homer start the odyssey without the protagonist?

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essay question???????????????????????????????not sure why

Because it isn't about the journey of Odysseus; that is about 1/6 of the story. It is about the Greek ideal. Similarly, the Iliad doesn't contain the Trojan Horse, since it isn't about the war, or the journey, but about the ideas they represent.

For instance, Achilles is idolized because of strength with a sword, Agamemnon because of his strength in command, Odysseus because of his wit, Penelope because of her wit as well (by pretending to be mourning Odysseus to by time before she has to make her decision), the dog which is the first to recognize Odysseus by his wit, and determination. Etc. Etc.

The reason we don't start with Odysseus, because it is about the entire journey of Odysseus coming home, not just the actual voyage. It is about how everyone awaits him, how people already mourn him, how people need to pretend to be mourning him in order to maintain order, how Telemachus needs to go searching for him in order to maintain order and solidify his rightful position as heir to Ithaca.

thank you!!!

what would be a good description of each member of odysseus' family

Penelope-Witful, and Brave but people don't notice, Telemachus- no longer a young boy but a man a strong brave man. Haertes-sad, mornful, doesn't interact with anyone.

And apart from what JBI wrote I may add Homer also takes advantage of hysteron proteron strategies, a rhetorical device in which the first key word of the idea refers to something that happens temporally later than the second key word. The goal is to call attention to the more important idea by placing it first.
Therefore, the epic begins by narrating Telemachus's difficulties dealing with his mother's suitors and his search for information about his long absent father, events that, temporally, occur nearly at the end of the overall sequence. When the poem introduces Odysseus, it does so after he has spent seven years in captivity on Calypso's island and is finally leaving; he builds a raft but is shipwrecked. He relates to his hosts, the Phaeacians, the adventures that brought him to this point, bringing the story up to his stay on Calypso's island. The Phaeacians help him finish his voyage, and he returns to Ithaca where he meets up with Telemachus and, together, the two deal with the suitors, who were the poem's first main concern.

Odysseus is ever present. Even when he is not physically there, he is dominating and motivating proceedings in Ithaca.

Yes, but it's intentional that Homer makes "physically" appears Odysseus in the middle of chant V (being sent Mercury to Calypso's island to tell the Zeus' wishes) for the first time in a epic poem whose title brings a derivative name of the main character (Odyssey - Odysseus). It looks as though Homer wants to make us to feel the Penelope's and Telemachus' anxiety and pain because of Odysseus absence for four chants. The audience must wait Odysseus' appearance and suffer like his family does.

I also think that the first four books are first because they provide an important contrast to other works of early greek literature. In book one, we learn at the outset that Odysseus' family is very different from the families of other greek heroes. We learn that king Agamemnon was killed by his own wife's lover upon his return. In book four, we learn that the relationship between Helen and Menelaos is also less than harmonious. The grief of the family, especially of Penelope, is one of the most important themes in the epic as a whole.