Symbolism In O Brother Where Art Thou

The Coen brothers write about the Odyssey in their film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?. O Brother, Where Art Thou? mimics the Odyssey in a surreal sense. The writing from the Coen brothers depicts many parallels between the two stories, almost as if O Brother, Where Art Thou? parodies the Odyssey. The Coen brothers accurately portray the Odyssey and Odysseus’ struggles. The Coen brothers take careful thought into remastering Homer’s writings. The movie, though somewhat of a parody, still crafts the book into a modern film. The Coen brothers wrote and produced O Brother, Where Art Thou? in 2000, some 3000 years after Homer wrote the Odyssey. In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the protagonist Ulysses Everett McGill serves jail time with his two convict friends, Pete Hogwallop and Delmar O’Donnell. Symbolizing the escape from danger all throughout the Odyssey, the convicts escape from the chain-gang and run off towards a promising treasure. Everett resembles Odysseus with his quick-wittedness and hubris. Everett’s hubris—his hair obsession—causes the capture of the group. Much like when Odysseus losing his crew due to his prideful nature, Everett’s hubris dooms the escaping convicts after he mistakenly leaves a can of hair product behind. During their journey towards the treasure Everett claims he buries, the group arrives to see a blind man on a flatcar. Seeking passage, the

. . .(Coen 5)

The man portrays the blind seer Teiresias in the Odyssey by telling Everett that “[he] cannot say how long this road shall be” (Coen 5). Continuing on their journey, Everett, Pete, and Delmar spot on the road a younger black male named Tommy Johnson. Tommy represents one of the gods, perhaps Athena, who helps out Odysseus and crew. Tommy travels with them and tells the escapees about how he talked with the devil. While on the road, Tommy tells Everett and friends to come with him to Tishamingo. Everett follows after hearing you can sing into a can for ten