O Brother, Where Art Thou - A Message About Religion Released in 200, Ethan and Joel Coen’s O Brother, Where Art Thou, is a fantastic twist on Homer’s Odyssey. Set in Mississippi during the Great Depression era, a trio consisting of the Ulysses “Everett” McGill (George Clooney), Pete Hogwallop (John Turturro), and Delmar O'Donnel (Tim Blake Nelson) escape from prison to seek an imaginary 1.2 million dollar fortune that Everett lies about. The group of adventurers (and convicts, no less) encounter many people along the way, running away from Sheriff Cooley (Daniel Bargen) and his policemen, who has been on the trio’s heels ever since they escaped the chain gang. Eventually, they return to Everett’s hometown where he reveals to Pete and Delmar …show more content…
This scene is an allusion to the Lotus Eaters in the Odyssey as Pete and Delmar get drawn in and baptise themselves until Everett stops them. Everett remarks, “I guess hard times flush the chumps. Everybody's lookin' for answers” (O Brother, Where Art Thou?). Like the scene with Big Dan Teague, people have been living through hard times and religion has been an answer to their problems. After Delmar has been baptised by the pastor and therefore having his sins expunged, he claims, “It's the straight-and-narrow from here on out and heaven everlasting's my reward!...my sins are warshed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo”(O Brother, Where Art Thou?). Everett counters, saying that Delmar previously claimed that he was innocent. Delmar says, “Well I was lyin' - and I'm proud to say that that sin's been warshed away too”(O Brother, Where Art Thou?). The Coen brothers develop their commentary on religion with this scene as Delmar clearly believes that religion has solved all of his problems and he will live a prosperous life from thereafter. However, this is obviously false as they are still convicts on the run and Sheriff Cooley tries to hang them later on in the …show more content…
“Oh Lord, please look down and recognize us poor sinners...I'm sorry that I turned my back on you, Lord. Please forgive me, and help us, Lord”(O Brother, Where Art Thou?). This is a change in thinking from Everett, who as always skeptical and doubtful of religious faith, even calling Pete and Delmar “ignorant fools in a ridiculous superstition”(O Brother, Where Art Thou?) after they were baptized. However, just before they get hanged, a large flood appears and sweeps Sheriff Cooley and his men away, saving the Soggy Bottom Boys. After they are saved, Delmar claims, “A miracle! It was a miracle!”(O Brother, Where Art Thou?) However, Everett is skeptical and provides the planned flooding for a dam as a “perfectly scientific explanation for what just happened”(O Brother, Where Art Thou?). Pete accuses Everett for being hypocritical about his thinking and Everett says, “Well any human being will cast about in a moment of stress”(O Brother, Where Art Thou?). This reinforces the Coen brother’s perspective that religion can cast an illusion of safety and security over desperate people, albeit in a humorous manner.
Jonathan Edwards’ sermon was themed for this congregation to repent so they could make an attempt to save their souls, and it also expresses that you are the sinner. Questioning that now, his entire sermon screams at us that it is us that the sinners, ‘you are sinners,’ but it Edwards doesn’t express that it is we that are sinners so it seems that he was excluding himself. His sermon was also spoken in a quiet, leveled and emotionless voice, monotone even, but even through his sermon lacked any sort of emotion or life, it caused the people of the congregation to feel emotional and angry. It might be the fact it was six-hours of the same sayings of being told ‘you are a sinner,’ or it could be how explicit it was because Edwards did not sugarcoat his sermon in the slightest. "The God that holds you over the pit of Hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire abhors you..." is a quote by Edwards that portrays the power of God versus how weak and feeble humans are. Edwards portrays God in a menacing and relentless way so his congregation will fear God and the punishments of the sins they commit, which might be his way to help his
I thought angrily. How do You compare to this stricken mass gathered to affirm to You their faith, their anger, their defiance? What does Your grandeur mean, Master of the Universe, in the face of all this cowardice, this decay, and this misery? Why do go on troubling these poor people’s wounded minds, their ailing bodies? … Blessed be God’s name? Why, but why would I bless Him? Every fiber in me rebelled. … But look at these men whom You have betrayed, allowing them to be tortured, slaughtered, gassed, and burned, what do they do? The pray before You! They praise Your name! … I was the accuser, God the accused. My eyes had opened and I was alone, terribly alone in a world without God, without man.” (Wiesel
Similar themes are present in “Daddy’s Weirdest” by Rebecca Barry and “Guillotine” by Jon Bellion, but the authors used different strategies to reveal those messages.
Tulley, Stephen Richard. “Awakened to the Holy.” Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God! In
own cursed doings. His tone is almost mocking as he delivers the sermon at the end of his story.
his aunt ran over to him and asked him why he was not going to Jesus. She knelt there and prayed for him. Langston sat there waiting for something to happen, but nothing! He truly wanted to see Jesus but he did not. Finally, he thought to himself and saw that nothing had happened to Westley for lying about not seeing Jesus. Langston then decides that he, too, will go to the altar and lie, hoping that nothing will happen to him for lying to God. Suddenly, loud cries of rejoice were heard throughout the church and everyone was pleased to see that “all the new young lambs were blessed in the name of God” (220). That night Langston cried because he did not understand why he did not see Jesus. His aunt had heard him and explained to his uncle, “the Holy Ghost had come into my life” (220). From that point on he did not believe there was a Jesus, since he d...
The minister, the narrator, and her mother walked around the building where the narrator’s mother was to be baptized. Then they looked at the baptismal font. Allison states, “Watching baptisms in that tank was like watching movies at a drive-in” (155). I was glad to read that the narrator was not the one being baptized, because I feel she did not understand the true significance of the baptism ritual. She spoke of the Jesus painting as being, “rouged and pale and pout as Elvis Presley” (155). She was also trying not to giggle at the other little boys that were being baptized that day, “He looked as if he hoped someone would rescue him. It was too much for me. I began to giggle helplessly” (156). The narrator was too young to understand fully what it meant to be baptized. I believe that it is one of the reasons that Allison has such a negative attitude towards life. Maybe she did not agree or understand the meaning of a baptism, or religion as a whole. This could stem from a broken home life and no strong father figure.
"'Lo! There ye stand, my children,' said the figure, in a deep and solemn tone, almost sad, with its despairing awfulness, as if his once angelis nature could yet mourn for our miserable race. "Depending on one another's hearts, ye had still hoped, that virtue were not all a dream. Now ye are undeceived! Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness. Welcome, again, my children, to the communion of your race!'"
The novel Nukkin Ya is a compelling book, written in the perspective of the character Gary Black, the author of the text is Phillip Gwynne. The novel is set in rural South Australia for Australian readers. The novel conveys a number of themes and messages including racial difference, love verse hate and the ability and choice to move on. These are depicted by the literally techniques of imagery, literary allusions and intertextuality.
The first thing that has an impact on the “child” is when the girls tell how Sister Perpetua told them to stop “ungentlemanly boys” by saying “Stop sir! I am the Temple of the Holy Ghost!” (238). She sees how the phrase influences Miss Kirby and she herself feels “as if somebody as given her a present” (238). This phrase reappears as a motif later in the story and already in this original context the religious is confronted with the secular.
Burke, Daniel. "RNS Feature: "The Coen Brothers' Complicated Gospel"" Religion News Service. 28 Sept. 2009. Web. 01 Mar. 2010. .
Homer’s Odyssey is the iconic story of a man’s episodic journey home. The film, O Brother Where Art Thou, is a justifiable homage to the Odyssey because of the many parallels between some of the major characters depicted in the movie and the epic poem. The movie is set in the 1930s in the state of Mississippi, changing the characters in social demeanor, but retaining their motivation and major plot points.
The novel “The Outsiders,” by S.E. Hinton can be defined as an emotional, heart breaking, and lesson teaching story. Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade were the youngest in their gang of Greasers. They were all wild boys, who liked looking “tuff” and being known as criminals. Ponyboy and Johnny were not as intimidating as the other greasers, Two-Bit Mathews, Dallas Winston, Darrel Curtis, Sodapop Curtis, and Steve Randle. One night, Ponyboy and Johnny were both out on the street. Out of nowhere some drunken Socs began to chase and beat up the boys. One of the Socs was drowning Ponyboy in a fountain. Johnny saw the danger Ponyboy was in and pulled out his switchblade. He stabbed Bob Sheldon and killed him. The boys did not know what to do, so they ran away to Windrixville, and lived in an abandoned church. They cut their hair and Ponyboy bleached his. Eventually the boys came to their senses and planned to turn themselves in. Dallas came to pick the boys up, but first they went to Dairy Queen to eat. When they drove back to the church they noticed that the church was on fire. Ponyboy and Johnny forced themselves into the church to save the children stuck inside. Ponyboy ended up with a minor concoction and some small burns on his back. While Johnny was not as lucky, an extremely large, heavy, and blazing hot piece of wood fell on him. Both boys were sent to the hospital. Johnny remained in the hospital much longer than Ponyboy. Johnny felt weaker and weaker every day and was getting worse by the minute. After a long and depressing journey, Johnny passed away. Therefore, their group of Greasers would now be presented with how loss and grief could drive people into making illogical decisions.
The Film "O brother, where art thou?" The film O brother, where art thou? is set during the Great Depression of the 1930’s and emphasizes the struggle between the upper and lower classes by using a variety of cinematic devices. Through the use of these cinematic devices and comedic relief, the realities of the Depression are viewed without creating a stark, melancholy, documentary-styled film. Examples in this film of these cinematic devices used to show these realities include: bleak colors contrasting light and dark colors.
The Odyssey by Homer is a story that has been told countless times over several thousand years with many different versions. O Brother, Where Art Thou? is one of these versions. Even though this movie is considered to be one of the better adaptations of The Odyssey, it has some details that make it undeniably American. The main parts of the story are there, such as the Cyclops, and Odysseus escaping Ogygia, but things such as the Klu Klux Klan (KKK), and the music played throughout the movie make it distinctly American.