Adolescence depicted in The Odyssey
Homer's The Odyssey introduces us to a wide variety of characters. Two of the younger characters in The Odyssey are Telemachos, the son of Odysseus, and Nausikaa, the daughter of King Alkinoos. Both Telemachos and Nausikaa are taken to be approximately of the same age, although the book is not specific about Nausikaa's age. More importantly, we know that they are both teenagers. Almost all adolescents share two central traits, the wish for independence and rebelliousness, and Nausikaa and Telemachos are no exceptions. Adolescence is defined as the transitional period between childhood and adulthood. Despite Telemachos's age, he doesn't really begin this transitional period until Athena comes to him. In the beginning of the book, although Telemachos is eighteen, he is still a child. Telemachos's childhood was, for the most part, without a father. Because of this, he feels it is his duty to protect his mother. In my opinion, that is just a delusion of grandeur. What does his mother need protection from? Anyway, Telemachos lacks the resolve to expel the suitors and he doesn't completely think his actions through. However, when Athena comes to him in the form of Mentes, everything suddenly changes. Athena acts as a catalys
t to propel Telemachos into the next stage of his life. This is where his adolescence truly begins. Telemachos now wants to be independent. It is possible that he wants to harvest his father's kleos and live up to the "Odysseus tradition" and the Odysseus name. Telemachos rebels against his mother, whom he thought he was supposed to protect, and mounts an expedition to go search for his father - without telling her anything. Another possibility, although one that doesn't stand up to much criticism, is that Nausikaa's marriage is another form of expressing her wish to be independent. In today's society, people often marry someone of a completely different personality and character as a way of showing their rebelliousness to their parents. However, in high society at that time, marriages are usually arranged or they require the utmost approval of the parents. In most fairy tales, the appointed husband is always someone who the girl never truly loves, and at the end, she runs away with her Prince Charming, much to her parents' dismay. In this case, it's different. Regardless of upbringing or family circumstances, adolescence is always a stage in which pent-up frustrations manifest themselves as acts of rebellion. These manifestati
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Approximate Word count = 834
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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