The first four books of the "Odyssey" give the reader a glimpse of the goings-on and the palace in Ithaka-in order that the homecoming should be understood and that the urgency of the journey should be realized.
The first four books of the "Odyssey" give the reader a glimpse of the goings-on at the palace in Ithaca. Homer thus provides Telemachus with a motive for leaving Ithaca, and the reader this portrait of Ithaca in order that the homecoming Odysseus should be understood and that the urgency of his journey should be realized.