I was completely disappointed after finishing Homer's The Odyssey. In the end of Book 24, Odysseus and his three men, his father Laertes, Dolius and his six sons prepared for a battle against the parents of the slaughtered suitors led by Eupithes, the father of Antinous. After Eupithes is killed by recieving the business-end of Laertes' spear, Athena, disguised as Mentor, appears and stops the madness in its tracks. Athena demands peace,so the terrified fighters run for their lives and peace is restored. The end.
This ending sprung out of nowhere! I would've never guessed an epic tale like The Odyssey would end with so much to be desired. I expected such an epic and complex tale to have an ending that left the audience thinking or an ending that could be interpreted in many ways. I thought Homer would deliver a fantastic ending, but instead I was treated with a deus ex machina . A deus ex machina is a plot device where a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly solved with an intervention of a an event, object, or character. This plot device is mainly used to move a story along when a writer sees no other way out. I was extremely disappointed with this conclusion, but it does make sense considering that one of The Odyssey's main themes is divine intervention.
I completely agree with you! Homer could have left me on a 2800 year cliff hanger and I would have been happier with the ending. I feel like it's a bit cheap, actually. Sure, Athena is completely invested in Odysseus' cause, but to go so far as to completely stop (it's probable that there are tens, if not hundreds) of nations about to attack Ithica? I think it's so that we keep Odysseus as a hero in our minds, not an old commander who took on all of Greece and ended the book with a Pyrrhic Victory.
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