides to assert their vengeance on Odysseus. Stupid stupid men. As the men approach, Odysseus and company are ready to fight again. Only Athena — appearing in her true form? — is able to stop them with a divine sanction: “Now hold!” / she cried, “Break off this bitter skirmish; / end your bloodshed, Ithacans, and make peace” (XXIV.592–94). Yet, Odysseus does not listen! He starts to attack, and Athena has to remind him to command himself: “Call off this battle now, / or Zeus who views the wide world may be angry.” Dude, remember, you pissed off Poseidon and look what happened; do you really want to do the same with Zeus? Has Odysseus learned nothing? I always feel short-changed after reading book XXIV; I think the epic should have ended with the last book, the reunion of Odysseus and Penelope, as that brings the action of the world, through the kingdom, back to the pith of all foundational relationships: home.

So, where is home, finally? And has Odysseus been successful in coming back? Even though Odysseus must leave again soon to carry the oar to the people who are strangers to the sea, he is destined to die as an old man at home. If an odyssey is a return it also represents that return through growth. In a way, Odysseus can never return home, for he left as a very different person, but does the concept of home then grow by the experiences he has in the world? Perhaps if we are to grow as a species, we must leave the comforts of home in order to re-imagine and return to the familiar by bringing in the different.

A friend of mine recently offered a bit of conventional wisdom: that which is earned means much more than that which is given. In my experience, this observation holds true for most things. In order for the concept of home to be significant, we must discover why it is significant to us individually. Yes, we can stand on the backs of giants for our traditional answer, but that leads to complacency, like the suitors, or we can go out into the world and return with experiences that allow home to mean much more, like Odysseus and Telemachus.

It seems that “home” encompasses that with is both positive and negative about our culture: home allows for shelter from a dangerous world, but it also isolates for that world’s wonders. We can hide behind our NRA memberships cards, blockaded with shotgun in hand against any intruders, or we can open the front door and let in some fresh air. Yes, dropping the drawbridge might allow some evil things in, but those challenges keeps a home worth fighting for and coming home to.

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