Metaphor of the Oar
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Hao Yu Chen
Sep 16, 2010, 12:59:34 AM9/16/10
to Ms. Olsheski's ENG3U7-BB Class Conference
Metaphor
“But when you have killed these Suitors in your palace, by stratagem
or in a straight fight with the naked sword, you must set out once
more. Take a well-cut oar and go on till you reach a people who know
nothing of the sea and never use salt with their food; crimson-painted
ships and the long oars that serve those ships as wings are quite
beyond their experience. And this will be your sign – a very clear
one, which you cannot miss. When you fall in with some other traveller
who refers to the object you are carrying on your shoulder as a
‘winnowing-fan’, then plant your shapely oar in the earth and offer
Lord Poseidon the rich sacrifice of a ram, a bull and a breeding-boar.
Then go back home and make ceremonial offerings to the immortal gods
who live in the broad heavens, to all of them this time, in due
precedence.”
“As for your own end, Death will come to you far away from the sea, a
gentle Death. When he takes you, you will die peacefully of old age,
surrounded by a prosperous people.”
Homer, Odyssey, Book 11, Lines 119-137
Odysseus is the stereotypical hero: he is noble in status and heart,
good-looking, favoured by the gods, and skilled in combat. In
extolling Odysseus’s heroism when writing about not only his ten year
war in Troy but also his ten year journey home, Homer seems to
emphasize the importance of these incessant journeys in shaping and
reinforcing the godlike man that Odysseus is. It is no surprise, then,
that Odysseus’s journeys do not end when he returns to Ithaca after
his long and wretched twenty years away from home. Odysseus must “set
out once more” after killing the Suitors, and the oar plays a
significant role in this next journey. It could be interpreted as a
metaphor for the restlessness associated with Odysseus’s life, and the
constant need to explore new things, people, and territories.
Odysseus’s planting of the oar is therefore significant, as it signals
the end of his roaming; he is complete and finally able to settle
down. His heroic escapades are concluded, allowing him to live in
peace until death ends his final journey: life.
“But when you have killed these Suitors in your palace, by stratagem
or in a straight fight with the naked sword, you must set out once
more. Take a well-cut oar and go on till you reach a people who know
nothing of the sea and never use salt with their food; crimson-painted
ships and the long oars that serve those ships as wings are quite
beyond their experience. And this will be your sign – a very clear
one, which you cannot miss. When you fall in with some other traveller
who refers to the object you are carrying on your shoulder as a
‘winnowing-fan’, then plant your shapely oar in the earth and offer
Lord Poseidon the rich sacrifice of a ram, a bull and a breeding-boar.
Then go back home and make ceremonial offerings to the immortal gods
who live in the broad heavens, to all of them this time, in due
precedence.”
“As for your own end, Death will come to you far away from the sea, a
gentle Death. When he takes you, you will die peacefully of old age,
surrounded by a prosperous people.”
Homer, Odyssey, Book 11, Lines 119-137
Odysseus is the stereotypical hero: he is noble in status and heart,
good-looking, favoured by the gods, and skilled in combat. In
extolling Odysseus’s heroism when writing about not only his ten year
war in Troy but also his ten year journey home, Homer seems to
emphasize the importance of these incessant journeys in shaping and
reinforcing the godlike man that Odysseus is. It is no surprise, then,
that Odysseus’s journeys do not end when he returns to Ithaca after
his long and wretched twenty years away from home. Odysseus must “set
out once more” after killing the Suitors, and the oar plays a
significant role in this next journey. It could be interpreted as a
metaphor for the restlessness associated with Odysseus’s life, and the
constant need to explore new things, people, and territories.
Odysseus’s planting of the oar is therefore significant, as it signals
the end of his roaming; he is complete and finally able to settle
down. His heroic escapades are concluded, allowing him to live in
peace until death ends his final journey: life.
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