The passage for Athena I chose happens in Book 5, where Odysseus is shown at death’s door. Athena gives a life-saving hand to Odysseus with the passage stating “As when an octopus, dragged from its den, has many pebbles sticking to its suckers, so his strong hands were skinned against the rocks. A mighty wave rolled over him again. He would have died too soon, in misery, without the inspiration of Athena.”(p. 194, 432-437) This moment is literary mountaintop for Athena’s and Odysseus’ relationship development. Athena is being completely selfless in helping Odysseus, a man who she herself owes nothing to, fight for his life to save himself and return to his family. On the topic of gender, this passage also makes strides in going against societal gender stereotypes. Instead of it being “the man saving the day and needing no one because he’s so strong”, it shows that the man is just a human at the end of the day and barely surviving against impossible odds. The story also grounds female characters in that they’re more than just love interests. They’re actually made into people characters that make studious decisions.

While Athena is on rocky terms with Odysseus at the start of the story, her relationship with Odysseus and the other characters blossoms throughout the story, and she becomes an important part of Odysseus’ grand journey.  Athena is enraged in Book 1 after hearing about the suitor situation and states “‘This is monstrous! You need Odysseus to come back home and lay his hands on all those shameless suitors! If only he would come here now and stand right at the gates, with two spears in his hands, in shield and helmet, as when I first saw him!”(p. 113, 252-257) On the topic of gender, Athena, being a master strategist, realizes not only the gravity but also the reality of the situation. As nice as it would be for Penelope herself to turn the suitors away, Athena knows that the men’s greed, sexism, and carelessness would make that an impossibility. In reality, it’s going to have to be a strong man like Odysseus to take these men out. This is one of the motivating moments for Athena to realize that helping Odysseus would make lots of lives and situations a lot better. Athena not only focuses on helping Odysseus but also Odysseus’ loved ones. Athena is shown helping Penelope in Book 4 when the book states “Athena, bright-eyed goddess, had a plan. She made a phantom looking like a woman, Iphthime, child of great Icarius, the wife of Eumelus who lived in Pherae. She sent it to Odysseus’ house, to make Penelope feel less distressed and stop her tears of grief.”(p. 177, 795-801) On the topic of gender, this story breaks societal norms of just having the men helping/saving the women and instead shows women helping each other and vice versa. It also indicates that Athena is not just a tough goddess who knows a trick or two about fighting. She can also be helpful when it comes to emotional support and just being there for people mentally, not just physically.

As one can see, Athena shows great strength and motivation to characters throughout The Odyssey. She stands out from the other gods in that she’s actually helping instead of greedily sitting all high and mighty. On the topic of gender, Athena shows that the way gender develops in society is with men and women helping each other, men helping men, and women helping women. By being able to take care of your gender group and another gender group, one shows that we’re all just human at the end of the day and no one can survive without help from others.