"Mother…" Telemachus paused, then answered.
"I cannot fault your anger at all this.
My heart takes note of everything, feels it too,
both the good and the bad – the boy you knew is gone.
But how can I plan my world in a sane, thoughtful way?
These men drive me mad, hedging me round, right and left,
plotting their lethal plots, and no one takes my side."
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 18, lines 256-262. We get a sense from this speech by Telemachus that he is growing up and taking responsibility. He is responding to Penelope’s rebuke over the ill-treatment of a guest, the beggar Odysseus. He assures his mother that the boy she knew is gone. After this passage, he makes threats to the suitors and stands up to them, and they bite their lips and take him over seriously.