The Odyssey is written in the structure of media res. Media res means that The Odyssey starts in the middle of a story. By starting in the middle of the story, Homer doesn’t have to take the time to write about the beginning of the Trojan War. Most readers know Troy lost the war, but no story is told about what happened after the war. The effect of starting in the middle of the story is that Homer doesn’t have to talk about the whole Trojan War to write about what happened after the war. In the first two paragraphs Homer summarizes what has happened so the reader understands what has occurred. If Homer started with Odysseus's departure for Troy then the whole first half of the book would be boring and wouldn’t be needed.
I also think that starting after the war helps the reader to not get depressed over what has happened to Odysseus. Odysseus is kept prisoner by Calypso, set off course by Poseidon, and crashes on the island Pylos. If the story began with the glory of the Greeks winning the war and then moved onto the unfortunate events that next happened, it would be a let down to the reader that these bad things happened to their hero. Most readers want to see their hero be successful.
