O Brother, Where Art Thou?

The movie, “O Brother, Where Art Thou,” though loosely based on the “Odyssey,” has many things in common with the play written by Homer. There is a parallelism between certain characters and occurrences in the movie and in the book.
An obvious similarity between the movie and play is that Ulysses (the Latin name for Odysseus) is trying to get home to his wife, Penny, and children in Ithaka, Mississippi. In the “Odyssey” Odysseus is trying to reach his spouse, Penelope and son in Ithaka, Greece. Both characters are “men of constant sorrow,” being held back from their homelands by a person of higher authority. Odysseus is disliked by the God of the Sea, Poseidon, who does everything in his power to keep the man from reaching his destination. Ulysses, a lawbreaker, is being hunted down by the police. Throughout their journeys, many songs are used to describe their adventures, much like the Homeric Hymns.
Several scenes in the movie correspond to parts of the ...