Raising Children In Homer's The Odyssey

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Imagine trying to take care of your family by yourself while dealing with a rabble of troublesome men living in your house, bothering you every second of the day. In the set of poems The Odyssey by Homer, Penelope, The wife of Odysseus and Queen of Ithaca, has to raise her son, Telemachus, by herself and rule all of Ithaca alone for twenty whole years while Odysseus is off fighting in the Trojan War. Telemachus has to grow up without a father, leaving no one but his mother to teach him the basic things everyone should learn as a child. Penelope is also given little to no time to spend with Telemachus because she needs to run the city. Nevertheless, He would later follow in his father’s footsteps and become a fighter. This scenario conveys the…show more content…
Many single parents will make the mistake of raising their child on their own with no help from friends and family. In most situations, It’s just not possible for the parent to do that many things and be in two different places at the same time. According to the article, “One early solution was to turn to her brothers and sisters for help, to cover all the bases for her kids. Although they did help, more was needed” (Foerstner 2). This statement expresses the fact that single parents will need help from other people, whether it be from their own family or friends they have good connections with. Despite the help she received from her family members, it still was not enough to get both the kids into a comfortable position. This further explains how much help is really needed from others and exactly how hard it is to raise a child independently. Penelope was able to raise Telemachus really well due to the fact that she got help from people like Eumaeus and Eurycleia. The help from other people gave her time to bond a bit with Telemachus and deal with all the struggles she is going through. A financial crisis is bound to happen with only one person working a full-time job instead of two, requiring some adaptation to overcome this problem. The article explains, “To help her over the initial financial crisis, she moved in with her father in Park Ridge and found herself juggling a full-time job” (Foerstner 2). Finding ways to save money like moving into another house is essential in single parenting. Paying for rent takes a large chunk of money out of pockets every month. Moving in with a family member or friend will save a lot of money in the long run. The entire family can also get new hobbies from other friends or older family members that have experience and spend less money going to the movies or bowling. The situation is alike to Penelope because

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