I called an assembly of the Ithakans, just as my visitor suggested. The suitors firmly decided not to leave my father’s house. Curse them! I truly hope the gods give them what they deserve. Antínös said to me “… you should know the suitors are no to blame--/ it is your own dear, incomparably cunning mother./ For three years now—and it will soon be four--/ she has been breaking the hearts of the Akhaians…” (The Odyssey 21.) He actually had the nerve to say all this to me, blame the whole thing on my mother. It was a moment of vulnerability for me too; although it is hard to admit, my anger had driven me to the point of tears. We are the victims here; I don’t know what’s going to happen. All I know is that some immortal being has given me a purpose again so while my mother was asleep and unknowing, I sailed from Ithaka in hope of learning my father’s whereabouts. Odysseus will set everything right.
Pallas Athena speaks to the people of Ithaka through my son. I worry, though, that Telémakhos has not really “awakened” but is rather just parroting the grey-eyed goddess.
“Or if you learn that he is dead and gone,
then you can come back to your own dear country
and raise a mound for him, and burn his gear,
with all the funeral honors due the man,
and give your mother to another husband.”
-Athena, The Odyssey
Telémakhos repeats almost these exact words before the council but the credit for them seems to go to him. He sounds clever even th
ough he just repeated the goddess. He is also only making this journey because Athena suggested it. He had no idea what to do until she came along. So does this sudden strength and plan to voyage make him greater? My son is suddenly so clear-headed yet the strength behind his speaking seems, unfortunately, to belong to the great goddess. When he expresses “his” wise ideas to the villagers, they are basically word-for-word what the goddess instructed him to do. But then I wonder if he can still be a hero, because heroes do often need mentors or a situation for them to find their heroicness (just as I said a son needs his father to become a man.) Perhaps Telémakhos must act off Athena’s will now, because this is such a big transition for him. I can only wonder if he will later be able to think for himself and proceed without the help of a goddess. I certainly hope Telémakhos will be able to enter the door Athena has opened for him or he will have no heroic worth whatsoever.
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