‘Noman is my name. They call me Noman. My mother, my father, and all my friends too.’
During one evening in Phaeacia, Odysseus recalled his past after he heard a man named Demodocus, who was blind, sing about the Trojan War. As he was recalling, Odysseus had cried and the king of Phaeacia had witnessed it. Odysseus had explained to the king who he was, where he came from, what he has been through and how he came to Phaeacia. To begin with, Odysseus and his crews were returning to his hometown and they landed into the island of Cyclops. While they found a cave and stayed there, they met Polyphemus, a giant cannibal who locked them into the cave and planned about to eat them as a meal. Two of his crews had already eaten by him. He did not want his crews dying out more and his purpose of escaping situation was to go back to his home. Odysseus in response had lowered himself and did not identify himself as a hero. He offered Polyphemus a wine to ease his mind. Thus, when Polyphemus had asked “Tell me your name” , Odysseus said “You ask me my name, my glorious name… Remember now….NOMAN is my name, They called me Noman. My mother my father, and all my friends too”. “Noman” means a self-deprecating insignificant thing that shows Odysseus did not want to risk his life with his name value although he was a hero who led the Trojan war to the end. Odysseus, who escaped from the crisis to be eaten, stabbed Polyphemus’s eye while he was drunk. Rather fighting directly, Odysseus chose to avoid that situation with his elocution.
This scene is one of the adversities that Odysseus had faced to return back to his home. As a whole, the narrator depicts Odysseus as a character who had embodied wise and bravery man. Unlike other Greek mythical heroes, Odysseus presented himself as a humble hero in a more realistic and humanly ways. Odysseus had reflected and enlightened the readers how to face unexpected difficulties and how to address them. Odysseus is a man who embraced unforeseen situations. By saying ‘Noman’ instead of revealing himself his real name, he is more enlightened now to avoid if he sees danger by preparing himself in advance. Through this passages and Odysseus’s journey overall, it is clear that in order to achieve one’s desired goals one has to face and overcome hardships. In relations to Odysseus journey, his tactic was to survive in all means possible to return to his hometown, Ithaca.
Hi Sam,
This analysis does a good job of explaining the significance of your passage in terms of plot and character. It could do more, however, to link the language of the passage to the text as a whole. For example, you could link this passage, in which he calls himself “Noman,” to the extended period he spends with the Phaeacians without revealing his name (and to the earlier moments in the epic, when Telemachus delays a similar revelation with Nestor and with Menelaus). What are the benefits of anonymity? And how does simply not telling one’s name differ from this kind of lie–the claim to be literally nobody??
Another direction in which your analysis might go: an investigation of what it is to have a “name” in the world–ie, to be famous, to be sung-about by bards–and what it is to be anonymous. Odysseus later reveals his name to the Cyclops; why does he do this? Why is it so important for him to claim his identity, his lineage? (He does this, too, with Alcinous, though for different reasons).
In short: this is a great passage, and your reading of it starts to go in very interesting directions, but it could be pushed further, and related more concretely to the text as a whole.
Best,
Prof Kolb