The odyssey

Odysseus travels to the River of Ocean in the land of the Cimmerians. He pours something and performs sacrifices as Circe earlier instructs him to do to attract the souls of the dead. The first to appear is Elpenor, the crewman who broke his neck falling from Circe’s roof. He begs Odysseus to return to Circe’s island and give his body a proper burial. Odysseus then speaks with the Theban prophet Tiresias, who reveals that Poseidon is punishing the Achaeans for blinding his son Polyphemus. He tells Odysseus his fate and that he will return home, reclaim his wife and palace from the wretched suitors, and then make another trip to a distant land to appease Poseidon. He warns Odysseus not to touch the flocks of the Sun when he reaches the land of Thrinacia; otherwise, he won’t return home without suffering much more hardship and losing all of his crew. When Tiresias departs, Odysseus calls other spirits toward him. He speaks with his mother, Anticleia, who updates him on the affairs of Ithaca and relates how she died of grief waiting for his return. He then meets the spirits of various famous men and heroes and hears the stories of their lives and deaths.


My reflection on this is that since Odysseus knows his fate now he can relax a little bit. He knows he makes it home safe and reclaims everything if he sticks to the path. He just has to follow the directions and listen to the Gods. Also i would feel a little on edge because he finds out he has another task after reclaiming what is his. I would not want to do that because after everything that has happened I would probably be afraid of losing it all all over again. I dont know what I would do in these circumstances. It would be a tough decison on my part wether to keep going after I reached home.