An Analysis Of Odysseus In Homer's Odyssey

In Book 5, Lines 394-399 of his Odyssey, Homer offers the following simile: “And as welcome as the show of life again in a father is to his children, when he has lain sick, suffering strong pains, and wasting long away, and the hateful death spirit has brushed him, but then, and it is welcome, the gods set him free of his sickness, so welcome appeared land and forest now to Odysseus, and he swam, pressing on, so as to set foot on the mainland”. In this paper, I will argue that although the surface meaning of this passage is that the land for Odysseus is like the recovery of a sick father for a child, the deeper meaning is that the passage and other textual evidence indicate several times that Odysseus is more like the father. This comparison anticipates the end of the book when Odysseus …show more content…
In this simile, it appears very obvious that Odysseus is being compared to a child. Homer writes,“ And as welcome as the show of life again in a father is to his children…so welcome appeared land and forest now to Odysseus” (Homer pg.98 394-398). As readers we are supposed to understand that Odysseus is just as happy as a child when their sick father recovers. It is very easy to understand why Homer would make the comparison, because both events would be very relieving, but what is interesting about this is why homer chose to compare odysseus to a child. In every other part of the book odysseus has been shown to represent a real man and is portrayed as being very father like. In this particular part of the book he is not only acting like a child, but he is being treated as one as well. In Book Five, Odysseus has people looking out