Self Negation as a Method of Establishing Identity in Homer’s Odyssey

-Odysseus taking on the guise of “Noman” in Ch. IX, 366.

Within the epic poem “The Odyssey”, Homer presents the story of Odysseus’s quest to find his home and his identity. According to Homer’s account, with its origin in oral tradition, the two quests are interchangeable, as a mortal defines himself with his home, his geographic origin, his ancestors, his offspring, etc. But in addition to this Homer illustrates the other aspect of human identity, shaped by the individual and his actions so that he may be recognized in the outside world. Through this Homer presents Odysseus in two ways: the first his internally given identity as ruler and native of Ithaca, son of Laertes, father of Telemachos; the second the definition of the external world which sees the “god-like” mortal famous for his clever actions and the god’s almost unanimous favor.

For this second identification Odysseus has undergone a long journey, measured not only by time and distance but also as a series of alienations in foreign lands, illustrating to Odysseus what exactly his identity does not consist in, namely the immortal, the underworld, or other nationalities. Through these alienations Homer establishes the hostile world in which Odysseus must struggle to exist and in which sometimes the Gods themselves become hostile, causing mortals to suffer. In order to survive this, Odysseus also explores what it is to present oneself as without a past, home, fixed identity, or as he names himself to the Cyclops - a “Noman”. That is to say that in certain instances Homer presents Odysseus as performing the opposite action of most mortals(i.e. attempting to make a name for themselves) by disguising or even eradicating his name, thus establishing an externally identifiable identity as being vital but also dangerous. Through this Homer’s portrayal admits the role of self-negation in Odysseus’s struggle as it enables him to survive the hostilities of both fellow mortals and the Gods and in the end to make a name for himself. Homer presents this clearly in the following instances: Helen’s description of Odysseus disguising himself to enter into the city of Troy and in doing so gaining information that would allow him to destroy his mortal enemies, a trademark ploy that he also uses when returning to his homeland of Ithaca to infiltrate the rank of suitors; additionally in the sequence with the Cyclops in which Odysseus eludes danger by taking on the guise of “Noman” or one without a “name”.

For Odysseus, the ability to disguise his identity presents an opportunity through which he can conquer his enemies at Troy and thereby establish great fame and external identity through public recognition. Through the voice of Helen, Homer demonstrates how Odysseus became so unrecognizable that he was able to enter into Troy, defying both his mortal enemies and the immortal Poseidon who built Troy’s walls to be impenetrable:

When he had submitted himself to disfiguring blows,

He threw a poor covering over his shoulders and in the likeness

Of a servant he entered the enemy’s broad-streeted city...

In that guise he entered the city of the Trojans. They all

Overlooked him. I alone recognized him as he was.

And I questioned him. He eluded me cunningly,

But when I was washing him and rubbing him with oil,

And had put garments on him and sworn a mighty oath

That I would not reveal Odysseus to the Trojans...

Then he told me the entire purpose of the Achaians.

Many of the Trojans he killed with the long-edged sword,

And went back to the Argives, and brought much information...(Ch. IV, 242-257)

Through the description of the servant “guise”, Homer demonstrates how Odysseus’s entry into Troy depends upon a masking or negation of Odysseus’s self, for he exists in a classist society that consists of “mighty men” and the “overlooked”, and he chooses to appear as exactly that which he is not. In this Homer establishes how human survival subordinates Odysseus’s past or external identity because the revelation of the latter presents an inherent threat. Meanwhile, the external concealment provides a means through which Odysseus can overcome his mortal enemies by slaying them and stealing their secrets as well as challenging the immortal forces protecting Troy. Here, Homer’s account elaborates upon the act of external self-negation as a means to reinterpret the relationship between gods and man, for Odysseus escapes the limitations placed upon him by men and the powerful god Poseidon primarily by portraying one of the least powerful of mortals, a servant. This inversion also becomes crucial to shaping the public renown and identity of Odysseus, for no other human being possesses the cleverness or the audacity inherent in Helen’s use of the word “dared” to circumvent the adversarial forces of man and God in their deeds.

Odysseus also clearly presents this cleverness and audacity in his meeting with the Cyclops in which once again he must disguise his true identity in order to combat the hostile world. Through the description of Odysseus’s utilization of wit, Homer adds humor to his account and simultaneously demonstrates the cleverness that gives Odysseus fame and allows him to escape his enemies among the friends of the blinded Cyclops Polyphemos :

Will tell you. Then give me the guest gift you promised.

Noman is my own name. Noman do they call me,

My mother and my father and all my companions...’

and later he reports the reaction of the Cyclops:

And they answer him and addressed him with winged words:

‘If no one is compelling you when you are alone,

There is no way to escape a sickness from great Zeus.

So they said and went away; and my own heart laughed

At how my name had deceived him, and my faultless device...(Ch. IX, 364-367, 408-414).

In these passages Homer demonstrates that Odysseus’s escape comes from a trick of language in which Odysseus once again masks his own “famous name” in order to take on the persona of “Noman”, whom the threatening forces overlook as “no one”. In this, Homer’s account reflects the act of not revealing one’s identity as being vital to Odysseus’s survival in the face of adversity. In selecting the persona of “Noman” as “my own name” Odysseus portends to not have a past nor identity (even though he claims to have a mother and father) because he can not identify his homeland or who his father was. With this artifice Homer establishes that Odysseus’s identity can be dangerous and that Odysseus cleverly recognizes this fact in speaking to the Cyclops. Homer thus describes Odysseus as laughing “at how my name had deceived him”, the deception being that the name “Noman” and its implications of insignificance directly opposes that of Odysseus whose fame causes him to be the opposite of this. Consequently the ability of such greatness to play the part of the nonentity and later overcome his enemies contributes to the fame inherent in Odysseus’s external identity. Thus, Homer establishes how the guise of “Noman” again aids in Odysseus in his triumph over the hostile world and makes his name Odysseus well known.

Throughout his portrayal of Odysseus, Homer presents many circumstances in which a negation or denial of Odysseus’s external identity becomes necessary for his survival against the hostile forces of nature, Gods, and fellow humans. However, it is vital to make the distinction that even as he disguises himself as the “overlooked” or “Noman”, never does Odysseus fail to recognize himself, for he knows that he has a past and a homeland, both of which construe his identity. Homer includes the story of Circe and the men who while in her house “forget their fatherland wholly” and are turned to swine only to illustrate what Odysseus has known all along, that just as he can not be immortal nor can he truly be “Noman” for that means he becomes an animal (Ch. X, 236). In this way, the artifice of being “Noman” only serves to remind himself of who he truly is. For Homer this recognition becomes essential to Odyssey’s ultimate identity - that of the civilized human.