Wednesday, February 17, 2010
In Media Res: Narrative vs. Chronological Order
In class we observed the narrative order of the Odyssey, the order the event are retold in the epic, are different from the chronological order, the order the events occur in time. The epic begins in media res, literally in the middle of things. What is ONE reason that the story begins in this way? Why doesn't the story begin with Odysseus leaving Troy?
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There are many reasons that the Odyssey begins in the middle of Odysseus’s journey. One major reason, I believe, is that it sets the scene better for Odysseus’s dramatic return home to Ithaca. Throughout the Telemachiad, the reader is introduced to the suitors who are trying to claim both Odysseus’s wife and throne for themselves. They are shown to be gluttonous, self-centered, and violent men. The reader is also introduced to Telemachus, trying to grow up and achieve his father’s stature in the world. Penelope is introduced as well, sadly wasting away as she awaits her husband’s return, yet craftily attempting to hold off the suitors’ advances.
ReplyDeleteDue to the fact that these characters are introduced early on, the reader is already familiar with them by the time Odysseus arrives home. If Telemachus was not introduced until his father’s arrival at Ithaca, the reader would have no idea what he was like, what problems he was facing, and how big an event it was for him to finally meet his father. Furthermore, the reader would have less of an idea about the dangers facing Odysseus. Knowing about the suitors who want him dead adds a layer of suspense to the story that cannot be achieved without proper set-up. Faithful Penelope would be unknown to the reader as well, preventing the sense of pity one feels for her whenever she tries, in vain, to stop the suitors’ madness.
The fact that the Odyssey starts in media res is one of the most complicated yet intriguing things about it. This format allows for Odysseus’s return to Ithaca, while a happy occasion for him, to appear as only the beginning for the reader. This is because, while occurrences on Ithaca have been a mystery to Odysseus for twenty years, the reader knows about the ferocious suitors squandering all of his possessions, the loyal queen pining away for him, and the young prince who is desperate for his long-lost father’s return. In this way, the scene is set for an epic struggle, as Odysseus fights those who want him dead to reclaim all that is rightfully his. While Odysseus’s journey home may seem complete, the real battle for his home is only beginning.
I would definitely agree with all of Russell’s ideas about the significance of the fact that story of the Odyssey begins In Media Res, or in the middle of the chronological plot of the story. I agree that that the Telemachiad, as it is presented first in the epic, plays the role of setting the stage. It conveys the possible stakes present as Odysseus arrives home to a tense situation gripping his family and his estate. Other reasons I believe the epic tale is not presented in chronological order is because it enhances or enforces the ideas of real time events, and suspenseful storytelling. By this I mean it makes the story flow with intriguing firsthand accounts of events and also with simultaneous events happening in a more tense fashion. For an example of events that are occurring simultaneously, we can look at the fact that Telemachus’ search for information about his father coincides with Odysseus’ nearing of his home in Ithaca which also coincides with the suitors recent attempts to slay Telemachus and seize Odysseus’ throne by marrying his wife Penelope. Had the story begun with an account of Odysseus’ long and treacherous journey, there would be no place to relay the important simultaneous events that occur in Odysseus’ far off home in Ithaca. This would completely eliminate the suspense that is built off of the idea that Odysseus’ former life is waiting to accept him, yet is growing even more distant and dismal because of the ruthlessness of the suitors.
ReplyDeleteMy second idea is that the story is presented in the way it is so that it can foster a situation that puts Odysseus in charge of relaying his own story. Instead of reading a bleak narration of the chronological order of events, we receive each event as it is told by an individual character. This gives the stories more inflection, sincerity, and a personal value that cannot be achieved by a third-person narration. For example, by presenting the events out of order in the epic, it presented the opportunity for Odysseus to personally relay the story of his hardships and travels to the Phaeacian people. We are given a firsthand account of Odysseus’ encounters with the lotus eaters, Polyphemus, King Aeolus, Circe, and so on. Thus the story is presented through the values and moods of Odysseus which makes the events and actions seem more true to the personalities of the characters. I believe that the Odyssey is presented In Media Res for all these reasons.
Although I am sure Russell and Charlie made very excellent points as always; I just want to make it clear that I skimmed them, because I have a lot to do, so sorry if I repeat anything. I would like to make a very obvious, not yet mentioned point; Home was an artist, an author, a poet. My idea is pretty simple; he wrote it in this narrative style because he can, as this artist. His work was originally told by oral tradition, until it was eventually published in writing. It is very remarkable piece of work that is still studied today. I think that the story was written in media res because of the captivation it creates. By not writing the story in chronological order, Homer places us in the position of desiring to know what really happened to Odysseus. Homer discloses the story in small stages, which leaves the reader wanting to know more. It also keeps the reader engaged and intrigued in the story. The reader begins in a state of not knowing the entire story, so that creates a feel of suspense. By starting at the end, Homer creates the suspense for knowing the whereabouts of Odysseus. We do not know anything about Odysseus (even if he is alive or dead) at the beginning, because the Telemachiad focuses on Telemachus. Homer makes the details of Odysseus so mysterious, as to keep the reader engrossed. Homer’s method of creating a story is probably better than the alternative of chronological order because of the interest that is maintained within the reader. These story telling aspects were probably known by Homer, and he knew that the way the narrative was set up would impact the reader’s interest in the story. He used these features to his advantage to further attract the reader to the story of Odysseus’s journey.
ReplyDeleteI would like to start off by saying, Sarah Toil; I love you for your honesty. I also skimmed because it is tech week and it's kind of late. But I do agree with what Charlie and Russell, and Sarah Toil are saying. Anyway(s), one reason why the story of Odysseus starts in the middle would be to provide the reader of the epic with background information on the other characters, and even Odysseus himself because if it started in the beginning, in chronological order, we would not know about Telemachus and Penelope and it would be Odysseus simply returning by ship from Troy to Ithaca, sleeping with random nymphs and goddesses, attacking Cyclops, and really having no main goal known to the reader. I’m not trying to be sarcastic in any way about the goddesses, that is just what I would perceive it as if I was not aware of Telemachus or Penelope waiting for Odysseus to come home after being gone at war. The main goal in The Odyssey is for Odysseus to get home to his wife and his son, both whom haven’t seen him in over ten year’s time. If Homer had not established who his son and wife were, we would not know the main reasons why Odysseus was trying to return home, confusing the reader and making them wonder why Odysseus is making this very long journey home, besides coming home to war. Overall, I think that it is better than Homer arranged the books in chronological order because it makes the book easier to understand and helps the reader to understand Odysseus’ goals in the beginning and middle of this epic until he returns home.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with all the points Russell, Charlie, and Sarah have presented, and before I begin I would just like to state how much I like this particular post; it is fascinating to me primarily because there really is no right or wrong answer; all the possible reasons are just that, possible. No one can really say whether Homer told the story in this method for this reason, that reason, some other reason none of us even think of, or because of any possible combination of reasons. Because of this, none of us can be considered to be wrong or right.
ReplyDeleteNow on to what I think about Homer’s usage of in media res. As I said before, I totally agree with my classmates points. I believe that, in addition, to introducing the people and situation awaiting Odysseus at home in Ithaca, Homer creates quite a bit of suspense and tension for the rest of the story: he makes the reader has heard all about what a great king and person Odysseus is by showing how terribly the situation in Ithaca has deteriorated in his absence and by people simply saying how great he is. The best example of this is of course Athena telling Telemachus to essentially “step up, be a man, and act like your father”. These instances obviously force the reader to look forward to and anticipate the introduction of Odysseus, which induces more reader involvement and enjoyment of the story. It is for the reason and the ones my classmates have already stated that I think Homer placed the Telemachiad at the beginning of the story.
Now I would like to point out something that some of my classmates seem to be passing over. Homer’s breaking of the chronological order is not limited to his putting the Telemachiad at the beginning of the story. He tells the “second half” of Odysseus’s return journey (beginning from Calypso) before he tells the first half. Though Charlie did discuss this, it seems like this gets forgotten in the discussion of Homer’s breaking from the chronological order. (Even the title we have given this, “in media res”, does not do it justice, as this variation is more than simply starting “in the middle of things”.) I believe that the explanation Charlie suggested is the most likely reason that Homer would do this. Stories are typically more powerful and believable when told from a firsthand source, in this case, Odysseus. However, there is a small issue with this line of thought: we see throughout the book that Odysseus is a wonderful liar, capable of coming up with excellent conceivable stories like the one he tells Eumaeus the swineherd seemingly with little or no preparation. How are we, the readers expected to believe without a shadow of a doubt that Odysseus is not simply lying when he tells his story to Alcinous and his court. The only explanation I can think of is that Homer realizes that this hurts the believability of his story, but that he inserts this anyway and uses it to add another aspect to the story. Essentially, saying “we will never really know exactly what happened on Odysseus’s return home.”
I did not read all of the posts, so if I repeat anything, I am sorry, and you win because you said it first...but I still win… I believe that it does not follow a chronological order because it introduces the characters in a brand new way. To understand the characters fully, one must learn about the culture, and most importantly, the religion. Many believe that everything is the gods fault, while the gods blame everything on the humans. Also, it helps set up the book for Odysseus’s journey back. By doing this, we can see, in much detail, how religion, faith, greed, and anxiety play into this book. Odysseus’s crew members are so greedy that they open the “bag of winds” which supposedly, will take them home. Odysseus gets very mad, and they have to continue on the slow pace they have been traveling at. Penelope is very anxious for Odysseus’ and Telemchaus’ returns. Unfortunately, there are suitors waiting to take Penelope once Odysseus does not come back. When the crew members of Odysseus did not follow the gods orders, they were all killed by lightning, from the almighty Zeus. Because Odysseus did not eat the cattle, he was spared and continued for home. This shows that if you follow the faith of your gods, you in turn will get respect, and a life. When Homer did not place the books in chronological order, he really showed that he wanted to focus on Odysseus’ trip home, and keep other points to a minimum. Finally, Homer did this because he wanted to demonstrate religion, wealth, greed, anxiety and faith were part of their culture.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I did read all of the posts, and I mostly agree with Russel, Charlie, Sarah, and Mark. I agree that some of the many possible reasons the Odyssey is written in in media res, are that it sets up the background information and story, it allows for a more personal and interesting story, and it is a more poetic or as Sarah put it artistic way of writing the story. Homer starts the story of Odysseus’ journey home in the middle, and the stories of Odysseus’ earlier troubles are introduced while Odysseus is telling his story to strangers, and hosts that he meets along his way home to Ithica. Having Odysseus be the one to tell the reader the stories of his hardships and triumphs, allows the story to be more personal, rather than a narrator blandly telling the story in 3rd person, you hear the story directly from Odysseus, and you are exposed to more of the emotion. Therefore, it lets the reader get to know Odysseus’ personality. One way the reader gets to know Odysseus is by the way he withholds his name from strangers who host him. Then asks them to tell stories about Odysseus, or tells stories about Odysseus himself, and after the stories are over while they’re fawning over Odysseus’ greatness, he finally says his name. This shows that Odysseus was quite arrogant, but also that he was clever and smart. Odysseus used this tactic several times in the book, and it resulted in receiving many gift, including ships and crewman. In addition, Telemachus, Penelope, and the suitors are introduced in the beginning, which provides a little background information for the story. The introduction of these characters also adds a layer of suspense. Last, about Sarah’s point, I think that the tactic of in media res was used by Homer, because it is a poetic or literary device, that adds a level of sophistication to the story. Much like Homer’s use of the word You, when he is talking about Eumaeus. Finally, I believe that the epic did not start with Oddyseus’ departure from Troy because, the focus was meant to be on the corruption at Ithica, and Odysseus’ long journey home, not the war that had just ended in Troy. Finally, I believe that there are many logical reasons that explain why Homer wrote the Odyssey using in media res, and that it was a good tactic of adding depth to the story.
ReplyDeleteI want to say that I agree with the points that Russel, Charlie, Sarah and Anna have made. I think that the story starting in narrative order was a good idea. I think this because when it starts in the middle of things we start right in the middle of action, we get a story that is a part of an even larger story and we get different bits of different characters stories. At the beginning of the book we start right in the action of things. This is shown with Telemachus and Penelope being worried about Odysseus and Athena jumping right into the story with help. Also when the story starts we are introduced to the story that Odysseus has been gone for several years and we realize that this story is just a part of a bigger story which is the story of Odysseus’s journey home. With this we are left with not many answers which provide the reader with suspense. Finally at the beginning we hear from Nestor, King and Queen of Sparta and Calypso. These characters all tell different stories about different things in their lives. With this we can get the essential background information that we need to understand the story. I think that with the story not beginning with Odysseus leaving Troy the reader is given a suspense factor that you don’t normally get with other stories.
ReplyDeleteI like the ideas that have already been presented in this topic but I would like to add what I think. Obviously there is no correct answer to the question, as we do not know exactly what Homer's intentions were when writing this epic but it is interesting to think about the possible reasons for this. First of all the tactic of starting the story in the middle or in media res is used very often in literature as well as movies. I believe it adds the great aspect of wonder to the story. When the story is started in the middle of actual chronological order it leaves the reader with a sense of curiosity and wonder about what happened to lead up to events going on in the middle of the book. This specific story in the Telemachiad is started off with peril and dilemmas in the city of Ithaca. When reading about this personally I felt a stronger interest in reading the book, so that I could find out what happened to make the situation so bad in the first place, and also to find out what happens to solve this problem. When the writer presents the conflict in the middle of the story it makes the story more interesting and leaves a longer period of time to develop a solution to the conflict. I think that this is a strong tactic to make a piece of literature much more interesting.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason that the story might be started in the middle is to provide some background and insight into the characters and plot of the epic. Without this introduction the reader would be hearing about the epic battles and adventures of Odysseus without knowing a thing about him or what his background is like. Altogether I think that it was a smart decision by Homer to make the Odyssey start in the middle because it made it more sophisticated and placed it among one of the greatest epic ever written.