The beginning of Book 10 marks Odysseus’ arrival to the home of Aeolus where he had been provided everything he needed for his journey home. After one month had passed, Odysseus alone was given a gift to help him on his way, which caused tension amongst the crew. Ten days later, the vessel is in close proximity to the shores of Ithaca and Odysseus—after being sent into a state of fatigue from the open seas—falls asleep. Meanwhile, his fellow crewmembers start to question why Odysseus has been given a special gift and they are there simply to be tugged along for the journey. Behind his back, they open the bag that contained winds. The huge gust sends the vessel back to the island of Aeolus. After the entire incident, Odysseus states, “our own reckless folly swept us on to ruin,” (31) which sparks the question, why does Odysseus include himself in his statements about why he and his crew didn’t make it home to Ithaca with the help of Aeolus’ gift?
Although blame at the simplest level can be placed on the crewmembers for sneaking into Odysseus’ belongings, Odysseus still feels that fault is partly his. He feels like a parent, having to take control of his “children” on board and try and keep them out of trouble. With the job of captain, Odysseus must carry the load of numerous responsibilities and duties. Instead of dozing off while approaching shore, he ought to have been maintaining order of his children. His action of taking the blame may show how unstable he is. After being swept back to the Aeolian island, he was faced with the dilemma of whether he should “leap over the side and drown at once or grit [his] teeth and bear it, stay among the living.” Because Odysseus is overwhelmed by the temptation of death, he is pulling himself deeper into a world of melancholy. The build-up of upsetting events in his life may innately lead Odysseus to place more burden on himself to sink lower. It may have been wrong of him to keep his secret inside. I was glad to find out that in book 12 he learned from his mistake and told the crew the information that Circe had provided him about their new route home. This begs two questions: is or is not Odysseus to blame for the ship’s delayed return? Is the crew’s action of opening the bag justified?
From Book Ten we are more familiarized with Odysseus’ comrades. As noted before with the bag of wind incident, the crew as a whole displays a less mature, inferior, inexperienced façade upon comparison to Odysseus, which brings up the question whether or not he is a reliable narrator and what can be considered sufficient to understand the backbone of his story. There are two crewmembers mentioned in Book 10. Eurylochus, who is second in command, was given the special opportunity to lead half of the squadron to Circe's dwelling. Upon arrival, he was able to sense a possible trap, which sends him back to the base location in order to alert Odysseus. From the narrator’s standpoint, Odysseus looks like the more dominant figure, since it is he who builds the courage to go against Circe and her potions. In the meantime Eurylochus is portrayed as the scared, feeble student beckoning to Odysseus, “You will never return yourself, I swear, you’ll never bring back a single man alive,” and retreating to the black ship to eat and drink in safety. The other said comrade, Elpenor, is provided an even more humiliating reputation. Being the youngest member, he ironically dies at the end of Book 10 by walking off of a rooftop semi-conscious after waking up. Odysseus, like many other powerful figures at the time, may have perceived himself as honorable and heroic if death comes in a battle or as a result of a respectable hardship in his life. As a way of lowering the status of the crew around him, his condemns comrades such as Elpenor with a poor reason for death, probably as a way of taking out his anger for not having a heroic demise in the Trojan War. In terms of being a “good” storyteller, I personally think that Odysseus’ comments on the other characters are a nuisance, but as long as the appropriate historical events were laid out in the chapter, that may be considered sufficient.
As a narrator, is Odysseus reliable?
Michael, your post is very insightful to say the least with the skepticism built around both Odysseus and his crew as he narrates his troublesome journey. I have to agree that the crew's action described by Odysseus is incompetent and foolish and that they cause grief for themselves and Odysseus. However, I believe that they are entirely to blame for going against their sworn king and leader. Given that they were veterans in the ten-year war against Troy, it is only common to expect that Odysseus would be given full respect and obedience. The crew's actions are not justifiable because they are openly mutinous and greedy.
ReplyDeleteNow, Odysseus as a storyteller also poses a problem to decide who is at fault for his woes. He indeed blames himself for not being responsible enough in the stories, but the stories only hold details of his exploits and not the crew's deeds. Understandably that they are not as important but if Odysseus does care for his crew as he claims, I believe he would've shared their stories more. Odysseus' account of different events can also be questioned but the fact that Odysseus is the only one alive to tell the tale allows him to create truth in essence to the Phaeacians.
It seems that Odysseus does not tell his tale wholeheartedly, but only the tales that he wishes others to hear, to sympathize with and respect him. In fact, the gods might not even have to do with his misfortune but the only truth given is Odysseus' version of truth.
Hey Michael. I think you did a wonderful job at summarizing this book. I agree with many of the statements that you made. I also agree with Stephen and I think that the crew's actions were wrong. I don't think that they should have opened the gift that Odysseus was given. Even though they were curious, it still wasn't theirs and they shouldn't have touched it let alone opened it in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Odysseus should blame himself for the mishap. Even though he feels as though the people are his "children," it still wasn't his fault entirely because in reality, it was the crew who did the wrong thing. The crew never should have gone into Odysseus' belongings in the first place.
I agree with you and Stephen as well in regards to Odysseus as the narrator. It seems like he may have only told specific parts of the story and left others out. I'm not saying he's entirely unreliable but since we have to question him as a source in the first place is a negative thing.
I agree with what has been said so far, Odysseus crew should not have opened the gift. I think Odysseus includes himself because he feels that because he is in charge of his crew what they do reflects on him. It is just like when a kid does something wrong and the parents take part of the blame. This is because parents are in charge of their kids. Odysseus should have told his crew what was in the bag because they would not have been so curious to open it and look. If they did not look they could have been on their journey home. Odysseus takes this one little incident and blames himself for the whole thing, which is expected because he is the leader.
ReplyDeleteThe bag being opened was not Odysseus fault, his crew should have listened to him when he told them not to touch it. Because the crew did not listen everyone paid the price, which usually happens when the majority disobeys.
I agree with Rebecca and Stephen in that Odysseus only tells parts of his story. This is a great question and I am glad it has been brought up. In the previous chapter Odysseus would not play sports against his friends because he knew he would beat them. But then he got irritated and proved and bragged about how he is good. Odysseus is the type of person who does not like to look bad in front of others. Because of this, he might not be telling some parts of his story because he will lose respect, and he needs to look good in front of the people who are helping him on his journey home. If he tells parts of his journey that make his look selfish the Phaeacians might think differently of him and not give him as many glorious gifts or a safe trip home.
Michael, great job on your blog. You bring up a lpt of interesting ideas worth discussing in depth.
ReplyDeleteI do think that it was wrong for the crew to open the gift given to Odysseus. In my opinion, their downfall was totally the crew's fault. If they would obey their leader and do as they are told, none of this would have happened. And to answer your queation about Odysseus' reliabality, I agree with what Haley and Rebecca have already said. I do feel as if he leaves parts of his journey out primarily to mask himself from embarassment and his self image that he has created. To others, Odysseus is seen as this great hero that is perfect in every way possible. But we as readers dont know that for sure. So whether or not to trust him as a narrorator, is up to the reader but nothing can be taken as a gauranteed word.
I don't think that Odysseus should feel that it was his fault the men opened the sack. The men were jealous that Odysseus was beating treated better by Aeolus so they assumed that she gave Odysseus a sack of gold but it was actually a sack of wind which created a storm sending them back where they started. I thought that this was caused simply by their greed.
ReplyDeleteI think that it wasn't Odysseus' fault that they got sent back to the island but I do think that Odysseus felt that it partly his fault because Odysseus might have thought that he was causing bad luck. Michael mentioned that throughout the past few years in his life he had been through one bad event after another which may lead to Odysseus thinking that he is just a man that causes bad luck.
I think that Odysseus, being the great hero that he is said to be, deserves the right to tell his own stories in the way that he perceives them to be true. Like everyone though, Odysseus has his own separate opinion and it might not be the same as the reader's opinion.
As a narrator, is Odysseus reliable?
ReplyDeleteI think that he is and is not. The reason why I think he is, is because why would he mention the Gods’ help if he really didn’t receive any. I think that Poseidon, if he heard that Odysseus was bad mouthing him, would intervene during Odysseus’ recollection and show that the Gods really had nothing to do with this made up fantasy of Odysseus’. So since no god did intervene, it leads me to believe that Odysseus is telling the truth. Also, why would Odysseus lie about his whole crew being shipwrecked and dead when he himself is found briny and close to death. Obviously this statement could be twisted to counter my previous point, which leads me to say that he is unreliable. What does it matter to him if the Phaecians find out that he is lying after he had already left? It doesn’t, because he would be happily on his way and the Phaecians wouldn’t be able to revoke their hospitality. Also, it seems that Odysseus is desperate to get home, and desperate men do anything to get what is most precious to them. Recently, I watched a movie with my family with Densel Washington called John Q. In John Q, Denzel’s character is named John… obviously, and takes an operation wing of a hospital hostage because his son needs a heart to live. Being so desperate to save his son’s life, he goes to the most illegal lengths to get what his son deserves. I believe that this could also be said for Odysseus because all he wants is to get home. In the end it really doesn’t matter if his crewmates die in the end, it all matters if he makes it home.
Odysseus may also find himself responsible for the actions of his crew because it was he who prevented them from seeing what was in the bag, therefore heightening their curiousity and causing the incident that ensued. The Crew members were justified in their actions because they were there suffering alongside odysseus and they had a right to any gift that was given to Odysseus. The crew members could have been more tactful in their attempt to discover what was in the bag, yet it was odysseus who sparked their curiousity by hiding the contents of Aeolus' gift.
ReplyDeleteOdysseeus is a reliable narrarator. He may embelish stories and change small details to lower those around him or make himself look more heroic but he stays true to the general story, which is the most important part. Every story when it is retold is altered but each story still holds part of the truth.