One of the major themes in the Odyssey is the father-son relationship. Having a father in one’s life is often viewed as critical for one’s mental and social development. Having a father in one’s life is especially critical for a son, who looks up to his father as a role and seeks to understand the world with their guidance. Sons often follow their fathers around and look to emulate all of their actions, in hopes of being like them one day. Telemachus, unfortunately, did not have the opportunity to be raised by his father and as a result failed to develop certain attributes like courage or leadership. He never had that dear father-son relationship that more than likely, would have caused Telemachus to stand up to the suitors and defend the honor of both his father and his mother. He would have had the courage to kill all the suitors himself and ensure that his father’s kingdom was as stable and well run as when he left. Even though, his father is not around Telemachus still admired his father for his military accomplishments and looked to make him proud, dead or not.
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Hey,
You bring up a good point about Odysseus’ absence in Telemachus’ upbringing. It really got me thinking about how different the story might have been if Telemachus had a heroic father figure to look up to. He probably would have gotten tired of the suitors a long time ago and kicked them out, but he didn’t have that rigid father in his life so he probably never had the courage to do so. I wonder if Telemachus view’s Mentor’s (Athena’s) guidance and the words of the Greek kings he visited as fatherly advice to push him to take action and be brave in the traditional Greek sense. Great post pretty thought provoking points.