Though it was a great
movie, one of the things that baffled me about O Brother, Where Art
Thou? was that there wasn’t a clear parallel to Telemachus. Everett’s
daughters, known as the Wharvey gals, ensure that the McGill family has a
similar structure to the family in The Odyssey, but the girls do
almost nothing to further the plot besides inform their father of their
mother’s suitor. To further contrast Telemachus, they have no desire to get rid
of the suitor and are hardly excited to see their father again (though, like
Telemachus, they hardly believe their father is alive, but, unlike Telemachus,
it is because they have been told outright that their father has been hit by a
train). They mostly just parrot what their mother says and do very little to
help Everett. This leaves a bit of a gap in the story, if it is supposed to
parallel The Odyssey: there are no clear connections to the
Telemachiad books, and there’s not a clear father/son reunion parallel followed
by the two of them banding together for the great slaughter in the hall.
Unfortunately, I have yet
to identify a single character who alone fills in the Telemachus role in the
movie. There are different elements of Telemachus’ character, however, that
different people in the movie embody. I mentioned before how the Wharvey gals
fit into the literal role of the children of Everett. For the “slaughter in the
hall” (where the Soggy Bottom Boys reveal themselves), there is a group of four
men that could parallel the four-man alliance in The Odyssey of
Odysseus, Telemachus, the cowherd, and the swineherd. I see Delmar as the
Telemachus in this situation, because he is the closest and has been sort of
guided the most by Everett at this point.
Meanwhile, at the
beginning of the movie, there is no character equivalent of Telemachus who goes
on his own little journey of his own, though there are allusions in the film to
first four books of The Odyssey. The initial hospitality of Pete’s
cousin Walsh somewhat parallel’s that which Nestor and Menelaus show
Telemachus, though Telemachus stays much longer at Menelaus’ palace, and
neither Nestor nor Menelaus betray him. Still, Walsh’s son plays a similar role
to Pisistratus, particularly as he is helping the men get away. The image of
Telemachus “vaulting onto the splendid chariot” (3.549) of Pisistratus and
traveling as fast as they could go across the country is actually quite similar
to that when Everett and crew get into the car and are driven off rapidly by
Walsh’s son. Another parallel arises when the men insist that Walsh’s son go
back to his father, like how Telemachus has Pisistratus drop him off at his
ship and then go back to Nestor when they leave the palace of Menelaus.
All in all, I was a bit
frustrated by the lack of a clear Telemachus figure in the movie, so it was
interesting to try to put together the bits and pieces of Telemachus' character
that are kind of scattered throughout O Brother. What do you all
think? For a while, I was leaning towards Tommy the guitar guy as the closest
character to Telemachus, but didn't have too much reason to stick with that
idea. Do you think he's a more compelling parallel to Telemachus? Am I missing
any other references or clues about a Telemachus character in the movie?
You mentioned the lack of a clear father/son reunion to show that there is no Telemachus character, but I think that Tommy actually has a reunion with the Soggy Bottom Boys and that he fits the Telemachus role pretty well. Everett's return saves him from being killed by the KKK, which in a way fits the role of the suitors even though they aren't really involved with Everett's wife. In the Odyssey, his return saves Telemachus from the suitors who were plotting against him. Although it isn't a good parallel I think it is the best fit of all the characters in the movie.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that Delmar is the most like Telemachus in "O Brother Where Art Thou." Telemachus in the beginning of The Odyssey clearly has no guidance. He doesn't know how to deal with the suitors and he clearly needs some help from a father figure. Delmar also needs some guidance. In the beginning of the movie, there was laughter in the class when Pete and Everett were arguing about which direction to go, and Delmar said that he'd vote for yours truly. We can definitely tell that he's not the smartest guy.
ReplyDeleteHowever as the two stories progress, it becomes a bit complicated on whether Delmar's based off Telemachus. As the Odyssey progresses, Telemachus seems to gain more confidence from his father, especially when he orders the hanging of the maids. Yet, Delmar doesn't seem to grow in his intelligence and Everett isn't much of a role model towards him.
It's true that there's no parallel coming-of-age heroic journey in _O Brother_ the way there is in _The Odyssey_, and that the closest we see in the movie are various characters filling a Telemachus-like role at different points (Delmar, Tommy). There is a kind of comedic subversion of the patriarchal line of succession in Homer, where the first-born son is of obvious importance, with the idea that this Odysseus doesn't have one son/prince but rather a gaggle of girls (he can't even keep count of the number) who, as you note, aren't particularly loyal to him and even seem to relish giving him the bad news about the "suitor." This is a direct inversion of the scene where Telemachus laments his situation to Odysseus-in-disguise, as the girls assert that Waldrip is "bona fide," unlike their deadbeat dad. The whole thing can be read as an ironic subversion of Homer's patriarchal focus
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