I made it all the way to book XVII of The Odyssey. The Odyssey has now reached a conflict that arises in the actual story of The Odyssey. After recanting his tale, Odysseus now returns home to reunite with his family. I liked how the author reversed the roles in the household. Odysseus returns home as a beggar to his own house. The suitors now are running his household, and Telemachus has finally reached his manhood. This irony is clearly intended as the new conflict is for Odysseus to win back his own home and driving the suitors out.
In chp. XV on page 195, the author says "As he was speaking a bird flew by upon his right hand-a hawk, Apollo's messenger. It held a dove in its talons, and the feathers as it tore them off, fell to the ground midway between Telemachus and the ship"(Homer 195). This is described as an omen, which is interesting enough. This is what led me to believe that Homer intentionally put it there for a reason, but an omen, or symbolization of what. I think this is the result of the conflict and maybe the climax. The hawk is symbolizing Odysseus, and the dove is the suitors being powerless under the hawk. Odysseus claims back his home as a fearsome hawk.
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