Comparison Of Polyphemus And Homer's O Brother Where Art Thou

Crackle, crackle, stomp. These are the sounds the men heard as they realized they were trapped in the monster’s lair. In the stories of Homer’s The Odyssey and that of the Coen Brothers’ O Brother Where Art Thou, there are different depictions of one of the worlds most well known monsters, the cyclops. The relations between a preacher and a horrible cyclops may seem like a huge stretch. However, from their appearances, actions, and even animals; these two may have more in common than meets the eye. At the first sight of Big Dan in O Brother where art thou, from his one eye to his table full of food, all the way up until his death; he looks and follows through the same scenarios as The Odyssey’s character Polyphemus. When Big Dan is first

While Polyphemus may seem like too barbaric to be described as acting similar to that of a 20th century preacher, when both get into a fight they can be equally brutal. When the cyclops is met he has a wooden club with him. This club is probably used for attacking things. Then when they meet Big Dan under the tree, Big Dan decides to attack Everett and Delmar with a thick broken branch from a tree. Then in The Odyssey, Polyphemus kills Odysseus’ men in brutal ways by ripping them apart and then eating their remains, and in O’ Brother Where Art Thou, Big Dan kills Pete the toad by squishing him in his hand. Not only are the two barbaric in their attacks and cruelty, but the also both use old barbaric ideas and similar ways of thinking. In The Odyssey the cyclops shows a defiance to religion and uses it to lure and mock Odysseus when he claims he is stronger than Zeus. In the same way Big Dan uses Bible sales to lure Everett and Delmar into the trap alone under the tree. Then later in the story he mocks the religions by being in the KKK and burning crosses. In addition to these Polyphemus believes he is a more powerful being then Odysseus and his crew because he is a cyclops and is stronger. In the same way Big Dan thinks he is a more superior race than Tommy and the rest his friends when they look black. In the end both characters act with similar brutish and

In both of the stories the sheep are herded back to their master during the night. In The Odyssey the sheep are brought back to their master inside the cave. In O Brother Where Art Thou, the sheep gather together with Big Dan for the KKK meeting. In every herd of white sheep there are always a couple special black sheep that hide something underneath. In both stories the characters escape from the cyclop’s lair by hiding under some of the sheep. Also in both stories the main character chooses the biggest sheep, with Odysseus choosing the largest ram and Everett choosing the color guard at the rally. Then in both of the stories the cyclops follows the protagonist not on sight but on smell and sound. In The Odyssey the men on the boat cheer for Odysseus, and the cyclops follows them based on that. In O Brother Where Art Thou, Big Dan hears them mess up the chant and then smells them by sniffing the air. In the end both monster had its own herd of sheep that followed them through everything blindly. These sheep however both get used by the protagonist to escape past the monster without it noticing