To what extent are nostos & family the most important themes in the Odyssey?

Nostos & family: what drive the narrative

Book 1: lack of father + husband + owner/controller
The plot is not complete until defects have been fixed
- Particular episodes: O’s weeping with Calypso + O’s refusal to stay in Scherie
- But lapses: O’s stay with Circe
- Also, reunion with Telemachus in 16 + Penelope in 23
13 onwards: arrival in Ithaca
14: reunion with Eumaeus
19: reunion with Eurycleia
17: Argus
18: Home-palace
20: Philoetius
24: Laertes

- But other things that matter: justice & revenge + gods + hero’s resourcefulness +
fantasy & adventures + disguise/revelation + survival against the odds (connects to
nostos) + xenia