An Impactful Message

Often, a person’s response to another’s action is to judge them without a thought.  Most people do not understand the right way to deal with an action that they disagree on.  In the book, To Kill a Mockingbird (TKM), Scout does this, and her father tells her, “...Scout, you’ll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks.  You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view.”  There were two main reasons for her father, Atticus, telling her this.

The first reason  for Atticus to make this statement is to teach Scout not to judge people based on what they do, even if she disagrees with it.  Scout shows signs of doing this in TKM, when “Walter poured syrup on his vegetables and meat with a generous hand.”  Scout asks “what the sam hill he was doing” and he immediately puts his hands in his lap and ducks his head.  This shows that Scout judged Walter because she wasn’t used to people pouring so much syrup on their food.  This also shows that if Scout had heard Atticus’ statement before this happens she probably wouldn’t have said anything to Walter, realizing that he was poor, and had never eaten syrup before.  Atticus’ statement was very impactful towards Scout in another way, though.

The second reason that Atticus tells Scout about understanding people is because he wanted her to get along with other people.  For example, Scout learns that if she had put herself in Miss Caroline’s shoes, she would realize that “it was an honest mistake on her [Miss Caroline’s] part” to hand something to a Cunningham.  This shows that Scout now knows that sometimes people will make mistakes that they can’t help, and that one shouldn’t hold them responsible for it.  This also shows that to make friends with people, one has to accept another for whom they are.  Without Atticus’ conveying all of this to Scout, she would not know how to get through life on her own.

O’ Brother, What Art Thou Allusions?

The Great Depression was a time of great sorrow, and hardships.  The movie O’ Brother, Where Art Thou was set during that time, and is about three criminals on a journey to find their treasure.  It is a story not unlike the epic poem “The Odyssey.”  The movie “O’ Brother, Where Art Thou” has three main allusions to “The Odyssey.”

The first main allusion to “The Odyssey” that O’ Brother, Where Art Thou shows is that the main character of the movie, named Ulysses McGill, is like Odysseus, and commits hubris and nemesis as Odysseus does, but in a different way.  For example, Ulysses says “I’m a Dapper Dan man!” as Dapper Dan is the name of the hair gel that Ulysses uses in his hair.  This shows that Ulysses commits hubris through his love and pride in his hair.  This also shows that he receives nemesis for his actions, when the hound that is after Ulysses and his two henchmen follows them and finds them from the smell of his hair gel.

The second main allusion to “The Odyssey” is how Ulysses follows arete throughout his journey.  For example, Ulysses tells his henchmen “There never was any treasure.”  He tells Pete and Delmar that he wanted to escape from prison to stop his wife from remarrying, so he had to make up a story to tell them.  This shows that Ulysses followed arete, because he wanted to get back to his wife and his land.  This also shows that Ulysses’ story of arete is a lot like Odysseus’ because they both got to their wives in the end of the story, but had several mishaps along the way.  Another example of arete in O’ Brother, Where Art Thou is that Delmar tells Ulysses “You ain’t a man if you ain’t got no land.”  This shows that in the times of The Great Depression, land was very important.  This also shows that things that were important during Greek societies have always been important throughout history, and that history repeats itself over and over.

The last main allusion of O’ Brother, Where Art Thou to “The Odyssey” is that the bible salesman that they meet, “Big Dan” is like the Cyclops in “The Odyssey.”  For example, he eats like a savage when he is at a picnic with Ulysses, Delmar, and Pete (who was actually a toad and not Pete).  He then “kills” Pete, and also has only one eye.  This shows that Big Dan is like the Cyclops, or Polyphemus, because they both eat like savages, and don’t have very good manners.  This also shows that they are alike because of the fact that they are both willing to kill people, not to mention the fact that they both only have one eye.

In conclusion, the main allusions from O’ Brother, Where Art Thou to “The Odyssey” are the themes of hubris, arete, and the parallel between Big Dan and the Cyclops.  The epic poem and movie closely relate because of these, and other, allusions.

A True Hero

When reading “The Odyssey,” at first glance this epic poem appears as if Odysseus is the hero of the story, because of his questing, and ability to escape beguiling, vile, and enticing adversaries.  However, upon closer insight into the epic poem, this is not completely true.  Penelope is the true hero of The Odyssey for several reasons.

One reason that Penelope is a hero is because she follows arete.  For example, whilst Odysseus is off receiving nemesis for committing hubris, Penelope is left on her own for 20 years.  Odysseus’ palace “Is overrun by more than 100 suitors who, believing Odysseus is dead, want to marry Penelope and take over his fortune.”  This shows that, although Penelope disdains proposals towards her, she is still hospitable towards her suitors and follows Greek society standards, even though her money is dwindling because of it.  This also shows that she is keeping arete, by keeping Odysseus’ fortune safe so that Telemachus can inherit it when he comes of age.

Penelope is a hero because of her ability to outsmart her suitors, without committing hubris.  For example, in book II of “The Odyssey,” it is shown that Penelope agrees to marry one of her suitors once she finishes weaving her tapestry as a shroud to Laertes.  This shows that she knew that she would have to marry someone eventually, or else she would run out of money for herself and Telemachus.  She had foreseen this, so makes a plan to weave the tapestry.  This also shows that Penelope is very intelligent, as she weaves the tapestry by day, and unravels it by night to stall having to marry.

The last reason that Penelope is a hero is that she knows how to make sure that Odysseus wasn't a fraud pretending to be him by saying to her maid while he was with her “Make up his bed… place it outside the bedchamber my lord built with his own hands.”  This shows that Penelope tests Odysseus, because only she and him know about how their bed was built from the trunk of an olive tree; it is their secret.  This also shows that Penelope does not trust people easily, a characteristic shared by many heroes.  This allows Penelope to make sure that Odysseus is not one of her adversaries.

In conclusion, Penelope is the true hero of the Odyssey.  She protects her home, and Odysseus’ fortune, she outsmarts her suitors, and tests Odysseus to make sure that it is actually him.  Penelope is the one character from the epic poem, “The Odyssey,” who shows the true characteristics of a hero.