Odysseus always trusted Penelope. He was ordered to lie to her and it hurt him to do so. Penelope was distrustful of this stranger until she had absolute solid proof.
There are way too many people talking about how "Odysseus lies to Penelope. What a prick!" and it makes me sad/mad as that's not the case at all
The whole "Odysseus usually always has a reason to lie" maybe upcoming essay aside, He was literally commanded by Athena to not tell anyone. And it was with Penelope that he had the hardest time keeping up the act with. Not only because she's smart af and figured him out almost immediately (that essay coming soon too) but because he was trying to keep himself from crying with her.
I think people forget that he is disguised to look like someone else completely. If a random man claimed to be your missing husband, wouldn't you be scared/freaked out?
Anyways, the 3 most important people in his life are Penelope, Telemachus, and Laertes. He lies to all three.
Telemachus: Lied by letting Eumaeus answer him and still under the orders from Athena, did not cry or reveal himself until Athena allowed him to. (I read it as him being in shock. Last time he saw him, Telemachus' hand could only wrap around one finger and now he's as big as him. a bit shocking to say the least)
Laertes: He teared up seeing him but still decided to question and test his father, not by the order from Athena.
Penelope: He was trying so hard to keep from crying, tried to noodle his way out of lying to her, Under Athena's orders. still couldn't help but basically flirt with her.
Also to get this outta the way: No, it wasn't a matter of trust. He is shown to trust her right away. As this happens even before he gets the chance to speak with Penelope.
Staunch Odysseus glowed with joy to hear all this—
his wife's trickery luring gifts from her suitors now,
enchanting their hearts with suave seductive words
but all the while with something else in mind.
(Book 18, Fagles)
If Odysseus does not trust her, why is he so happy to see her "flirt" with the suitors? It's because he KNOWS what she's doing and knows she doesn't actually want them. If he didn't trust her, he would be upset by this.
Now for the "it hurt to lie to her" bit.
Athena's command:
"Tell not a single person in the palace, man or woman, that you are back from your wanderings; but endure all vexations in silence and submit yourself to the indignities that will be put upon you.'
(Book 13, Rieu)
If you are my son—truly of our blood—
let no one hear Odysseus is back home.
Don’t let Laertes know or the swineherd,
or the slaves, or Penelope herself.
(Book 16, Johnston)
And the people he did reveal himself to, he only did so after being given permission by Athena.
Athene spoke to him. 'The time has come,' she said, 'royal son of Laertes, Odysseus of the nimble wits, to let Telemachus into your secret, so that the pair of you may plot the downfall and death of the Suitors and then make your way to the famous city. [...]
(Book 15, Rieu)
He talks to Telemachus before talking to Penelope.
I’ll stay here,
so I can stir the servants even more—
and your mother. As she laments, she’ll ask
for each and every detail.”
(Book 19, Johnston)
Odysseus is already sweating about having to lie to her
The next part would honestly be me just inserting almost ALL the text for this so I'll go into a summary. It's all in Book 19.
Penelope asks him where he's from. And instead of answering, it's a tsunami of compliments. Calling her flawless. Comparing her to a king. etc, etc,
Probably because he couldn't help himself and had to babble about how wonderful she is Who wouldn't? before finally ending with "Please don't ask me where I'm from. It makes me sad."
Penelope, probably overwhelmed by his praise, immediately goes into how "her beauty left with her husband. It did not. And where did you say you were from again?"
"Fine! I'm from Crete..."
And we all know that as soon as she starts crying, after a lovely description of how her tears "melted", he talks about how hard it was for Odysseus to hold in his OWN tears. Lying to her and being unable to comfort her was painful for him!!!
But though Odysseus' heart was wrung by his wife's distress, his eyes, hard as horn or iron, never wavered between their lids, so craftily did he repress his tears.
(Book 19, Rieu)
Even with him revealing himself to Euryclea, when she cried out to Penelope, Athena made sure she didn't hear! It's most likely that he wouldn't be able to tell her even if he wanted.
She spoke, and her eyes glanced over at Penelope,
anxious to tell her that her husband had come home.
But Penelope could not see her face or notice,
for Athena had diverted her attention.
(Book 19, Johnston)
He desperately wanted to be with her again. Literally daydreaming about it!
At those words
Dawn rose on her golden throne in a sudden gleam of light.
And great Odysseus caught the sound of his wife’s cry
and began to daydream—deep in his heart it seemed
she stood beside him, knew him, now, at last …
(book 20, Fagles)
Clearly doesn't trust her. /sarcasm
It's PENELOPE that has trouble trusting him. And rightfully so! While she was very certain that was her husband, there was so much going on and of course, she's cautious! He looked like an elderly stranger at first, why is he hiding from her? He somehow took out all those men with only a little help, Athena isn't telling her anything, Helen was kidnapped and she did not want that to possibly happen to her too, etc.
He even understands her cautiousness to be reasonable.
As she spoke, lord Odysseus, who had borne so much,
smiled and immediately spoke to Telemachus— his words had wings:
“Telemachus, let your mother
test me in these halls. She will soon possess
more certain knowledge. Right now I’m filthy,
with disgusting clothing on my body.
That’s why she rejects me and will not say
I am Odysseus. [...]
(Book 23, Johnston)
He even trusted her completely to take care of everything while he was gone before. And he does again when he wakes up and goes to see his father. Telling her about how she too wise to need instruction
Odysseus (and Penelope as well) is well-known for his cunning tricks and how his loyalties are often blurred but one thing that is for sure about him is that he trusts and is loyal to Penelope full-heartedly. He spent every day missing her and their son and wanting to go home to her. The only moment we see his trust in her waver is during the Treebed scene, (which is what she wanted to test).
They are "like-minded". 😭
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Adventures in de-girlbossifying female BSD characters, pt. Gin Akutagawa. I've already talked a bit about how I think people tend to write Gin fairly simplistically: as the supportive and sometimes protective younger sister of Ryuunosuke, who is also a badass assassin who rarely speaks.
I think what people tend to gloss over is the implication of Gin being situationally nonverbal. Please correct me if I'm wrong (I've done what research I can as someone who doesn't experience this), but selective mutism tends to correlate with social anxiety, which generally is a trait that I rarely see Gin portrayed with, despite the high likelihood that she has some degree of anxiety surrounding social situations. It even makes sense why she couldn't speak in the beginning of the series, but was able to hold a conversation with Tachihara later on. Gin is the younger sister of one of the Port Mafia's elite, and it can be inferred that Gin only joined the organization because Ryuunosuke was recruited by Dazai. Even someone without a pre-existing disability would probably feel nervous about how they're perceived by their coworkers (accusations of nepotism, general misogyny, etc).
This is just my oc-ification of Gin based on limited canon portrayals of her, but I think Gin would struggle with a fear of receiving criticism or contempt a lot. She's comfortable with speaking within the Black Lizards, and maybe a little bit with the ADA, because she's grown to understand and expect what their responses to her will be. It's not that she doesn't speak because she's shy or reticent (though she can be these things as well), but that she can't speak, because there's the sense that whatever she has to say won't be received well.
Personally, I also agree that Gin isn't innately timid or meek by any means, but I also think that people, once again, oversimplify her because she's a female character into a girlboss caricature that is infinitely capable and strong, when she's portrayed in the series as someone with multiple layers, personas even, in a literal sense.
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The best gaming machine is an X Box One.
This is not a matter for debate. It is a fact, and I have photographic evidence:
That is my cat Luna, and that is where she spends most of her free time. The Xbox One is her favorite cat bed, and I have run extensive tests with other consoles.
The Xbox 360 has a similar shape, but a rougher texture. The PS2 is too small and lacks stability. The N64 is an awkward shape. And our computers are rendered unusable by her presence, leading to conflicts.
Only the Xbox One reliably produces chill gaming companionship. And I've taken heat into consideration - she will choose a turned off XBone over any turned on competitor. And she will choose it regardless of where the XBone is moved.
Which brings me to the crux of my current crisis. My husband has procured for me a new X Box (the series S). He's basically admitted to doing it so that he has the excuse to move the One into his office and get more quality time with the cat. This act of aggression is vile, but I have a plan - the series S doesn't have a disc drive, so as long as I insist on playing Xbone games on disc, I need the old machine and he cannot deprive me.
Unfortunately, I have a limited supply of games on disc and my first salvo has been an absolute miss. Cyberpunk 2077 was supposed to provide me with at least 100 hours of entertainment, but I honestly just can't get into it. And ultimately, I believe that is what history will remember Cyberpunk 2077 for.
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