It is true throughout all literature, that there is meaning to be found. Even, if not more so, in fictional pieces. If you think of The Chronicles of Narnia, or The Hobbit and its sequels, then it is true that the authors put metaphors into their works, and The Chronicles of Narnia is an allegory. However, even if the author of a book does not purposefully do this, their life experiences and perspective is reflected in their writings, as well as the way the reader perceives the book based on their own experiences.
If you think hard enough, all this causes morals to be injected into the story for you to dissect. Even writings that are written as factual, like history, have a bias by the author, that’s what makes it interesting. You can find the author’s point of view as well as your own if you look past those basic facts.
When The Odyssey was first composed, it was viewed as a religious text. No one truly believed in Telemachus or Odysseus, but most of the audience did truly think of Athena and Zeus as real characters. These were real characters in the fictional story that were doing things the author thought them likely to do while interacting with his fictional characters.
So, if the people didn’t really believe this stuff happened, what’s the point in making a religious story? Well, that is debated among many Christian denominations about the Bible and the Christian God still today. Whether the stories did or did not happen, there is meaning meant to be found and taken from the story for the audience to apply to their own lives, whether you believe in the stories or not. Even an atheist could pick up the Bible and find meaning and metaphors in the stories without being converted to Christianity. That is what modern audiences try to do with The Odyssey.
In The Odyssey, the main character Odysseus is on a journey to get home. During that journey, some of the gods help him, while others thwart him, and some simply watch. How is there a metaphor in that? Well, Odysseus has a goal, he never strays from that goal and never loses hope in achieving it even though there are so many obstacles in his way. These obstacles include those of religious faith, overcoming emotions such as fear and anger, pain and near-death experiences. This can be seen as a dramatized version of our own lives, teaching us as the audience how to achieve our goals in life.
That is the overarching metaphor found in The Odyssey. However, there are many smaller portions of the book with even more impactful meaning. Find it, use it.
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