The Maturity Of Telemachus In Homer's Odyssey

“We don't mature through age. We mature in awareness.” Byron Katie, an American speaker and author. The Odyssey, by Homer, is about the main character Odysseus leaving his home of Ithaca to fight a battle in Troy. Odysseus also left behind his wife Penelope, and their newborn son, Telemachus. Odysseus has not been home in 20 years, so Telemachus did not have a father figure growing up. Telemachus is not very mature and he does not know how to act like a “real” man. Throughout The Odyssey, Telemachus has to mature to a man through his journey has to go on. Telemachus is a boy at the beginning of The Odyssey because he is weak. First, Telemachus is weak at the beginning of the story when he holds a meeting with the suitors and he wanted to speak. While one of the …show more content…
Homer shows this weakness in Telemachus by stating, “The boy could sit no longer - fired up to speak, / he took his stand among the gathered men” (Homer 2.37-38). Telemachus shows weakness here because he is clearly showing that he is not mature enough to control himself when he wants to say something, which exhibits weakness. If a real man is in this situation, even if he had a meeting with people he hated, he would wait his turn to make his remark, not just stand up and blurt out a comment, like how weak, Telemachus did. Second, on how Telemachus is a weak boy in the beginning of The Odyssey is how he even recognizes that he is weak, and admits it. Telemachus whines, “A boy inept in battle.” (2.65). Telemachus is referring to himself as weak, which shows he is lacking self confidence, and that he is weak not manly. Where he a man, he would be very confident in himself in what he can do, and he would not refer to himself negatively. He would be proud of who he is. Finally, on how Telemachus is a boy, because he is weak is when he got so frustrated in the meeting with the suitors, that he broke down and started crying. This is just because the meeting was not going his way.