Aim: How does the concept of “nostos” enhance our understanding of Homer’s Odyssey and the Cultural significance of Odysseus’s homecoming?
We started off today’s lesson by answering the do now. I believed that Odysseus is a dynamic character as he has flaws and hubris and learns from his past actions. For example, in the “Cyclops”, Odysseus’s own arrogance causes him to insult Polyphemus, which later ends up hindering their journey home. In the Cattle of the Sun God, Odysseus learns his lesson and does not test the Gods and Terisias’s advice.
When it came to a class discussion about choosing fame over family and vice versa, the unanimous argument favored family over fame. We argued that a happy and quaint life with a loving family is much better than the potentially sad and boring life of being a celebrity.
We learned the concepts of nostos and kleos. Nostos means return, or homecoming, it symbolizes return, light and life. Kleos means glory, won from war and typically at the expense of one's life. Greek heroes could achieve kleos in battle and effectively gain immortality by dying in battle and having their legacy cemented in legend.
We then explored the concepts of nostos and kleos in two excerpts in the Odyssey. In one excerpt, Odysseus is homesick and willing to die to get home rather than stay in this paradise of a prison. He feels this way because he is separated from the person he loves, Penelope, he is concerned that he will have to stay on this island until Penelope dies. When Calypso tries to persuade Odysseus to stay on her island and be immortal, he refuses because deep down his heart, Odysseus will always love Penelope and he will not be unfaithful to her no matter how hard his journey is. This shows the concepts of nostos as Odysseus just wants to go home after the very long war he has been through and he does not want people to think he is dead.
The simile in the second excerpt describes how beautiful and sleek the ship he is finally taking home is. He describes the bow as the neck of a mighty stallion and it being faster than a falcon. The comparison elevates the drama in Odysseus’s homecoming by describing his final trip home as a swift journey on a beautiful ship. The bright star described in the excerpt describes dawn rising as the ship makes landfall at Ithaca. This symbolizes nostos as dawn is the rise of the sun, the beginning of a new day, more specifically rebirth. So as Odysseus finally returns home, a new day starts, symbolizing rebirth and the return from war.
Today, I learned the concepts of nostos and kleos and how they play an important role in Odysseus’s return home. I learned to understand the catharsis and symbolism of Odysseus returning home as a new day starts. I can use this to understand the emotional weight, symbolism, catharsis, and lesson behind every book, tv show, and/or movie I see and maybe learn a lesson from it.
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