The whole of book 21 revolves around Odysseus's bow.  This alone shows how important this object is.  It represents so much about Odysseus--his power, skills, intelligence, etc.  This bow shows that no one could take Odysseus's place.  First Penelope presents the challenge that whoever can hit 12 axes in a row with it she will then marry, and none of the suitors can complete the task.  This shows that none of them can have Penelope like Odysseus can.  It also shows that they will never hold his position or have the kind of power that Odysseus does.  She also asks the men to string the bow, and no one can do that either.  This shows that none of the men are as skilled, strong, or intelligent as Odysseus.  As a whole, the bow symbolizes Odysseus.  He is one of a kind and cannot be beat.

The bed obviously represents Odysseus's and Penelope's marriage.  Odysseus built it himself with great craftsmanship and skill.  He carved it out of a tree, bolted it down, and ornately decorated it.  This is like his and Penelope's marriage.  It was sturdily built, held down/together with trust and love all the years Odysseus was away, and it was showered with good memories and great wealth.  The fact that it cannot be moved represents how strong their bond and marriage in general is.  All the years that Odysseus was away never actually tore them apart.  They were always "faithful" to each other, knowing that they would one day be reunited.  They struggled, but they were always married and always would be.  The bed would not be moved or undone, like their marriage.

Eumaeus and Melanthius are like polar opposites.  Eumaeus is a shepherd and Melanthius is a goatherd, which to me, immediately says something about the two characters.  It is weirdly symbolic relating to religion.  A shepherd is always seen as a good thing, the Bible often talks about shepherds and Jesus himself is the metaphorical shepherd of all the people.  Shepherds are also often referred to/thought about as good leaders, faithful to their flock, responsible, and kind and gentle.  On the contrary, even the word goatherd has a different feel and stigma to it.  Who wants to be a goatherd?  Who's even heard of a goatherd?  Just with this information we begin to think of Melanthius in an unsavory way, and we find out that his character reflects it.  Eumaeus proves himself to be a "good shepherd."  He stays faithful to Odysseus while he is gone, and when he sees the poor "beggar" (Odysseus in disguise), he welcomes him.  He gives him food and shelter when he needs it, and it shows the Eumaeus is a generally nice man who looks to do what is right.  Melanthius on the other hand supports the suitors, betraying King Odysseus.  He looks out for only himself, and shows an evil side more than once.  He is selfish and cocky.  He wants Telemachus dead, and when the beggar comes to the palace, he treats him with disrespect and cruelty.  These two characters are an interesting comparison in the story.

Odysseus's journey into Hades is really a look at Odysseus's feelings and beliefs.  In Hades he talks to several people who give us clues to things that occurred in the war, in Troy, and in Greek mythology.  All of these things reflect Odysseus in some way.  They reveal his past, present, and future and his beliefs.  I guess this could be considered a decent into Odysseus's mind for the reader because so much is revealed to us that helps us understand Odysseus better.  He talks to Tiresias, who tells Odysseus what his fate will be and why Poseidon is so angry with him.  He gives Odysseus a lot of good advice for the future of his journey, and tells him home to avoid future hardship and get home as fast as possible.  He also talks to his mother Anticleia who fills him in on how Troy is doing.  She died waiting for his return.  Odysseus then talks to many famous heroes that were in the war and in Greek myths.  They tell him things that ultimately and more importantly informs the reader on Greek history.  This information is more for the reader's benefit.  After interacting with many dead souls Odysseus gets frightened and runs to the ship.

The test of the Sirens represents the temptation that Odysseus has encountered along this journey, and how they have made him want to wander astray from the purpose of the journey.  His men hold him down though, and this represents how even though they have struggled to stay on task due to these temptations, they also realize the importance of the journey and getting back home, so they struggle through it and keep trudging on.  The Sirens themselves are all the distractions that Odysseus has faced, all the temptations he has come across to keep him from wanting to go home, such as Calypso.  Odysseus and his crew succeed in this test, and the Sirens fail because he did not come to their calls.  This success represents the intellect, desire, and persistence that Odysseus and his men have.  It shows that they know how important it is for them to go home.

1. Calypso is a lustrous goddess who loves mortals, in particular Odysseus.  In these ways, she is like Penelope.  They are both beautiful and have a love for Odysseus. On the other hand, she is unlike Penelope because she holds Odysseus captive on her island for a long period of time.  Zeus finally has to intervene and force her to let him go.  Penelope is just as loving, if not more, but instead of keeping Zeus with her, she knew she had to let him go on this journey.  She waits for him always, though.  This is one reason Calypso is the "anti-Penelope." Other reasons include her personality, and the fact that she has Odysseus while Penelope waits for him (what I am trying to get at is hard to put into words).  Calypso is demanding and stubborn, while Penelope is more timid and obedient and has a softness to her.  Odysseus only wants to go back home, and since Calypso holds him on her island, seducing him, the one thing he can't have is Penelope/home.  Calypso is also considered promiscuous, while Penelope is the most faithful wife out there.  Calypso is so different from Penelope, but Odysseus wants them both.  Calypso and her island are only a beginning piece to Odysseus's journey--he overcame his temptation this time, but can he do it again?

4. The Cyclops is a "starting point" for Odysseus's journey because this is when Odysseus goes too far, and is too cocky.  He tricked the Cyclops easily, and when he was leaving he told him his real name.  Then the Cyclops called on Poseidon, who already was not very fond of Odysseus, to punish Odysseus.  This is when travel becomes very tough for him.  The Cyclops represent Odysseus's own stupidity.  Though they are very dumb, it is symbolic and iron because Odysseus tricks them, but it is he who suffers in the end.  If he had just left without revealing his own name (the stupid part) then his journey would have been much shorter and easier. The fact that Odysseus also calls himself "Nobody" when he is trying to trick the Cyclops is symbolic as well.  This is part of his plan, but in a way it is true.  Who is Odysseus?  He is not a god, but he is so cocky and confident that he thinks he can trick the gods and overcome them.  To the gods, he really is nobody, especially to Poseidon, who later shows Odysseus that the gods are stronger and smarter than him, a mere human.

2. Right away we see that the gods and humans do not get along very well and clearly do not like each other.  Within the first fifty lines we are given a basic summary by Zeus regarding how the gods feel towards humans in general: "Ah how shameless--the way these mortals blame the gods.  From us alone, they say, come all their miseries, yes, but they themselves with their own reckless ways, compound their pains beyond their proper share.." (lines 37-40).  The gods generally see people as weak, unintelligent, and whiny.  They feel that humans create their own fate with the actions they make.  They only give humans what they deserve based on how they act.  They do not want to be bothered with their problems most of the time, but on rare occasion with "special" people, they take special interest.  One of those people is Odysseus.  He has admirers and enemies in the gods, and they work in his favor and against him when they desire.  Humans see the gods as controllers of fate.  When something goes right, they praise the gods for their wondrous acts, and when something goes awry, they blame the gods for their misfortune.  This pins the gods and humans against each other in a way because they pin all misfortunes on one another, so of course they are not going to get along/like each other much of the time.

3. Telamachus is like a boy at this point in the story.  He is maturing mentally, and throughout this process, he does not have his father to guide him, but he still exudes the confidence, attitude, and inspiration that his father does.  He is a lot like his father, but not quite there yet.  He is intrigued by what his father is like since he does not know him.  Like his father, Telamachus is daring, brave, and wise.  He is daring, as is noted in the first book when he addresses the people in such a shocking way.  Although he is daring, he is also very rational and cool headed.  He thinks and uses common sense before making decisions or answering important questions.  He goes off to find out information about his father, and this is very brave.  On this journey he finds out many things about his father and begins to see some similarities in himself and his father, and so do many of the figures he visits.

1. Since Esau and Jacob are both the firstborn sons, we can only assume that problems such as we have seen in the past will arise.  Right away we are told that Isaac likes Esau better, the one who is more manly, hairy, and a hunter.  Rebekah likes Jacob better, the softer, quieter of the two.  This automatically pits the brothers against each other in gaining the affections of their parents.  It also puts the parents at odds because they disagree which son is the better one and who is more worthy of his father's blessing.  The two boys seem very different in all ways.  Not only are they different in appearance, but their personality and interests also differ from one another.  Jacob likes to stay inside and cook while Esau likes to go out and hunt.  I also noticed that Jacob seems to be more deceptive than Esau.  He makes Esau sell him his birthright for a bowl of soup, and later on Rebekah helps him deceive Isaac into giving him the blessing instead of Esau.  We do not see such actions by Esau, although who knows what he might have done if he were in Jacob's position.

3. The role of the parents in this conflict is very large.  They both show an obvious favoritism that fuels both sons to compete with one another.  Esau must feel a certain power and overall "betterness" over Jacob because he is favored by his father, a more important figure than his mother.  Jacob most likely feels inferior to Esau in this way, but his mother helps him create intelligent plans of deception to overcome that.  Rebecca uses the words of her husband to foil his plan to give the blessing to Esau.  She is the most deceptive person in this story.  She knows how to fool Isaac and get what she wants.  She is supposed to be obedient to her husband and follow his wishes, but instead she changes everything to fall the way she would like.  It is obvious that she cares so much more for her son than anything else, especially when she says "Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me."  She doesn't much care about anything else besides her son getting this important blessing, even if that means carrying the burden and responsibility of the actions.


4. Jacob's dream can be taken as a message to the Jews in general, rather than just Jacob as an individual.  In all of Genesis and even later in the Bible we see the Lord telling certain people of all the descendants that they are to have--the Jews.  He also tells Jacob how far they will spread, which we know comes later on.  He will not leave "Jacob" until this is done, and in history, God did not leave the Jewish people until this goal was reached.  He came to many prophets and helped them to lead the Jewish people to new lands.  This dream could also be a parallel for the beginning of the Jewish faith/journey.  It basically sums up the beginning beliefs of the Jewish religion and Genesis itself, or the message that Genesis is meant to give to readers.

2. Sarai remains silent for two main reasons: she is a good wife who obeys her husband, and she she has a lot to gain here.  She will not lose her husband for starters, and through God's plan she can be reunited with him again.  Although it may seem misogynistic that Sarai do as Abram pleases, it is not necessarily meant like this.  Abram was very good to Sarai and she realized that.  Out of respect for him as a person, a good provider, a follower of God, and a wise man, she listened obeyed his wishes.  She probably thought this was a good plan, and trusted that Abram knew what he was doing.  In the end, the plan did work, and Sarai got to be with Abram again, reaffirming is wise decisions.

3. The most obvious human problem is jealousy.  Sarai is jealous that Hagar could conceive and Sarai could not.  Hagar may or may not have looked at Sarai in contempt.  Sarai was just so disgusted by her and jealous that she wanted to send Hagar away.  In terms of gender, Hagar and Sarai are both women.  Many people have theories about women's emotions and actions vs. those of men.  This is the first time we see two women pinned against each other and how they react to it.  Class is an issue in this story because since Sarai is of a higher class and Hagar is just a slave, Hagar has to do what Sarai wants.  Sarai uses this power in a wretched way to dismiss Hagar and send her off into the desert wandering.  Ethnicity may be related to class.  I am not sure that at this time all Egyptians were slaves or if the Pharaoh was still the main ruler.  The story also reveals that God takes pity and sympathy on those who suffer.  Because of Hagar's unjust suffering, he promised her many, many descendants.


4. God knows that Abraham will do anything he asks, but he also knows that Abraham loves his son more than anything, too, maybe even more than God.  God feels the need to test this to make sure that Abraham's loyalty is still with God rather than his son.  This story shows that Abraham loves God more than any person or thing in the world, and will do whatever it takes to prove it.  Another interesting point is when the Angel says that Abraham "fears" the Lord.  Could this mean fear or love?  Many people interpret this differently.  If it does actually mean fear then it changes the whole context of the writing.  Maybe, in this case, Abraham fears what God will do to him if he doesn't kill Isaac.  He has seen God to some pretty bad things to others who did not obey Him, and does not want to be the next to face God's smite.