Ulysses Compared to Odysseus

In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, there are many parallels between the Ulysses character and Odysseus in the Odyssey. First of all, the name Ulysses is Odysseus in Latin. Throughout the Odyssey, Odysseus was described as a crafty man. In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Ulysses shows signs of that craftiness as well.

One of the earliest instances where I noticed this was while Ulysses and his crew were recording their hit Soggy Bottom Boys song. Even before they started recording, Ulysses made up a story on the spot so the blind radio man would let them record their song in the first place. In the Odyssey, Odysseus makes up believable stories several times on the spot; to Athena as a shepherd boy, Eumaeus, and several people at the palace. Once they started singing, Ulysses-- the main singer-- seemed to be coming up with the words from the top of his head. All this reminded me of how in the Odyssey, it was mentioned about Odysseus would be a bard in a second life because he is such a great story teller. In O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Ulysses has the same charm to captivate people and the craftiness to come up with tales on the fly that Odysseus has in the Odyssey.

Ulysses also uses that craftiness later on in the movie to create disguises for himself and his crew twice. The first time, Ulysses grabs some unsuspecting KKK members, steals their clothes, and uses them as a disguise to save Tommy Johnson from being murdered. This reminds me of when Odysseus and his crew hides on the the underside of the sheep as a disguise to escape from the cyclops. Later on, Ulysses uses beards to separate his crew's identity from the ones of the Soggy Bottom Boys so they wouldn’t become arrested. When the Soggy Bottom Boys performed, this reminded me of the scene right before the great slaughter in the Odyssey. Odysseus is disguised as a beggar when he wins the competition to marry Penelope. This is like Ulysses being disguised as a Soggy Bottom Boy as he wins Penny back with his talent. 

After reading the book and watching the movie, I felt that Ulysses seems more genuinely crafty than Odysseus. Ulysses thinks up all the ideas on his own while Odysseus mostly has the divine intervention of Athena. Although Ulysses has his crew with him throughout the movie, they aren’t responsible for most of the crucial ideas that advance their agenda. I think this makes Ulysses have even more credit for being crafty; Ulysses has to come up with solutions to problems that work for three people, not just himself like Odysseus had to do for most of his journey.

A Throwback

As I was reading through the Odyssey, I was reminded of a video my Latin 3 class did sophomore year. It's got some adaptations, but I thought you guys would enjoy it.

Athena, The Puppet Master

Throughout this book we’ve seen Athena playing a big role in the character’s lives. For the first few books of the Telemaciad, I thought she was just there to help them because she was genuinely sorry for the family. As the story kept progressing, however, it started to feel like Athena was a small child acting out a story with her barbies. There were many parts in the Odyssey where I felt Athena was making things more difficult than they needed to be so that she’d get more of a thrill from watching it play out. One instance that really stood out to me was Odysseus’ arrival in Ithaca.

Even though Odysseus is in Ithaca, Athena decides to disguise the setting with mist and Odysseus freaks out because of it. Although people made good points in class about how Athena might have done that so Odysseus wouldn’t have run straight to the palace and announce his return, possibly endangering his life. However, I feel like there totally could have been a different way she could have gone about that. After Odysseus freaks out, Athena finally shows herself to him in disguise as a shepherd boy. Yet, it takes her awhile before she reveals herself to Odysseus, partly because she just wants to be amazed by his craftiness. “Any man-- any god who met you-- would have to be some champion lying cheat to get past you for all-round craft and guile! You terrible man, foxy, ingenious, never tired of twists and tricks-- so, not even here, on native soil, would you give up those wily tales that warm the cockles of your heart!” (13.329-334) In that passage Athena seems very pleased that Odysseus took the bait and crafted an elaborate story for her. Because of that, I feel like she was getting more of the warming of the cockles of her heart than Odysseus. This is especially true when she talks for 15 lines before telling Odysseus it’s Ithaca when he asks what this place is (13.268-282). By not letting Odysseus see Ithaca when he wakes up and by drawing out the conversation with Odysseus about where they are, Odysseus seems tortured like in the way where a dog runs after a ball his owner has thrown-- except the owner only acted like they threw the ball and still have it in their hand. (13.212-353)

    Athena uses the role of puppet master throughout the books to manipulate what people do physically, but also how they feel emotionally-- especially in the case where Odysseus returns home. I totally understand that for the plot to advance in Odysseus’ and Telemachus’ favor, Athena might need to step in and get people to give them ships or food. However, when it gets to the point where Athena is just messing with Odysseus’ emotions to get a crafty story out of him, I feel like she is getting too tied up in her desire to be entertained.