Nothing Is Original Anymore Today Although many influential pieces of world literature were made long ago, modern works still echo the great aspects that defined them. O Brother, Where Art Thou, a movie by Ethan and Joel Coen, has been greatly impacted by The Odyssey, a poem by Homer. In the film, the protagonist, Ulysses Everett McGill, resembles the qualities of the epic hero, Odysseus. Both characters encounter obstacles and enemies that are almost the same in every aspect. The stories begin in media res with the same opening by a muse. The Odyssey opened up with, “Sing to me of the man, Muse, the man of twists and turns driven time and again off course, once he had plundered the hallow heights of Troy” (Homer 77). Although the Coen brothers
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presented many foes for Everett and his friends, just as the gods put many trials against Odysseus and his on his way home. Everett, Pete, and Delmar take refuge in Washington Hogwallop’s house, who is the cousin of Pete. Wash was just a “pig” and he took advantage of his cousin by trying to turn the group in for money. In The Odyssey, the witch goddess Circe turns some of Odysseus’ men into pigs, similarly to how money turns men into greedy pigs. When Ulysses and his gang escape, they see three women washing clothes and singing. The women drugged them with corn whiskey and Delmar referred to them as “Sirens.” In the same way, Odysseus and his men come across singing sirens in their journey. Some of the men are lured to them and they are eventually killed. During the movie, there is a baptism at the river, which draws in Ulysses’ friends. In parallel, odysseus’ crew is dragged in by the Lotus eater. In both cases, each event serves as a major distraction to the characters’ main journey. In O Brother Where Art Thou?, a man named George “Babyface” Nelson despises cows and kills the cows that he sees. He eventually gets caught by an angry mob and is killed. A paralleled event in The Odysseus is that Odysseus’ company killed the cow of Helios, the god of the sun. The members who have partaken in this act are divinely punished with death by the power of …show more content…
Both of them have one eye and they are both shepherds of their sheep. As Odysseus and his crew members are attempting to pass through the Cyclops’ territory, they managed to anger Polyphemus and they attempt to escape by stabbing him in the eye and hiding beneath his flock of sheep. Ulysses and Delmar attempt to save their Tommy, who is African American, from a group of KKK members. Big Dan happens to be one of those members and he points out that `Ulysses and Delmar are disguised as KKK members, which angers Big Dan. The protagonists manage to escape Big Dan by nearly stabbing him in the eye. A major underlying obstacle in both stories is the threat of suitors who are attempting to court the protagonists’ wives, which has little to no success. Vernon T. Waldrip is courting the wife of Ulysses, while there are multiple suitors who reside in the house of Odysseus. When the time comes, Ulysses dresses as a homeless man in order to his wife. In the same fashion, Odysseus dresses as beggar to see his wife. The offspring of both characters are slow to realize that their fathers have returned because they were thought to be
presented many foes for Everett and his friends, just as the gods put many trials against Odysseus and his on his way home. Everett, Pete, and Delmar take refuge in Washington Hogwallop’s house, who is the cousin of Pete. Wash was just a “pig” and he took advantage of his cousin by trying to turn the group in for money. In The Odyssey, the witch goddess Circe turns some of Odysseus’ men into pigs, similarly to how money turns men into greedy pigs. When Ulysses and his gang escape, they see three women washing clothes and singing. The women drugged them with corn whiskey and Delmar referred to them as “Sirens.” In the same way, Odysseus and his men come across singing sirens in their journey. Some of the men are lured to them and they are eventually killed. During the movie, there is a baptism at the river, which draws in Ulysses’ friends. In parallel, odysseus’ crew is dragged in by the Lotus eater. In both cases, each event serves as a major distraction to the characters’ main journey. In O Brother Where Art Thou?, a man named George “Babyface” Nelson despises cows and kills the cows that he sees. He eventually gets caught by an angry mob and is killed. A paralleled event in The Odysseus is that Odysseus’ company killed the cow of Helios, the god of the sun. The members who have partaken in this act are divinely punished with death by the power of …show more content…
Both of them have one eye and they are both shepherds of their sheep. As Odysseus and his crew members are attempting to pass through the Cyclops’ territory, they managed to anger Polyphemus and they attempt to escape by stabbing him in the eye and hiding beneath his flock of sheep. Ulysses and Delmar attempt to save their Tommy, who is African American, from a group of KKK members. Big Dan happens to be one of those members and he points out that `Ulysses and Delmar are disguised as KKK members, which angers Big Dan. The protagonists manage to escape Big Dan by nearly stabbing him in the eye. A major underlying obstacle in both stories is the threat of suitors who are attempting to court the protagonists’ wives, which has little to no success. Vernon T. Waldrip is courting the wife of Ulysses, while there are multiple suitors who reside in the house of Odysseus. When the time comes, Ulysses dresses as a homeless man in order to his wife. In the same fashion, Odysseus dresses as beggar to see his wife. The offspring of both characters are slow to realize that their fathers have returned because they were thought to be