49 pages • 1 hour read
Gareth HindsThe Odyssey
Fiction | Graphic Novel/Book | YA | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Books 13-19Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Book 13 Summary: “Home at Last”
After Odysseus shares his tale with the Phaeacians, Alcinoos gives him many gifts and orders a ship and crew to return him to Ithaca. They arrive on Ithaca at night, and the Phaeacians deposit the sleeping Odysseus on shore with his gifts before sailing away. When he wakes up, Odysseus is initially disoriented and doesn’t recognize his homeland. Soon, Athena appears and confirms that he is back on Ithaca at last. Athena then disguises Odysseus as a beggar to protect him from the suitors who have taken over his household. She instructs him to visit his old swineherd, Eumaeus, who is still loyal and will help him to retake his home.
Book 14 Summary: “The Swineherd”
Odysseus reaches Eumaeus’s hut. Eumaeus greets him warmly and offers him hospitality, though he does not recognize his old master. Eumaeus describes the lawless behavior of the suitors and laments the absence of Odysseus; he has given up hope that the hero will ever return. Odysseus, in disguise, tells Eumaeus that he knows Odysseus is close and will be back on Ithaca soon. Eumaeus does not believe him. At his host’s prompting, Odysseus begins telling a fabricated tale about who he is and where he is from.
Book 15 Summary: “Telemachus Returns”
Telemachus reaches his ship at Pylos, having left Sparta together with Nestor’s son, Pisistratus. After parting from Pisistratus, Telemachus meets a prophet named Theoclymenus, who is running from men who are trying to kill him. Telemachus agrees to allow Theoclymenus to sail with him.
As the ship sails toward Ithaca through the night, Athena appears to Telemachus and advises him on which route to take. Telemachus follows Athena’s instructions, narrowly avoiding the suitors who are waiting to ambush and kill him. In the morning, Telemachus visits Eumaeus’s hut.
Book 16 Summary: “Father and Son”
Eumaeus embraces Telemachus and invites him to eat with him and his guest (the disguised Odysseus). When Eumaeus goes to the palace to tell Penelope of Telemachus’s safe return, Athena appears to Odysseus and temporarily removes his disguise so that he can reveal his identity to his son. Odysseus shows himself to Telemachus, and they embrace, overwhelmed with emotion. They make a plan to deal with the suitors, who are exploiting Odysseus’s household. Telemachus doubts that he and his father will stand a chance alone against so many enemies, but Odysseus is confident that they will prevail with the help of Athena and Zeus. Telemachus sets out for the palace to put the plan into action, while Odysseus resumes his disguise and waits for Eumaeus in the hut.
Eumaeus reports Telemachus’s arrival to a relieved Penelope. Meanwhile, the suitors return to the palace, annoyed by their failure to kill Telemachus. Telemachus soon arrives at the palace with Theoclymenus, whom he welcomes as his guest. Telemachus embraces Penelope and introduces her to Theoclymenus, who tells her that he has seen omens suggesting that Odysseus is on Ithaca and is planning his revenge.
Book 17 Summary: “Stranger at the Gates”
Odysseus, still in disguise, comes to the palace with Eumaeus. On the way, they are mocked by the goatherd, Melanthius, a disloyal servant of Odysseus’s. Entering the palace, Odysseus sees his old dog Argos lying neglected in a dung heap. Argos recognizes his master and dies; Odysseus tearfully enters the palace.
Odysseus sits at the threshold of the palace and begs for food. Telemachus and some of the suitors give him a few scraps, but Antinoos throws a stool at him when Odysseus insults him. Penelope sees the “beggar” and asks Eumaeus to bring him forth so that she can speak with him. However, Odysseus is worried that the suitors may become suspicious, so he suggests that they wait until nightfall before speaking.
Book 18 Summary: “Beauty and Blows”
A rival beggar comes to the palace and challenges Odysseus. He wants sole rights to beg at the palace. Antinoos encourages a fight between them, declaring that the loser will not be allowed to return to the palace. Odysseus easily defeats the other beggar, knocking him out with a single blow. After the fight, one of the suitors, Amphinomus, brings him a drink and congratulates him on his victory. Odysseus warns him to part ways with the suitors, stating that if he does not, he will meet a bad end when Odysseus returns.
Book 19 Summary: “Penelope”
When night falls and the suitors go home, Telemachus and Odysseus implement their plan. They hide the weapons in the main hall so that the suitors cannot access them. Then, Penelope comes to speak with the disguised Odysseus. She does not recognize her husband but is struck by his wisdom and demeanor. During their conversation, Odysseus claims to have met Odysseus long ago on Crete. He promises Penelope that her husband is on his way and will be home soon.
Penelope sends an old servant named Eurycleia to wash the beggar’s feet. As Eurycleia is doing this, she recognizes Odysseus by an old scar on his leg. Odysseus tells Eurycleia to keep his identity secret, and she promises to help him reclaim the household.
After Eurycleia washes Odysseus’s feet, Penelope comes back and tells him about a dream she had in which an eagle killed her pet geese before declaring himself to be Odysseus. (The geese were Penelope’s suitors.) Penelope is unsure whether to interpret this as a prophetic dream or a deceptive dream. Odysseus repeats his claim that Penelope’s husband will return home very soon. Penelope, however, does not want to get her hopes up. She says that on the next day, she will hold a contest to choose her new husband. She will marry the man who can string Odysseus’s old bow and shoot an arrow through 12 axe heads.
Books 13-19 Analysis
In Book 13, Odysseus’s return to Ithaca proves bittersweet at best as he grieves over the shambles that his household has become and holds true to The Importance of Family Loyalty. By arriving in the guise of a stranger, he must suffer a range of indignities and endure the suspicions of his subjects and the suitors alike. Once again, this section highlights his reflexive use of trickery and deceit to further his aims, for he follows Athena’s influence and infiltrates his own home in the guise of a lowly beggar. Thus, although his patron goddess is clearly on his side, Odysseus must rely upon his wits, strength, and quick reflexes to implement his plan. This part of the story is primarily focused on revenge, but Odysseus himself must also undergo a series of trials and humiliations before he can reclaim his home and family.
Odysseus’s disguise both protects him and allows him to discern his enemies from the steadfast loyalists of his long-neglected household. As a beggar, Odysseus experiences the impiety and injustice of the suitors for himself, as when Antinoos hits him with a stool or when he is forced to fight another beggar for the right to remain in his lowly place within the palace. This ruse allows him to discover which members of his household are still loyal to him, and he uses his cunning to amass a few key supporters, such as his son Telemachus, the goatherd Eumaeus, and the servant Eurycleia. Armed with his plan and his allies, he also demonstrates his vaunted self-control by enduring unpleasant encounters with Melanthius, who kicks him to give him “a taste” of the treatment he can expect from the suitors, and with the maid Melantho, who dismisses him as a “creepy old man” (190). Once again, Odysseus utilizes the skills of warfare to infiltrate and “sack” his own home, thereby bringing the violence of war to his very doorstep in his efforts to reclaim his due.
While Odysseus’s reunion with Telemachus and his loyal servants highlights The Importance of Family Loyalty, Books 13-19 also place great emphasis on the motif of recognition. As the disguised Odysseus enters the palace for the first time in 20 years, his old dog Argos immediately recognizes him, then expires from neglect and old age. While these details alone are designed to invoke a sense of grief and pity, Hinds uses his artistic approach to emphasize the emotion-laden moment by drawing anguished tears in Odysseus’s eyes as he looks at the dog. Notably, the loyal Argos is the first creature to recognize Odysseus despite his disguise; the second is Eurycleia, Odysseus’s old nurse, whose eager response reassures the hero that not all the people in Ithica have forgotten him or become disloyal. Ironically, Odysseus’s family members need more help in recognizing Odysseus; in Book 16, for example, Athena must temporarily remove Odysseus’s disguise to help Telemachus recognize him, and in Book 19, Penelope converses with the disguised Odysseus without realizing that he is her long-lost husband. This lack of recognition also suggests that Odysseus himself has changed drastically in his 20 years away from home.
The Role of Divine Intervention in Human Affairs also becomes more prominent as the gods increasingly appear or send signs to confirm their support of Odysseus. In Book 13, Athena is the first to welcome Odysseus home to Ithaca, and Odysseus calms Telemachus’s concerns by declaring that Athena and Zeus will stand with them when they battle the suitors. Similarly, in Book 19, Penelope recounts a dream predicting Odysseus’s return.
By the end of Book 19, Odysseus has finished preparing for his revenge; he has tested the loyalty of his household and family, and he also empties the hall of weapons so that the suitors will be unarmed when he makes his move. These actions reveal his habitual focus on strategy as he essentially turns his own home into a battleground. However, he withholds his violence until he has confirmed that the suitors have indeed behaved unjustly and deserve to be killed. Now, all that remains is for Odysseus to take the final step and reassert himself as the husband of Penelope, the father of Telemachus, the master of his household, and the king of Ithaca. By detailing all of these preparations, Hinds dramatizes the descriptions in the original version and raises suspense regarding the hero’s final task, which will require all of Odysseus’s intelligence, strength, and divine favor.
