Analyzing The Characters In Book 12 Of Homer's Odyssey

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What happens when you leave little children alone? Most times, when a parent or adult goes off and leaves the children alone, the children will find a way to get themselves into trouble. This is the case in Book 12 of Homers Odyssey, in the episode Thrinacia and The Cattle of the Sun. This episode is one of the final tests in Odysseus’s wanderings. Circe warned Odysseus to heed the warning Tiresias who prophesied doom if Odysseus stopped on the Island of Thrinacia. Tiresias says that if they stop, and nobody touches the cattle of Helios on the Island, everyone would be okay, and Circe reminded Odysseus of this prophecy before he left her island. Odysseus was aware that basically nothing good could have come from stopping on Thrinacia. However, Odysseus’s crew begged and pleaded and convinced him to stop on the island. This seems to be a theme throughout the Odyssey. Odysseus has many beings give him council for his safety, but then his crew wants something different and he gives in, which leads to disaster. Three …show more content…

If Odysseus had made his crew to continue onward and not stop on the island then his crew would most likely have survived and he would not have been imprisoned in Ogygia for 8 years. I also think that the lessons learned from this episode allowed Odysseus to act in a more effective manner when he finally returned home. On the island, his men’s want overcame their better judgement and they ate the cattle. Odysseus told them they would die if they partook, yet they all chose to eat. Similarly, Odysseus bided his time and thought through the best way to go about revealing his presence once he was home. If his want to reunite with his wife and son had overcome his better judgement of watching and waiting, then he most likely would have been killed. Instead, he waits for Penelope to devise a way to reveal his identity and thus, successfully returns home and clears his house of the possible