The Odyssey Book 5: Odysseus- "Nymph and Shipwreck" (Calypso) The story of Odysseus begins with a magnificent opening adventure which demonstrates his love of life in his insistence on release from the goddess's control, his resourcefulness and skill in building the raft, and his courage facing the elements. The story takes place against a sweeping backdrop of the sea and its divine machinery. Part One: Calypso's Island (Oxygia) (5. 47- 288)  Why does Odysseus take the enormous risk of rejecting life in paradise with Calypso? Odysseus has taken an enormous risk by rejecting Calypso. Typically, humans pay with their lives if they offend a goddess in such a blatant fashion. It is only Hermes' intervention that saves him. He has remained hidden on Oxygia for seven years. This isolation is unbearable to a Greek hero: he can only earn kleos in the open world of competition and conquest. Calypso lives far out at sea away from the cities of men. Death at sea would have been an inglorious end for Odysseus, for no one would have known about it or celebrated it. Odysseus also pines for his wife. He would prefer to spend the years he has left at home in the company of an aging woman to living eternally with a goddess. Homer celebrates human values and experience in Odysseus' story. We are born to die, but the very brevity of our experience makes our lives more precious and beautiful than the immortal gods could imagine. Close Reading: What are our first glimpses of Odysseus? (5. 93-96;165-70; 238-248) Odysseus is discovered helpless and in tears, sitting alone on the beach (at the very same moment that Penelope is being soothed in her dream by Athena.) Odysseus is trapped and mistrustful. He makes love to Calypso unwillingly. He leaves with joy for home. (The Greeks placed absolute value on loyalty to one's household. Conveniently, affairs with slaves or aliens did not compromise marital vows.)  How does Homer describe Calypso's cave? (5. 64-85) Odysseus' misery is ironic because he is living in an exotic paradise. Calypso's home is described with extraordinary sensuality and natural beauty. However, hers is a purely vegetal existence: cedar fires, luxuriant woods, roosting birds, vines bursting with ripe fruit, clear springs, soft meadows. As magnificent as this island is, living there would present no challenges, no opportunities for a hero to earn a name. How does Calypso welcome Hermes to her home? Describe Calypso's character. (5. 86-165; 178-189; 223-238)  Calypso receives Hermes without xenia. She quickly guesses the reason for his visit and is already angry. She has wonderfully human characteristics: she is warmly affectionate, resents interference, doesn't give up easily, will adjust the truth to her advantage, justifies her past behavior, blames the gods and disobeys Zeus by making one last bid for Odysseus' affection: she offers him immortality. She reminds him of the hardships he will face in the journey home and of Penelope's human frailty. What is Odysseus' first reaction to the news that he has longed to hear for seven years? (5. 190-199) He is skeptical. His gut instinct is to trust no one. He is tactful and controlled but shrewd in his questioning of Calypso's honesty. He insists that she swear an oath that she is not plotting mischief against him. What is Odysseus' first heroic accomplishment? (5. 252-288) Building his raft is the first significant physical action Odysseus takes in the poem. We watch him work with his hands, hardly the normal activity of a hero. However, it is this skill in carpentry that enabled human beings to conquer the ocean, travel to distant lands and earn riches in trade. Odysseus possesses intelligence. He knows how to work with tools: the axe, the adze, and the drill. He knows how to design the hull and rig the sails. He knows how to navigate by the stars. He is a master mariner. He does it all expertly. (His technological skill enables him to sail over the depths of the sea, a metaphor for the depths of passion within our psyches.) Part Two: The Storm (5. 290-548) Why doesn't Homer allow Odysseus to just sail right on home from Calypso' island? What blocks his return? (5. 308-365) The storm of Poseidon's wrath blocks Odysseus' easy return home. (Although he cannot be lost, yet he will be tempest tossed.) Odysseus quakes with fear at the approaching thunderheads. He wishes that he had died a soldier's death at Troy. The storm symbolizes the emotional upheavals that prevent us from being happy. Odysseus, like Telemachus, must relearn how to live if he is to achieve his goal of getting home. He must unlearn the macho values of the Iliadic hero and relearn the teachings of the goddesses if he is to make it home. Notice the cluster of similes climaxing the passage which describes the destruction of Odysseus' vessel. Homer resorts to this heightened poetic style when describing moments of high dramatic or emotional content. Who saves Odysseus from drowning? (5. 366-401) Leukothea, the White Goddess saves Odysseus from death at sea. She was once Ino, the daughter of Kadmos, the founder of Thebes. Hera drove Ino and her husband Athamos mad. He killed her son and threatened to kill another when Ino seized him and leapt into the sea. There they were transformed into divinities. To save himself Odysseus must trust divine will entirely. (cthonic deities, beneath the earth) He is skeptical, but the rage of Poseidon's storm forces him to take this chance. To live he must let go of his boat and trust the goddess' veil. Even so he is tossed in the ocean for two days. Homer uses a memorable simile to describe Odysseus' reaction when he sees land. His face looks like the face of children who see their father recovering from a grave disease. Where does Odysseus find shelter once he makes finally makes shore? (5. 525-45) Beaten by waves, battered by wind, and shredded by the reef, Odysseus finally makes shore after praying to a river god to allow him passage at its mouth. He finds shelter beneath an olive bush and burrows his way into the leaves- like a man on his own in the country searching for a living coal in an old fire. Odysseus is keeping the spark of fire alive. The seed of life is protected after near extinction in burial with Calypso.