The Odyssey

book 23:The trunk of the olive tree.: Explain the symbol of the olive tree's trunk. Why is it so important to the story???

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There was the bole of an olive tree with long leaves growing strongly in the courtyard, and it was thick, like a column. I laid down my chamber around this … Then I cut away the foliage of the long-leaved olive, and trimmed the trunk from the roots up, planning it with a brazen adze, well and expertly, and trued it straight to a chalkline, making a bedpost of it, and bored all hones with an auger.

The bed symbolizes the marriage of Penelope and Odysseus, it is immovable...... completely secure, just like their marriage.

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The Odyssey