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Major Themes In The Odyssey * Hospitality The major themes in The Odyssey are especially significant because they serve to form the moral and ethical constitution
authors, to his life experiences. Joyce used other books as a platform for his own books. A major example of this is Joyce's book Ulysses, which he based almost entirely
the ancient Greeks. Books one to four give the spectators a better knowledge of one of the major themes of the Odyssey, Xenia. This is often defined as the guest-host
voyage homeward and in the development of his character. In Book XI, Homer reinforces major themes that repeat through the rest of the story that show Odysseus he
stories are clear evidence to the fact that there is a major parallel to Homer's Iliad and Odyssey. There is no debate in this obvious fact. Omeros and Derek Walcott's
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• Hospitality
The major themes in The Odyssey are especially significant because they serve to form the moral and ethical constitution of most of the characters. The reader learns about the characters through the themes. The more complicated a character is, the more he or she engages these major themes. Therefore, the most complicated character, Odysseus, appropriately embodies each of the themes to one degree or another.
Thinking of hospitality as a major theme in a literary work may seem odd to modern readers. In Homer’s world, however, hospitality is essential. Fagles and Knox (p. 45) refer to hospitality as a dominant part of “the only code of moral conduct that obtains in the insecure world of The Odyssey.”
Arriving strangers may be dangerous or harmless, and residents are wise to be prepared for trouble. Often, however, strangers are but wayfarers, probably in need of at least some kind of help. Similarly, the residents themselves — or their friends or kin — may, at some time, be wayfarers. Civilized people, therefore, make an investment in hospitality to demonstrate their quality as human beings and in hopes that their own people will be treated well when they travel. Furthermore, communications are very primitive in Homer’s world, and strangers bring and receive news. It was through visitors that the Homeric Greeks learned about and kept abreast of what was happening in the world beyond their local areas.
Hospitality, or the lack of it, affects Odysseus throughout the epic, and the reader can judge civility by the degree of hospitality offered. Odysseus’ own home has been taken over by a horde of suitors who crudely take advantage of Ithaca’s long-standing tradition of hospitality. Telemachus and Penelope lack the strength to evict them, nor can they hope for much help from the community because the suitors represent some of the strongest families in the area. In his wanderings, Odysseus receives...
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