Importance Of Hospitality In The Odyssey

In the epic poem, The Odyssey, the book Hospitality in the Forest is extremely important to the development of the story because it depicts another side of Odysseus’ personality, patience and cautiousness, when he visit Eumaeus, a pig farmer, instead of his family or wealthy allies and tells a story about being a commoner from Crete. Odysseus knows he can trust Eumaeus and that he has stayed loyal after all of the years at Troy and lost at sea. Book XIV illustrates Odysseus’ intelligence in a different manner, and opposed to the other books where he uses his wit to get what he wants, Odysseus utilizes his perception to find people that he knows have stayed loyal and will keep his identity safe, which requires him to be extremely cautious and patient. In Book XIV, Odysseus finally returns home, but decides to stay away from his wife and son, because he knows that it could threaten his identity. Odysseus has not seen his son since he was just a baby, and avoiding them takes extreme patience and composure. Odysseus knows he cannot see his family and explains,
Also, Odysseus’ mother in his story is described as a ‘slave’ and ‘concubine’, but in reality, most of the female characters are the opposite. For example, one of Penelope’s main characteristics in the epic poem is that she is loyal, and even though her loyalty to Odysseus is questioned by many after all these years, she is able to hold out on the suitors until her true husband returns home. Odysseus is very tactical in the information that he tells Eumaeus to ensure that his identity is hidden and he will be able to surprise the suitors. While Odysseus does include some true information, the facts about him and his upbringing are mostly false. This scene depicts Odysseus’ cautiousness, as he is wary and unwilling to tell even one of his trusted friends his true