Planet of the Apes Question Of
What to make of Ulysse Mérou? His first name refers to Odysseus. A Mérou is a grouper fish. Odysseus the Grouper? What can it all mean?
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Odysseus the traveller is a clear one. I've no idea what the surname was meant to signify.
As for the character, he's a bit of a blank slate. But then, that's his role in the story: he's there as the eyes and ears of the reader as we explore the satirical world created by Boulle.
I'm with @NeilNjae on that - the story isn't really about Ulysse at all, despite appearances
I took the name to mean that he's a traveller, yes, but also one of the school - one of us. A representative of all groupers. Unlike Odysseus, though, Ulysse cannot return home. It's as if Odysseus had returned home to Ithaca after that long journey and found it besieged by a massive army, and since he'd had enough of war, he packed up and left again, to forever sail the seas seeking peace.
I got the Ulysses link, but not the Grouper link. Merou is a common enough last name that I have run into it before. I did not think of him as a viewpoint character, as I found it impossible to identify with him.