Ithaka Analysis

Ithaka begins by striking the reader with a “voyage” to a destination called “Ithaka.” The author proclaims that he hopes the “voyage is a long one,” which doesn’t appear to make much sense if we are trying to reach “Ithaka,” because surely the distention is superior to the place where the “voyage” started. Through this, the author distinguishes that “Ithaca” the “island” is not intended, but rather what is intended is “Ithaka” the spirit. In our voyage, we shall not be afraid of encountering “Laistrygonians, Cyclops” or “angry Poseidon… as long as” we keep our “thoughts raised high.” Now, these creatures are by no mean the only ones we would encounter if we physically “set out for Ithaka,” but if we “set out” for a spiritual journey “Laistrygonians, …show more content…
Then, in turn, we might discover that wisdom is the treasure we seek, not the materialistic “pearl and coral, amber and ebony.” The author acknowledges that the voyage will be a “long one,” making it also a very rigorous one; he advises that we keep our destination, “Ithaka,” “always in” our “mind,” to assist us in persevering. Nevertheless, when we keep the destination in mind, we shouldn’t “hurry the journey at all,” because that’s when we realize that the wisdom we have “gained on the way” is why we even “set out for Ithaka.” Our “Ithaka” has nothing to offer us but simply the reason why we “have set out,” and that is possibly the greatest objective that our “Ithaka” offers, an inspiration to reach wisdom. This explains the paradox of what the author says “Better if it lasts for years, so you are old by the time you reach” your “Ithaka.” Therefore, when we find “Ithaka” “poor” we “will have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.” Finding that our destination is “poor,” we will have “understood” that what we have gained from our journey, wisdom, if far more precious that what the