The Odyssey

Book 16: What central conflict is beggining to find resolution in this scene?

When Telemachus cannot believe his own eyes, and he says that Odysseues is "like one of the immortals!"

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When father and son reunite in Eumaios' hut, the audience is in a privileged position, in that we know who Odysseus is while neither Eumaios nor Telemakhos does. This privileged position continues once Odysseus reveals himself to Telemakhos, since they will continue to obscure his identity as they try to overtake the suitors. Only three "characters," then, know who Odysseus truly is: Odysseus himself, Telemakhos, and the audience. If his nobility of character and the suitors' despicability were not enough already, we are now irrevocably on Odysseus' side, in on his plot.

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http://www.gradesaver.com/the-odyssey/study-guide/section4/