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.
Themes
The Challenges of Heroism and Leadership
The characters of Hinds’s retelling of The Odyssey, especially Odysseus, reflect many of the challenges of heroism and leadership. Odysseus himself is defined by qualities of martial skill and sly intelligence. He is depicted as a “man of many troubles […] skilled in all ways of contending” (1), and the narrative also claims that he has “no equal for cunning, and few for strength or skill in battle” (8). Projecting the most valuable qualities of leadership, Odysseus is respected by those who fought with him on the battlefield (such as Nestor and Menelaus) and is remembered by the older Ithacans for his “kindness and wisdom” (18). However, the heights of his heroism are matched by the abysmal lows of his extensive suffering on his journey home, and even his homecoming is fraught with the violence of war. The narrative therefore indicates that heroism itself often entails suffering, and this dynamic manifests throughout Odysseus’s story, as well as the stories of other heroes encountered in the graphic novel, such as Achilles, Menelaus, and Agamemnon.
To successfully endure his suffering, Odysseus must show a great deal of self-control and restraint, and this pattern remains steady across many different adventures. He does not taste the lotus fruit, nor does he harm the cattle of Helios or take immediate vengeance when the suitors insult him. By contrast, Odysseus’s men fail to show self-control at virtually every turn, and they are ultimately killed when they dare to eat the cattle of Helios despite Odysseus’s very clear warnings. Many of the challenges that Odysseus faces as a leader thus stem from the weakness of the men he commands, and the rest occur when Odysseus’s self-control proves inadequate, especially when he desires to indulge his curiosity by listening to the song of the Sirens). Odysseus’s lapses in judgment, while rare, often prove deadly to him and his men, most notably when he boasts of his identity to Polyphemus, who retaliates by asking his father Poseidon to ensure that Odysseus “never reach his home, or if the other gods decree that he must, let him come late, after long suffering, with all of his comrades dead, and let him find trouble waiting for him at home!” (110).
Saddled with the enduring wrath of the sea god, Odysseus soon finds that his leadership requires him to make great sacrifices, and other notable heroes reflect this fact as well. The hero Achilles, whom Odysseus meets in the Underworld, has given up his life for the sake of glory, and he now regrets this choice as he languishes in the eternal misery of death. As Achilles tells Odysseus, “I’d rather be plowing a furrow, or the lowest servant in some peasant king’s employ, than a lord among these empty souls” (133). Thus, Achilles’s experience indicates that Odysseus’s determination to reach his home and give up a life of war is a sound one. Odysseus therefore transforms from a violent city sacker—the famous warrior whose gambit conquered Troy—to a peaceful king who cherishes his family and loyal servants. This transformation is only complete when Athena tells him to avoid further conflict with the angry families of the dead suitors. As she tells him, “You must put away your sword if you would live in peace” (247).
Telemachus, like Odysseus, also struggles with the stringent requirements of heroism, for he must first gain the maturity to become a worthy successor for his father’s legacy as a hero and leader. Athena therefore guides the young man’s actions in Book 1, encouraging him to start asserting control over the household. He follows her advice by overruling his mother and by telling suitors to be quiet, displaying a “high and mighty manner” that threatens the suitors’ position in the household (12). Telemachus also learns about the world—and his father—by traveling to Pylos and Sparta, and he proves himself as a warrior by helping Odysseus kill the suitors.
The Role of Divine Intervention in Human Affairs
The gods’ intervention proves to be the primary motive force behind the story’s action-packed plot, and the conflicting interests of various deities direct events from the very beginning. Book 1 begins on Mount Olympus, as a council of the gods decides that it is time to help Odysseus return home at last. Athena is particularly prominent in arranging events; she convinces Zeus to have Calypso release Odysseus, then guides the actions of the various mortals to lead to her desired outcome. She appears most frequently to Odysseus and his son Telemachus, sometimes assuming disguises and sometimes appearing in her own shape.
Notably, divine intervention takes many different forms in the story. Sometimes the gods come down to earth and intervene directly in human affairs, as Athena does when she interacts with Odysseus and his family. Similarly, Hermes carries out the orders of more dominant gods when he orders Calypso to let Odysseus go. In other scenes, the gods muster natural forces to do their bidding, as when Poseidon raises a storm to wreck Odysseus’s raft and delay his journey. The gods also communicate with human beings using signs and dreams, as with the numerous omens that predict Odysseus’s return and revenge. Such examples include the omen of the birds in Book 2, the signs noted by Theoclymenus in Books 16 and 20, and Penelope’s dream in Book 19.
The favor and disfavor of the gods therefore become important forces in Odysseus’s world. In general, the gods favor those who are good and punish those who are evil, but their judgment of such things also betrays their own innate biases toward or against certain individuals. Thus, Athena and Zeus see to it that Odysseus wins in the end, for they wish him to conquer the uncivilized and impious suitors who profane his household and squander his wealth. However, other gods, like Poseidon, judge Odysseus harshly for his acts of violence, as when the hero blinds Polyphemus. Thus, even the heroic Odysseus does not always enjoy the gods’ favor. Poseidon’s long memory and deep anger hound him across the seas and cause him much suffering before he finally reaches the shores of Ithaca. Odysseus’s return is only made possible when the will of Zeus ultimately prevails over that of his brother Poseidon, and the hero owes much to the timely and shrewd intervention of Athena as well. Indeed, Hinds’s retelling highlights from the beginning that although the gods themselves experience conflict, they are all governed by an ultimate hierarchy—the rule of Zeus. As Zeus observes, even the sea god Poseidon “cannot thwart the will of all the other gods” (3).
The Importance of Family Loyalty
Odysseus is defined by his intense desire to return to his family and home. Hinds’s graphic novel tells of how Odysseus endures 10 years of war, then another 10 years of suffering and divine anger before he can return to his home. Odysseus’s desire to reach Ithaca stems from a powerful sense of duty; he is the king of Ithaca and belongs on his island, guiding his people. He also has a duty to his family—namely, to his wife Penelope and son Telemachus, who are relying on him to protect them. Without Odysseus, his family falls prey to greedy and insolent suitors. As Odysseus tells Arete, “All I want is to see my homeland again, my family and my high-roofed hall” (80). However, perhaps the most telling instance of Odysseus’s loyalty comes when he refuses Calypso’s offer of immortality and decides not to live with her as her consort, saying, “It is my one wish, the never-fading ache in my heart, to return to [Penelope] and to my own house” (52).
Just as Odysseus is loyal to his family and household, they are also (mostly) loyal to him. Penelope and Telemachus stay true to Odysseus throughout his 20-year absence, and they also combat Odysseus’s enemies in different ways. Penelope refuses to marry any of the suitors who are courting her and puts them off for years with clever tricks, the most notable of which is her habit of weaving and unweaving the shroud of Laertes, which she says she must complete before she remarries. Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, sets out to find news of his father and later helps Odysseus to infiltrate his home and kill the suitors. Other members of Odysseus’s household are also loyal; the servants Eumaeus, Philoetius, and Eurycleia all remember the goodness of their master and are disgusted by the unjust suitors. Even Odysseus’s old dog, Argos, recognizes him just before he dies. By contrast, the unjust elements of Odysseus’s home—the suitors courting his wife and squandering his wealth, the blustering goatherd Melanthius, and the unfaithful maids who sleep with the suitors—are ultimately rooted out and punished for their wickedness. Only with his home purged of enemies can Odysseus finally reclaim his place in the world.
Throughout the graphic novel, Hinds, like Homer, suggests a parallel between the story of Odysseus’s return and the story of another contemporary hero, Agamemnon. Like Odysseus, Agamemnon fought at Troy, but when he came home, he found that his wife had taken a lover, and the two plotted together and murdered him. Only later was Agamemnon “nobly” avenged by his son Orestes, though by then, his wife’s treachery had become notorious “to all the world” (133). Odysseus manages to avoid Agamemnon’s fate precisely because much of his household remains loyal to him; Penelope does not take a lover, and Odysseus kills the suitors when he returns home incognito. Even so, the story of Agamemnon becomes a cautionary tale that indicates how high the stakes are for Odysseus; one wrong step, and he may “find a knife in [his] back, as Agamemnon did” (28).
