The Odyssey - post VIII

In between entering this whole debate about literary blogging and criticism it has been a really good day on the reading front and as well as getting stuck into Gogol a few more chapters were chipped away on the Homer front

Bullet points from chapters fifteen through eighteen

Fifteen
Athena goes back to get Odysseus son and in the meantime he hears the life story of the old man looking after the pigs and as a result of the tale the reader understands how loyal swineherd is to Odysseus family

Odysseus finds out that his wife is under siege from, suitors, that is father is not-eating and that the widespread feeling is that he is dead

Sixteen
The son returns and in a private moment Odysseus is revealed to him and they hatch a plan to attack the suitors

Penelope is told that her son has returned and the suitors, who were planning an ambush to kill him, return and regroup

Seventeen
Disguised as a tramp Odysseus comes to the palace and is taunted by the suitors and begs for food and as he does so he gets the chance to discover who is good and bad among the suitors – even though they are all going to be killed

Eighteen
As evening comes in Athena makes Odysseus see more things including the way the women in the palace take for granted Penelope and how the suitors expect an announcement to come soon of who will be chosen as a husband for Odysseus’s widow

Penelope asks to see the tramp but he replies that he will not come until nightfall so the scene is set for a meeting between husband and wife in the next chapter