Book IX
‘A cheerful gathering of all the people
Sitting side by side throughout the halls,
Feasting and listening to a singer of tales,
The tables filled with food and drink’
v.s.
‘They headed out and made contact with the Lotus-Eaters,
Who meant no harm but did give my men some lotus to eat.
Whoever ate that sweet fruit lost the will to report back,
Preferring instead to stay there, munching lotus, oblivious of home.
Food plays a very important role in The Odyssey, in some ways it almost as if it is a character on its own. In The Odyssey, food means so much more than simply food. Food is sustenance, togetherness, tradition and survival.
In The Odyssey, food is often used as a means to get from point A to point B. For example, when Odysseus lands on the Island of Scheria, King Alkinoos holds a feast in his honor. It is during this feast that Odysseus tells his saga, and Alkinoos offers to help get him home. In book 4, when Telemachus arrives in Sparta, Menelaus serves him food. It is over this meal that Telemachus reveals that he is in Sparta in search of his father. Both Odysseus and Telemachus had very specific end goals in mind when engaging in these feasts. They took part in them because of tradition, but also as a means to an end. The end being getting Odysseus back to Ithaka.
The role of lotus flowers differs from the role of food in The Odyssey, while lotus-eaters play the role of drug addicts. When Odysseus and his men landed in Libya, they were met by beautiful, flowering lotus plants and their eaters. The lotus-eaters offered Odysseus’s men the lotus flower. Once Odysseus’ men ate some of the plants, getting home became of decreasing importance to them. Odysseus had to force them to get on the ship as they wailed and wept for more lotus plant. The lotus plant forces people to forget who they are and what they want. The numb and forgetful effects of the lotus plant go directly against usage of food as a means to an end in this instance.
The lotus plant and food are both pleasurable and objects of temptation, respectively. The lotus plant represents individual pleasure – as those who consume it are able to escape into their own mental paradise. However, feasting on food represents communal pleasure and togetherness. For Odysseus, the lotus plant detracts from his mission to get home, while feasting on food assists him in his journey.
Excellent post–you map the distinction between lotus (non-food) and (regular) food onto a broader distinction, between journeying and rest, memory and oblivion. Excellent understanding of how eating functions, as “sustenance, togetherness, tradition and survival” in the poem.