The expression "tomb or womb" has been used to explain the double meaning of the cave. In other words, the cave is either a place of refuge, or a place of mystery, even death. One of the most obvious places where the cave-tomb symbol is used is when Odysseus and his party make their way into Polyphemus' abode. Many of Odysseus' good men die there. “Instead, he leapt up and, reaching out to my men, grabbed a couple and dashed their heads against the floor as if they were puppies… while we, crying, raised our hands to Zeus in the horrible place.” The meaning of the grave can be interpreted as the real world, sink or swim. Odysseus faces this problem during his twenty-year journey. Odysseus is the character who should be associated with the unpleasant side of caves. The other idea that the cave symbolizes, the womb, or the sheltered life of a man who is never able to face the real world, is represented by a different cave, "...as Ulysses was preparing to bring in all his things...Pallas Athena, daughter of Zeus, closed the entrance with a stone." The cave in this part, the cave in which Odysseus places all his expensive possessions, certainly symbolizes a mother's womb. Telemachus is unmistakably represented by this type of meaning of the cave. He is protected all his life, until he gets closer and closer to meeting