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Book XXIV

Book X--The Grace of the Witch
|Summary|Characters & Their Lessons|Literary Devices|Symbolism|Connections|Links & References|


Summary

After escaping the Island of the Kyklops, Odysseus and his crew set sail. They showed up on the shore of Aioloa Island, home of Aiolos Hippotades. Aiolos was the wind king that kept Odysseus and crew on the island for one whole month to hear Odysseus tell the story of Troy. After the tale, Odysseus in return asked for a bag of wind that would lead Odysseus to his home in Ithaca. Aiolos gave him a mighty bag of wind, and Odysseus was instructed to only let out a breath of westerly wind when they set sail.

On the tenth day of sailing, the crew neared the land of Ithaca. To keep the other winds captivated in the bag, Odysseus guarded it with his life. Due to his overprotection of the bag, the crew began to ponder what lied within, because Odysseus purposly never informed them. They guessed that gold and silver were being hidden from them. The crew began to retaliate and say how selfish of a leader Odysseus was. The quote (lines 43-50) stated that Odysseus only thinks of himself, that the crew deserves some riches as well, and that they should open the bag. As Ithaca was clearly in sight, the crew rebeled, seized and opened the bag when Odysseus was sleeping, and the winds erupted into a hurricane. They lost sight of home, and then landed back on Aioloa.

When Aiolos caught sight of Odysseus again, he was astounded. Odysseus explained about the foolishness of his crew members, and pleaded for more wind to guide them home. Aiolos coldly said (lines 82-85) that the gods were out to kill him, and he did not give him a second chance. He didn't want to help a man cursed by the gods. Driven out of the palace, they sailed for seven more days, landing on the island of the Laistrygonians. There, countless men were slaughtered and eaten by the cannibals, and plenty ships were smashed to pieces. Though taken aback by the latest event, they kept sailing.

Next, they arrived on Aiaia, island of the beautiful Kirke. They slept a few nights, then journeyed on the island in search for food. The small group, excluding Odysseus, found the smooth stone house of Kirke, and around it were dozens of strangely mild animals. She was singing from inside, then heard the men talking outside of her home. She invited them in; all but Eurylokos entered. After barely eating, she took out her stick and turned them into pigs. Eurylokhos ran down to the ship to inform the others of the news. Odysseus set out by himself to find Kirke’s home after hearing the news. On the way he met Hermes who led the way. Hermes told Odysseus to take an herb called moly to protect himself from Kirke’s spell and to lunge at her when she tries to strike him with her sword. Odysseus and Kirke meet, and he forces her to turn his pigs back to men. Circe succumbs, and Odysseus and his crew live on her island in luxury for a year. Odysseus becomes Kirke’s lover, but his crew tells him that they need to continue on with their voyage. Kirke tells them that after leaving, they must travel to Hades to speak with Teiresias for directions home.

The next morning, Odysseus and his shipmates prepare for their departure. However, Odysseus takes in the most recent information, finding out that Elpenor got drunk the night before, decided to sleep on Kirke’s roof, fell off and broke his neck. Odysseues tells his crew that the path they are taking is very meandering. Book XI then talks about their travels to the underworld.


Characters & Their Lessons

Character: Odysseus
Description: Odysseus is obviously the main character. If that is something new to you, then please actually read the Odyssey. This book is based on resisting temptation, dealing with greed, and learning from mistakes. Odysseus is particularly self-absorbed in this book, and only cares about his own saftey and well-being (for the most part). For example, he stays in Kirke for a year for his own pleasures, and doesn’t even think about the rest of him men. The major theme in Odysseus’ behavior throughout book 10, is the homecoming. He constantly is reminded of Ithaca and his return there. He first is in Aeolia, when the bag of wind brings him so close to his homeland. Circe asks him to stay forever, but he declines and wishes to return to Penelope. This is linked to another reoccurring theme - temptation. Odysseus experiences lots of temptation in this book with Circe. Odysseus knows that Circe is extremely attractive and seducing, but he still misses and has feelings for Penelope.
Lesson: Does he ever learn? Since it seems like Odysseus just keeps messing up left and right, “nothing” may be considered a suitable answer for this question. But in fact, Odysseus may actually have learned a few things along the way (weird, isn’t it?). So, at this point in the story, our “flawed hero” still makes some of the wrong decisions. But let’s look at the good things, too. At the beginning of Book X, Odysseus arrives at the Island of Aiolos and decides to make a “deal” with him—smart move. If Odysseus stays and tells Aiolos about his fightings at Troy, then he will grant Odysseus a bag of wind to guide him home—good thinking. However, Odysseus does not tell his crew about what is in the bag, so later on in the story, they suspect that he is hiding gold from them. This causes some problems, and they all end up back at Aioloa. So does Odysseus actually learn from this mistake, or does he just blame his crew members instead? This question is opinion-based, so there is no right or wrong answer. Odysseus did not make any other huge mistakes in the remainder of this book, execpt his decision to stay with Kirke for a whole year. That wasted A LOT of time. Ohh, Odysseus, when will you ever learn…?

Character: Odysseus' Crew
Description: The crew makes some very stupid mistakes in this book as well. They are unable to resist the temptation to look into Odysseus’s bag. This shows that they are greedy and demanding. This is perhaps the first time that the crew criticizes Odysseus for being selfish.
Lesson: They learn to be careful with their actions.

Character: Aiolos
Description:He is the wind king. He presents Odysseus with a bag of winds that would guide him back to Ithaca, but only if he stays to tell the story of Troy through Odysseus’s mind. When Odysseus fails and returns, Aiolos refuses to give him a second chance and is certain that the gods hate Odysseus and wish to do him harm.
Lesson: He learns that you can not trust someone if you don’t know them.

Character: Circe
Description:The beautiful witch-goddess. Her home is on Aiaia. She drugs Odysseus’s men and turns them into pigs in this book. She is Odysseus’s lover for one year. She also tells Odysseus that he mustn’t go directly home, and that he has to travel to the underworld to talk with Tireseas. She is the
archetype of a seductress. She then gives him some very valuable information on how to attract the dead in the underworld and advice on how to deal with the cows of the sun. Circe is considered to be a dynamic character because she changes throughout the story.

Character: Laestrygonians
Description:Powerful giants; cannibals. They turn Odysseus’s scouts into dinner. Odysseus and his remaining crew flee to their ships, but the giants throw boulders at them, and only Odysseus and his shipmates survive. This was their second time arriving at the land of the Laestrygonians.

Character: Hermes
Description: Hermes is considered to be a static character because he does not change throughout the course of the book. Hermes is the messenger god, and he stays a neutral party and just does his job. He is important because he gives the information to Odysseus needed to free Odysseus’ men. He comes to Odysseus with a special herb to stop Circe’s seduction on Odysseus. Odysseus then uses it and forces Circe to change all of his crew back into humans.
Lesson: Hermes learns that Odysseus is determined to save his men when they are in need of help

Character: Elpenor
Description: The youngest man in Odysseus’s crew. The night before their departure, Elpenor got drunk, slept on Kirke’s roof, and fell off when he heard his shipmates voices. He ended up breaking his neck and he died.

Character: Tiresias
Description: Tiresias is the blind prophet that Kirke tells Odysseus to visit in the underworld. In Book XI, he offers Odysseus some very important advice.

Literary Devices

Motifs
Guidance and hospitality. Guidance is shown when Hermes tells Odysseus how to overpower Kirke, and when Kirke tells Odysseus what he needs to do to get home to Ithaka. Hospitality is shown when Aiolos lets Odysseus and his crew stay on Aiolia, and when Kirke lets Odysseus and his crew stay on Aiaia.


Symbolism

Wind
After opening the bag of wind that King Aeolus has given Odysseus as a gift, a huge tornado of wind flies out of the bag. The symbolism of wind here is that is represents either a problem or winds of change. Obviously, when the men opened the bag it caused Odysseus to have to start from the island of Aeolia once again. It also represented winds of change because when they opened the bag Ithaca was in sight. It goes back to the whole ‘
you can never go home again’ bit. Almost like taunting someone (Odysseus) with something they can never have (Ithaca).

Circe
She represents temptation. Odysseus is very tempted to stay with Circe, but he has serious obligations back in Ithaca. (his wife, a son he never met, etc.) This was an obstacle Odysseus overcame in book 10.

Pigs
Symbolism is apparent in “Book Ten” when Odysseus’ men are turned into pigs. When Odysseus’ men are turned into pigs, this symbolizes the rowdiness and sloppiness of them. The men showed poor manners when Kirke served them food, so this may be the reason why she decided to turn them into pigs.

Molu
The molu herb that Hermes gives Odysseus symbolizes protection from unseen dangers. Hermes gives Odysseus the herb to make him immune to the effects of the drugs of Kirke. This herb is protecting Odysseus from the drugs in his food, which he can’t see. Since Odysseus is not affected by the drugs, he is able to overpower Kirke and free his men.

Food
Food is very important to all of the books in The Odyssey. Almost every time Odysseus and his men meet someone new, they offer them a feast. Having people pamper Odysseus shows that he is very dependable and should be disciplined rather than rewarded. In Book X, he gets a feast from Aiolos, and then is spoiled by Kirke for a full year. Constant eating shows Odysseus lacks humanity and self-control.

Oil
“Anointing with oil” comes up a few times in Book X. At the land of Aiaia, when Kirke sees Odysseus and he agrees to be her lover, she immediately goes to rid him of bad things and mentally “clean him” by bathing him in oil. Oil is also symbolic in Book VI.

Second Chances
When Odysseus complained that his crew was foolish and opened the bag, returned to Aiolos, and asked for a second chance, Aiolos was absolutely certain about refusing. This shows that there was no tolerance for stupidity—which Odysseus has a lot of—in this book. A second chance may be allowed in other books, but certainly not Book X.


Connections

Gift Giving
The tradition of giving gifts is eminent in both Greek culture and some
African cultures. For instance, upon meeting someone for the first time you might give a gift. Wheras in America, that’s a little strange.

Epithets
Epithets are very popular in Roman Mythology, as well as Greek Mythology. For instance, Venus; The purifier, lucky Venus, mother Venus, graceful Venus, victorious Venus.

American Mythologies
The culture of Book X depicted in the Odyssey is in some ways similar to the culture of America. Kirke has employed people to do work for her, just as some people in America employ people to work for them or their company. Odysseus, Kirke, and Odysseus’ crew enjoy having big feasts, just as Americans enjoy dining with each other. The Odyssey also has some similarities to American mythology. In the Odyssey there is a hero who is so well respected and can do the impossible. There is a hero with these same qualities in American mythology. This relation is between Odysseus and Superman. They are both heroes because they both have flaws. Odysseus’ flaw is hubris, and Superman’s flaw is his vulnerability to kryptonite. American mythology is not so different from the Odyssey mythology.

Hostages
One event from Book X that can be related to a current event is when Kirke holds Odysseus’ men hostage as pigs. This event can be related to the Amish school shooting when a man held girls at an Amish school hostage. The outcomes of the events were different, but the idea of holding hostages, holding people in captivity, is the same. Odysseus’ men were released with no harm done to them. The Amish schoolgirls were shot, five of them died.

Ithaca
Supposedly, a British archeaologist has located the fictional location of Ithaca, Greece used in Homer’s Odyssey. It is a vacation island called Celephonia. He used descriptions of Ithaca to track down the best match of modern-day Greece.


Links & References

Extra Odyssey Links:
Test Yourself!
Fun Odyssey Game
Odyssey Match Game
Odyssey Hangman
Grade 9 Odyssey
Funny Cartoon Odyssey
Odyssey Map



This Section By: Alyssa L., Ariel B., Dan B.