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.