O Brother Where Art Thou By The Coen Brothers: A Literary Analysis

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Everyone faces obstacles in their daily lives which try to restrain people from prospering. However, these obstacles never stop them from succeeding. This idea is used in The Odyssey by Homer and O’Brother, Where Art Thou by the Coen Brothers. The epic poem and the film revolve around two protagonists who desire to return home to their wife and children. On their journey, they face several challenges. Each of these obstacles that slow the protagonists down are shown in different ways between the two stories, but they are related. These relations are shown in the Odyssey and in O’Brother Where Art Thou through the Lotus Eaters being the people in the river, Charybdis representing the KKK, and King Aeolius symbolizing the blind man in the …show more content…

In The Odyssey, the Lotus Eaters were people who lived on the Island of the Lotus Eaters. The Lotus Eaters showed no harm to Odysseus and his men, but only offered them forcefully a Lotus Flower to eat. The Lotus Eaters were insistent on his men eating the flowers. The victims who had accepted the flower, lost all desire to come home and see their families once again. The men ate the flowers and subsequently wished to stay on the land forever. “They fell in, soon enough, with Lotus Eaters, who showed no will to do us harm, only offering the sweet Lotus to our friends- but those who ate this honeyed plant, the Lotus, never cared to report, nor o return: they longed to stay forever, browsing on that native bloom, forgetful of their homeland.” In O’Brother, Where Art Thou, the Lotus Eaters were shown in a way that influenced Delmar and Pete. The Lotus Eaters in O’Brother Where Art Thou, were a group of people who were being baptized and lured Pete and Delmar to their renewing way. They symbolize the Lotus Eaters because they influenced the other two men to feel renewed and have no worries because they have been saved by God. “Worry Free” is the way that the men felt when they ate the Lotus Flowers and had no desire to come

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