Essay About Name Of The Book And Calypso Island

The Odyssey
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I. Preliminary Information
A. The name of the book I read is The Odyssey Translated by W.H.D.
Rouse.
B. The author of the book is Homer.
C. The name of the books publisher is New American Library. The novel was
published in New York City.
D. This book was published in August 1999. The original year is not known.
E. The edition of this book is Signet Classic.
F. The books translator is W.H.D. Rouse.
G. This novel has 271 pages.
H. This book is a work of non-fiction.
II. Books Contents
A. Fiction
B. Non-fiction
1. The general topic of the book is Odysseus trying to get home and
people mourning over his absence for twenty years. No one in Ithaca
has seen or heard from him. His wife, Penelopeia, and his son,
Telemachos, are worried. Since it has been so long, every man in the
city is now wooing Penelopeia.
2. The main characters in the novel, The Odyssey, are Odysseus, a man
who left his home and family to go fight in Troy and never returned
home for twenty years, because of a series of misfortunes. Telemachos,
Odysseuss son, who finally, after twenty years, decided to sail the sea
in search of anyone who may know anything about his father. Also,
there is Penelopeia, Odysseuss wife, who has been waiting for him all
this time. Her heart is full of pain and sorrow and all of the men are
wooing her for her hand in marriage. There are also several kings who
play a part in this novel. They are King Nestor, King Alcinoos, and
King Menelaos. Lastly, one of the minor, but still important characters
is the swineherd, whom let Odysseus stay in his home when he returned
from his long and tiring journey.
3. The chief place in which the novels actions occur is in Ithaca. Some
other places in which actions take place are the Island of Aeaea, Island
of the Sirens, and the Island of Helios.
4. The historical time period in which the novels actions took place is in
1,000 B.C.
The main events in The Odyssey include Athena, a goddess,
commanding Telemachos to go on a journey to Pylos and Sparta. She
wanted him to find out information about his father who has been
missing. Telemachos heeds her words and goes to King Nestors palace.
Sadly, he has no information on Odysseus. Next, he traveled to the
home of King Menelaos. Here they all recall stories of Odysseus and
King Menelaos tells him that his father is alive and imprisoned on
Calypso Island. While all of this is happening Penelopeia, Odysseuss
wife, says she would choose a man to marry once she is finished
making a burial shroud. She secretly, every night, would undo the
knitting, and for quite sometime it fooled everyone. Then, her maids
caught her and told every one of her evil doings. Next, Hermes, the
messenger of Zeus, is then sent to Calypso Island to tell Calypso to let
Odysseus go. Calypso wanted him for a husband and would make him
immortal if he stayed with her. Calypso obeys Zeus and lets Odysseus
go. He makes a raft and then on the raft he embarks on a journey to the
coast of Scheria. Odysseus fell asleep under some trees and he awoke to
the sound of shouting girls.
It was Nausicaa and her maids. Nausicaa brought Odysseus home
to her father. There Odysseus stayed in the house of King Alcinoos.
Odysseus tells all the people his long tale of what happened to him.
How him and his men came to the cyclopean monster. Who ate some of
his men, and then they came to the house of Circe on the island of
Aeaea. Circe actually turned some of the men into pigs. Hearing this
Odysseus goes to help them and luckily, Hermes tells him to eat an herb
called Moly to protect him from Circes drug. Hermes also tells him to
lunge at Circe when she tries to strike him with her sword. Odysseus
follows his instructions and is safe. Circe then changes the men back to
their human forms. The next day when all of the men are getting ready
to leave, Elpenor, the youngest of the men, was sleeping on the roof and
he fell off. In doing so, he broke his neck. Finally, Odysseus visited the
Kingdom of the Dead and asked Teiresias questions about how to get
home. Following this they passed the Island of Sirens, where they had
to place beeswax in their ears and tie Odysseus to the mast of the ship.
Then, they travel to the strait of Scylla and Charybdis. Charybdis is a
humongous whirlpool that almost swallowed the entire ship. Scylla, the
six headed monster, then grabbed and took six men from the ship, six
men, one for each of her heads.
Next, came the Island of Helios, where Odysseuss men killed the
cattle on the island that belonged to Zeus. The cattle did not belong to
them and they should have known better. Zeus was very furious and
sent a thunderbolt, which