Question 1:
In Book 11 Odysseus sails down into Hades, the land of souls. Here he encounters past family members, war heroes, and acquaintances. The dead he talks to always ask how the real world is and questions about their alive family members. The longer Odysseus is down there the deeper his conversations become. They begin with dead crew members, then his mother, then war heroes, and the most important is his conversation with Achilles. Achilles has his story in the Iliad and tells the story of Troy and his undefeated nature. Odysseus learn's from Achilles about the fight for Troy and how he chose glory over having a family and long-lived life. Achilles seems to regret this decision now that he is in the land of souls and is finished with life. His speech/poem to Odysseus is advice and possibly foreshadowing that he should settle down with his family and give up on the glory. This is ironic advise from Achilles because this is the opposite of what he followed. This moment serves as an epiphany for Odysseus and hopefully he follows down this path once he reaches home. This journey down into Hades is one of his most difficult feats and towards the end of his journey home. While on this journey he finds himself and will become at peace with his decision to come home.
Question 3:
In Book 13 Odysseus arrives in Ithaca, but he does not recognize his homeland because of his age and Athena has hidden it from him. Athena approaches him, but he tricks the goddess into revealing her true self. This test satisfies the goddess and shows that Odysseus has the perfect skills to deceive Penelope's suitors. Next Athena disguises Odysseus as a weary vagabond so that his old subject, Eumaeus will not recognize him, even though it has been 20 years and I am sure he will not recognize him. I hope that his disguise will continue even while he is tricking the future suitors of his wife, it would give him a further advantage. This disguise symbolizes how different of a man he is since his last time in Ithaca. 20 years have greatly changed Odysseus past being recognized.
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