Telemachus has changed from a scared little boy to a brave man throughout the beginning of the book. At first, he was not sure Odysseus was his father, he was afraid to talk to the men in his house, and he was afraid to do something when he found out his father was alive. Then after he talked to Athena, he felt more confident about himself and he gave orders to the men, he set sail on a journey to find his father and on his journey he talked to some people who reassured him Odysseus is his father. Telemachus is unsure if he is Odysseus’s son.
When Athena is talking to him, she asks him if he is truly Odysseus’s son. He says, “Mother has always told me I’m his son, it’s true, but I am not so certain” . Since he has not seen Odysseus in a long time, he is not sure if he is really his father. While he is on his journey to find Odysseus, he stops in Pylos where he talks to King Nestor. After Telemachus asks him about Odysseus, he says, “I look at you and a sense of wonder takes me. Your way with words – it’s just like his – I’d swear no youngster could ever speak like you, so apt, so telling” .
King Nestor knows Odysseus and he tells him that he reminds him of him. After Telemachus talks to him, he feels more confident that Odysseus is his father. When Telemachus is talking with Athena, he basically tells her that he did not want to talk to the suitors that were in his house. He says, “And mother… she neither rejects a marriage she despises nor can she bear to bring the courting to an end – while they continue to bleed my household white. Soon – you wait – they’ll grind me down as well” .
He does not say that he is scared to talk to them, but he would rather wait until they did something before he did anything. Again, after talking to Athena, he is more confident and he stands up to the men. He says, “You must leave my place! See to your feasting elsewhere, devour your own possessions, house to house by turns” . He finally stands up to the men telling them to get out of his house. It does not say that Telemachus was afraid to set sail, but before he talked to Athena, he did not know his father was alive.
Therefore he did not have a reason to set sail. Once Athena told him that Odysseus was alive, she told him to look for him. She says, “Fit out a ship with twenty oars, the best in sight, sail in quest of news of your long-lost father” . She is like his mentor, so he is going to do what she says because he wants to find his father. He says to Eurymachus, “And now all I ask is a good swift ship and a crew of twenty men to speed through my passage out and back.
I’m sailing off to Sparta, sandy Pylos too, for some news of my long-lost father’s journey home” . He sets off on a journey to find his father and bring him home. Telemachus has changed from a scared little boy to a brave man. He is reassured that Odysseus is really his father, he stood up to the suitors in his house, and he set sail on a journey to find his father. He learns what it means to not be afraid and to do what it takes to try and find his father, even though he does not know if he really is alive.
