{"id":1394394,"date":"2016-11-04T11:00:22","date_gmt":"2016-11-04T15:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/community.sparknotes.com\/?p=1394394"},"modified":"2019-02-08T11:33:07","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T16:33:07","slug":"blogging-the-odyssey-part-10-how-to-tell-if-youre-about-to-die-in-a-greek-epic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/blogging-the-odyssey-part-10-how-to-tell-if-youre-about-to-die-in-a-greek-epic\/","title":{"rendered":"Blogging <em>The Odyssey<\/em>: Part 10 (How to Tell If You&#8217;re About to Die in a Greek Epic)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/bloggingtheodysseytop10nov4_LargeWide.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"701\" height=\"394\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Last time on <a href=\"http:\/\/community.sparknotes.com\/2016\/10\/28\/blogging-the-odyssey-part-9-wow-okay-so-the-dog-dies\" target=\"_blank\">Blogging <em>The Odyssey<\/em><\/a>, Odysseus was reunited with Telemachus, and it felt so good.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sometimes foreshadowing is subtle. Other times it is more like a very large man screaming &#8220;DEATH IS COMING&#8221; right in your face, and you can either 1) fight back, 2) accept it, or 3) just ignore it completely. Generally, I&#8217;m a big fan of ignoring it completely. That&#8217;s actually how I deal with most of my problems, including but not limited to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Deadlines<\/li>\n<li>Tooth pain<\/li>\n<li>Literary devices that foretell a coming disaster<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But Penelope&#8217;s evil \u00a0suitors are not <i>ignoring<\/i> the doom signs so much as they are just <i>completely unaware that they exist<\/i>. Fate is about to serve up a big heaping slice of retribution pie, and no one has a clue. I would never want any of you \u00a0to be caught so unawares. Should you ever find yourself in a Greek epic, here&#8217;s how you can tell if things are about to go sideways for you:<\/p>\n<p><b>Book 18: The Beggar-King of Ithaca<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sign #1: A homely beggar \u00a0takes \u00a0up residence in your royal hall, and it soon becomes clear that there&#8217;s more to him than meets the eye.<\/strong> Odysseus finds himself challenged to a fight by another beggar. The suitors gather round, excited by the prospect of two homeless men duking it out for food.<\/p>\n<p>Odysseus is like<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/nov4bloggingtheodyssey10.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"701\" height=\"294\" \/><small>Wikimedia Commons<\/small><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Great, now I have to kick this guy&#8217;s ass. WHY WAS I CURSED WITH THE BURDEN OF SUCH A POWERFUL AND GLORIOUS BODY?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>I wish I could say I was exaggerating this point for comedic effect, but when he throws off his rags to fight, someone literally says, &#8220;Look at the hams on that old-timer!&#8221; Turns out he&#8217;s not just a scrawny hobo after all.<\/p>\n<p>Here, the narrator also refers to him \u00a0as a &#8220;foxy veteran.&#8221; \u00a0I have nothing significant to say about this, I just wanted to make a note of it.<\/p>\n<p>Odysseus punches the guy in the face and throws him out of the castle. \u00a0The suitors shower him with food, and Amphinomous, who you&#8217;ll remember is less terrible than the others, congratulates him sincerely. This brings us to&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sign #2: Someone straight-up tells you that a bloodbath is coming.<\/strong> Odysseus takes a liking \u00a0to this \u00a0Amphinomous fellow. He pulls him aside and says, &#8220;Look, \u00a0I have a feeling Odysseus is coming back soon. He might even be HERE, IN OUR VERY MIDST. \u00a0HE&#8217;S GOING TO SLAUGHTER THE MASSES. THE RECKONING IS NIGH. SAVE YOURSELF AND GO, YOU DUMB IDIOT.&#8221; But Amphinomous doesn&#8217;t go. \u00a0He is &#8220;fraught with grave forebodings,&#8221; sure, but like what are the odds of any of that \u00a0happening?<\/p>\n<p>Besides, unbeknownst to him, he&#8217;s already been marked for death by Athena.<\/p>\n<p><b>Book 19: Penelope and Her Guest<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sign #3: The weapons have mysteriously disappeared.<\/strong> At night, Odysseus, Telemachus, and Athena hide all the swords and shields so that the suitors will be defenseless come Murder Time. Penelope then approaches Odysseus, though of course she still doesn&#8217;t know it&#8217;s him. All she knows is that he&#8217;s a beggar who claims to have once met her husband. She questions him, and Odysseus gives such a stirring account of his own character that Penelope weeps. Basically:<\/p>\n<p><strong>ODYSSEUS:<\/strong> I met your husband once.<br \/>\n<strong>PENELOPE:<\/strong> Prove it.<br \/>\n<strong>ODYSSEUS:<\/strong> He&#8217;s tremendously sexy \u00a0and he wears a purple cape, sometimes.<br \/>\n<strong>PENELOPE:<\/strong> THAT&#8217;S HIM.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/img.sparknotes.com\/content\/sparklife\/sparktalk\/nov4bloggingtheodyssey10image2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"701\" height=\"272\" \/><small>YouTube<\/small><\/p>\n<p>In gratitude, Penelope offers the beggar \u00a0hospitality. Odysseus says he&#8217;s cool with this, but he tells her not to let any of the women touch his feet&#8230; unless they&#8217;re very old. Out of context, this very specific directive is both hilarious and confusing. It makes sense a few stanzas later, however\u2014the old nurse Eurycleia comes in to wash his feet, recognizes a scar Odysseus sustained while hunting as a child, and recognizes him immediately. He swears her to secrecy, and she agrees not to tell a soul.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sign #4: Someone is having very obvious prophetic dreams.<\/strong> Penelope tells Odysseus about a dream she had recently but which she cannot possibly parse for significance. In it, a talking eagle who claimed to be her husband swooped in and killed a bunch of geese said to be her suitors. \u00a0BUT WHAT COULD IT MEAN?<\/p>\n<p><b>Book 20: Portents Gather<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Penelope knows she must \u00a0get rid of the suitors so that Telemachus can reclaim what&#8217;s rightfully his. At Athena&#8217;s suggestion, she decides \u00a0to remarry, though it causes her terrible anguish. To determine who&#8217;s most worthy, she&#8217;ll set up twelve axes in a row, and she&#8217;ll marry whoever can shoot an arrow through the holes of all twelve. This is how every marriage dispute should be settled, I think: with a winner-take-all prize fight in the Thunderdome. That said\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sign #5: Eagles keep flying by, all ominous-like.<\/strong> The suitors arrive in the royal hall for breakfast. They&#8217;re plotting once again to kill Telemachus, and as they do so, an eagle zips past \u00a0with a struggling dove in its talons. This is the third time that&#8217;s happened, I believe. Everyone&#8217;s acting as if this is a totally normal amount of times to have seen \u00a0eagles swooping \u00a0around with death in their eyes.<\/p>\n<p>But even if you can find it within yourself to disregard the death eagles, you couldn&#8217;t possibly miss this \u00a0final portent of imminent catastrophe. Right? \u00a0<em>Right?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sign #6: A prophet actually, \u00a0literally \u00a0tells you the walls are oozing blood.<\/strong> You know what? I give up. If we&#8217;ve reached the point where a well-known soothsayer is having visions of bleeding walls, inexplicable mist, and darkness blotting out the sun, and you&#8217;re still thinking, &#8220;Yes, I should definitely keep doing the things that I&#8217;m doing,&#8221; then I can&#8217;t help you. You&#8217;re on your own.<\/p>\n<p>Predictably, nobody listens to Theoclymenus, the soothsayer in question. In fact, the suitors laugh him out of the palace. He basically says, &#8220;ENJOY THE RIVER STYX, YOU WITLESS FOOLS. TELL PERSEPHONE I SAID \u00a0HI,&#8221; and \u00a0books it. Smart man.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve got four chapters left, guys. Can anyone hear \u00a0<em>The Rains of Castamere<\/em>? Is it just me?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Discussion questions:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>&#8220;Look at the hams on that old-timer!&#8221; is something I&#8217;m going to start slipping into casual conversation. Who&#8217;s with me?<\/li>\n<li>I think I have seen maybe two eagles in my life. You?<\/li>\n<li>In these chapters, Athena holds all the cards. She promises Odysseus she&#8217;ll be at his side when he battles the suitors; she prompts \u00a0Penelope to \u00a0make a decision; she even forces \u00a0the suitors to be super obnoxious so Odysseus will want to kill them \u00a0<em>even harder.<\/em> \u00a0In a world where mortals are merely cosmic playthings to the gods, \u00a0can there be such a thing as free will?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Looking for the rest of our Blogging the Classics series? <a href=\"http:\/\/community.sparknotes.com\/2016\/07\/18\/blogging-the-classics-index-page\" target=\"_blank\">Check it out here!<\/a> \u00a0For all of Blogging The Odyssey, <a href=\"http:\/\/community.sparknotes.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/31\/blogging-the-odyssey\/\">click here<\/a>!<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last time on Blogging The Odyssey, Odysseus was reunited with Telemachus, and it felt so good. Sometimes foreshadowing is subtle. Other times it is more like a very large man screaming &#8220;DEATH IS COMING&#8221; right   <a class=\"continue-reading\" href=\"#\"><span class=\"continue-text\">continue reading<\/span><svg class=\"continue-icon\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" alt=\"\">\n    <path fill=\"#007acd\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\" d=\"M13.442 5.558L19.885 12l-6.443 6.442-.884-.884 4.934-4.934L4 12.625v-1.25l13.492-.001-4.934-4.932.884-.884z\"><\/path>\n  <\/svg><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[395,22896,628,2335,22927,6502,1764],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394394"}],"collection":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/182"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1394394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1394394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1394394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1394394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}