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In The Odyssey, what simile describes the souls of the dead suitors going to Hades?
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In Book 24 of The Odyssey, the souls of the dead suitors are compared to bats in a simile. Hermes, with his golden wand, leads them to Hades, and they are described as "whining and gibbering," similar to bats squealing in a cave when one falls from the cluster. This simile effectively conveys the eerie and disordered nature of the suitors' souls as they enter the afterlife.
Book 24 of The Odyssey opens with the image of the ghosts of the dead suitors led by Hermes and his golden wand. The ghosts of the suitors, who are all making high, thin noises are compared to bats who cry in the deep darkness of caves in a Homeric simile . The simile is extended to describe the ghosts of the suitors in bat-like terms, like when the ghosts react nervously when one of their group moves in an unexpected way: "shrilling, flittering, wild when drops from the chain." This simile is effective in communicating to the reader, or rather, the listener of the epic poem in its original mode, a sense of ethereal spookiness befitting the group of waif-like ghosts of the suitors. The fact that they are traveling in a group even in death also enhances the community feel of the suitors, who banded together in life...
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in Odysseus's absence.
In Section Twenty-four, of Homer's epic, The Odyssey, which follows Ulysses' and Telemachus' killing of the unethical and immoral suitors who overran Ulysses' home and showed such disrespect toward Penelope (his wife) and his servants, there is a description of how the souls of these dead are transported to Hades by Mercury of Cyllene, and how these souls act. There is nothing noble of these men in life, and in death, the simile that describes them pay them no compliments either.
The souls of the men are described as "whining and gibbering," and are compared to bats hanging from the roof of a large cave. With bats, when one falls from the roof, the other bats squeal. The speaker notes that as the dead suitor's souls are prepared for the afterlife, they "whine and squeal" and then are led down into Hades. The quote is as follows:
Then Mercury of Cyllene summoned the ghosts of the suitors, and in his hand he held the fair golden wand with which he seals men's eyes in sleep or wakes them just as he pleases; with this he roused the ghosts and led them, while they followed whining and gibbering behind him. As bats fly squealing in the hollow of some great cave, when one of them has fallen out of the cluster in which they hang, even so did the ghosts whine and squeal as Mercury the healer of sorrow led them down into the dark abode of death.