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.