I think easily one of the best lines in Monster is “If I became the monster to everyone but us, etc” because it is so UNDERSTANDING? Odysseus just sang about understanding his foes. He knows the witch turned men to pigs to save her nymphs- she might be a monster to those men, but not to her nymphs. Poseidon is not a monster to himself, but he is to the crew. Odysseus doesn’t care if his foes think he is a monster- his crew won’t (hopefully), because he’ll protect them.
Odysseus heard “Yo I see a man next to your wife. Yeah he’s covered in blood and has killed a BUNCH of people.” And really went “Well I gotta make sure that’s me. No one else can be that but me, I’ll make sure of it.”
The pure EMOTION in this Saga is killing me. The sadness of “Polites…”, the gut-wrenching heartbreak and disbelief of “Mom?”, the unfiltered anger of “WHO?!”
I think this appearance of Polites and Odysseus’ mom in The Underworld- bedsides the fact that they’re dead and should be there- was to tempt Odysseus into the River Styx. I think that’s what souls do to anyone who visits.
I imagine the dead crew-mates trying to beckon their alive friends into the water so they can be together again. I imagine soldiers having to physically hold their friends back from trying to jump into the river.
I imagine Eurylochus trying his best to keep Odysseus on the ship as Polites and his mother float by. I imagine Odysseus reaching out to touch them, to talk to them, anything. Trying his best to be strong- yet he can’t help but be tempted towards the water. And his crew-mates have to hold him back more than anyone else. And only after they have passed does he snap back to reality and realize how fucking terrifying the Underworld truly is.
Like I physically can’t help but imagine Odysseus with a pirate hat on, climbing up the ropes to the bird’s nest as he sings about going home to Penelope. And he definitely has a cutlass.
Now logically I know Odysseus and crew are Greeks. They had those big row boats with sails.
But in my non-logical brain? They’re pirates. They are so absolutely pirates. “Full Speed Ahead” is SO pirate coded. Nothing can change my mind.
The last time we were on a long flight, my wife and I invented a game we call "Little Guy."
You start a game of Little Guy by saying, "I'm gonna hand you a little guy." The little guy is some kind of baby animal you are imagining. "Oh," she might say in response, "Okay," and hold out her hands for it. I will then mime handing her the animal. This provides some clues as to the little guy's size, weight, and general ungainliness.
She then gets to ask questions about what kind of little guy this is, BUT NO QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS ACTUAL APPEARANCE OR SPECIES ARE ALLOWED. Qualitative questions, or questions about his behavior, are the only ones permitted. She can ask "Is he soft?" or "Does he seem nervous about being held?" or "If I put him in the bathtub, does he seem okay with that?" or "Would he like a lil grape?" or "Is he the sort of little fellow who would wear a vest in a children's book?" but not "Does he have fur," "Is he a reptile," "Is he from Asia," etc. Some questions are in a grey area so you have to follow your heart, but the point is not to identify the animal as fast as possible: the point is to guess the animal purely based on vibes + how he would act if he were in your living room right now.
And I'm not limited to yes or no answers! If she asks, "Would it feel appropriate to see this little guy in a propeller hat?" I can reply, "Oh no, he has a gravity to him. A bowler hat would be a more appropriate hat." Or if she asks, "Does this little guy have protagonist energy?" I can say something like, "he probably wouldn't be the main character in a children's cartoon. He'd probably be the main character's ditzy best friend who's always eating sandwiches, or something."
We're big Twenty Questions to kill time in a waiting room people, but Little Guy is more about the journey than the destination. It's got a different kind of sauce that's nice if "killing time" and "lowering anxiety" need to happen hand in hand.