Finally! The gods finally have Calypso give up Odysseus. He builds himself a raft, with a little help from the goddess, and sets sail on the 5th day. It goes pretty well for the first 18 days. But then Poseidon spots him. He's not happy. He creates a HUGE storm to give Odysseus great hardship.
Ino comes to his aid. Soon he makes his way towards the mainland. But there's nothing but sharp rocks on the coast. What's a man to do. He gets tossed around some more. What did you expect? He finally come across a river who is kind enough to let him in. He finds his way to the forest near the mainland where Athena helps put him to sleep.
Fun chapter. I might stop saying that though because I think every chapter will be equally exciting. This is just a great book. It was a blast to see Odysseus finally take off. Starting the quest. Awesome.
There were some interesting things in the chapter as well. Calypso for one. Odysseus really wants to get home. But I'm wondering what his reasons are. He and the goddess sleep with each other. Does he want to get home for his wife? What are his reasons? I might just have a different view of what is right. I know that it was definitely a different time.
Nowadays we might just be a little obsessed with the idea of adventure and struggle for a loved one. But from everything I've learned so far from reading "The Iliad" there were probably other reasons for an ancient Greek to want to go home. I'm sure his wife does calculate into it, but she is not his sole reason for his return.
One thing we cannot deny is the male-female dynamics. Calypso openly speaks angrily against the male gods for not letting her, a goddess, have her prize, Odysseus. Do you wonder what it was really like back in the day? How were women really treated? Do we even treat our women better in modern times? If anyone says that we do, I challenge him to actually take five minutes and think about it. We still have uneven dynamics. Men are players, and women are sluts. Pardon the language. We don't have much tact these days. We might have a more equal social standing, but we still treat women terribly. How did I find myself in this little tangent? Hmmmm...
We like to think ourselves superior, but are we really? I tend to think not. We might have more technology than our ancient brothers, but where to we stand in wisdom? We could all use some more. I would love to hear back from everyone. Tell your friends. This will be a fun time we're going to have. Bye for now.
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