The Consequences Of Homer's Hospitality Code In The Odyssey

When the boat hit the sand on the shore of the island of Fiji, the indigenous people began their welcoming ceremony. With songs and dances, the native people welcomed me with open arms. Whether it is in the Pacific Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea hospitality is vital. Just like in Homer’s epic, The Odyssey, the hospitality code happens to be one of the main themes throughout life. Through reading The Odyssey, the audience learns about the Greek’s hospitality code through positive and negative examples. To begin with, the reader learns about the hospitality code through positive examples. First, when Telemachus is old enough to grow a beard, many suitors arrive in Ithaca to marry of Penelope. Hundreds of suitors from the surrounding countries arrive at Penelope’s home seeking housing and nourishment. Penelope allows the suitors to stay in …show more content…
After leaving the island of the Lotus-Eaters, Odysseus and his men arrive on the island of the Cyclops. Polyphemus, the Cyclops, rather than providing Odysseus and his men with housing, eats six of them. Since he ate the men, Odysseus had to blind him. Through this instance, the audience learns that consequences follow for not being a hospitable host. When Odysseus’s men leave the Charybdis, Calypso holds Odysseus’s hostage on her island. Calypso amplifies a negative example of a host by keeping Odysseus captive for seven years. The audience learns that some hosts are not only inhospitable, but the host sometimes physically hurts or captures the guest. After opening the bag of wind, Odysseus and his men arrive at the island of the Laestrogians. When arriving on the island, the Laestrogians attack and consume Odysseus’s crew. The Laestrogians defiled the hospitality code showing that some hosts ignore the code, and they would rather take a punishment then be hospitable. All three of these examples exemplify that some hosts are not hospitable to their