Brendan said, Homer pretty much tells you how to interpret the whole book. When Telemachus comes to Eumaeus, it’s a real homecoming, and the simile compares him to an actual father, but when he’s reunited with Odysseus he’s compared to a bird of prey. Trisha looked up. There’s a kind of hysteria in the scene between the biological father and son, she said. It’s almost like they’re overcompensating. I was impressed. Overcompensating for what, do you think? She said, For the fact that the emotion between them is sort of…abstract. It’s what fathers and sons should feel. But with Eumaeus, it’s
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