SETTING
•
The Underworld
 It’s called Hades after Hades the god of the underworld
•
Laertes Farm, Ithaca
• Takes place in the garden
PLOT
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Hermes brings the souls of the suitors into Hades
•
Odysseus goes to see his dad
•
Laertes doesn’t recognize his son at first but after seeing his scar, he knows it’s
Odysseus
•
The parents of all the suitors hold an assembly to decide how to avenge the
deaths of their children
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They create a small army and try to take revenge on Odysseus
•
Athena is disguised as Mentor and stops all the violence
•
Antinous’s father is the only one killed
•
Athena makes the suitors parents forget about the deaths of their children so
they will recognize Odysseus as their king
CHARACTERS AND THEIR ROLE IN THIS BOOK
•
The Suitors: They all argued about who had the better death and why. One of the suitors,
Amphimedon blamed their deaths on Penelope
•
Odysseus: He meets with his father, Laertes, and tells him a story about the fruit trees that
he gave him when he was younger
•
Laertes: He is overjoyed to see his son again, he cried when Odysseus revealed himself
•
Rumor: The goddess who spread news through the town that there was a massacre at
Odysseus’ palace
•
Halitherses: He is an old prophet, he tells all the suitors parents that their children deserved
to die
•
The Suitors parents: They wanted revenge on Odysseus so they created a small army
•
Eupithes: Father of Antinous, the only person killed in the small army
•
Athena: Stopped the violence of the small army as Mentor, and wiped the memories of the
suitors parents to make them believe Odysseus is their leader
MAIN IDEAS
•
One of the main ideas in this book is the reconciliation between father and son.
Laertes has grieved over Odysseus being gone for so long, that when he realized
that Odysseus had returned he was so overjoyed.
•
Another main idea, is the idea that the suitors are just as bad in the afterlife as
they are in their real life. They don’t blame their deaths on themselves, they just
blame it on Penelope, and even after they all decide to blame it on her, they still
have to argue over who was killed in the better way.
•
You can also see by the way that the suitors parents acts, where the suitors
developed their personalities from. Instead of realizing their children were wrong,
they just decide to try to kill the person who was in charge of their murder.
CLOSE READING
Read pages 454-455 lines 327-384
While reading:
•
Keep an eye out for literary devices and be prepared to talk about them with the
class
•
Understand the theme of reconciliation between Laertes and Odysseus
•
Be prepared to answer this question: Does this scene fit the rest of the rest of
Book XXIV?
ANALYSIS
“The suitors are warned first by the old man Halitherses and later by the
prophet Theoclymenus of what will happen if they persist in their wooing of
Penelope.”
This relates to my book because it shows how careless the suitors are. In
my book they complain that it is all Penelope’s fault that they died, but it is really
their own faults, because they didn’t listen to the people who warned them about
their deaths.
Lloyd-Jones, Hugh. "The Odyssey as Moral Fable." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
<http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE34&SID=&iPin=BMPHom23&SingleRecord=True>.
ANALYSIS
“But in this case, violence is the application of a learned skill, man's inner
aptitude developing through mastery exercised over the object—over the external
raw material. And all this, related in the past, evoked like a distant outside,
becomes the very core of the present tense of recognition.”
This connects to my book because the suitors parents turn to violence
after they get news their children were murdered. Athena came to the rescue to
rid their minds of the memories of violence. In this case it was through their acts
of violence that they unconditionally came to recognize Odysseus as king.
Starobinski, Jean. "The Inside and the Outside." Bloom's Literature. Facts On File, Inc. Web. 8 Dec. 2013
<http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&WID=17730&SID=5&iPin=BGTBJTO047&SingleRe
cord=True>.
ANY QUESTIONS?