O Brother, Where Art Thou? Essay Questions

On what famous piece of literature is this film based?

Joel and Ethan Coen got the idea for O Brother, Where Art Thou? from Homer's Odyssey. We watch as the three men encounter multiple characters along the way just as Homer's protagonist does. Interestingly enough, the Coen Brothers had never read the Odyssey before making the film, (and never read it during the shoot), but made their own American fable based on the exploits of Odysseus. Like Odysseus, Everett is returning home after time away and wants to be reunited with his wife, Penny (a riff on Penelope from The Odyssey). Along the way, he encounters a powerful king (Menelaus "Pappy" O'Daniel), a group of Sirens (the women singing in the river), and a one-eyed Cyclops (Big Dan). There are many subtle parallels between Homer's epic poem and the film, but O Brother, Where Art Thou? is ultimately an original and uniquely American parable.

How does Everett get Pete and Delmar to come with him to stop his wife from remarrying?

Everett is chained to both Pete and Delmar. Thus the only way for him to escape the chain gang is if the other two men connected to him agree to run. He convinces Pete and Delmar to run with him by promising them one-third of a treasure that he has allegedly stowed away from a previous heist. In reality, Everett made this story up, because he knows they won't escape with him otherwise. The treasure never existed, which leads to a rift in the group. However, their serendipitous success as musicians and Pappy O'Daniel's pardoning them of their crimes makes up for Everett's lie.

Who created the music for the film?

The film's score includes songs written and arranged by T-Bone Burnett, a veteran musical collaborator known for his work on such films as Crazy Heart, Walk the Line and Inside Llewyn Davis. Many bluegrass and country artists contributed to the soundtrack, including Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, Dan Tyminski, Emmylou Harris, and Ralph Stanley.

How does the film explore the tension between faith and science?

From the start, the film is a kind of modern fable, a story touched by magic and chance encounters. After the boys first escape, they receive a prophecy from a blind seer. Everett is a man of logic and reason, but for a moment, he believes that the blind man is gifted with a connection to the paranormal and the divine. As the film continues, the prophecy begins to come true, but Everett maintains his logical outlook. At the end, even after they have been saved from hanging by a great flood mere seconds after Everett prays for help, Everett insists that there is a logical explanation. Indeed, he even suggests that the flood is evidence of an impending "age of reason." This does not account for all of the unusual coincidences that have occurred throughout the film, however.

What is the big lie that Everett tells in the film, and what makes it so ironic?

When the boys are reunited in town, Everett admits to them that he was lying all along about there being a treasure. Instead, he wanted to get to town so that he could stop his ex-wife from marrying another man. The other boys, Pete in particular, are upset with the fact that they have been misled. Pete is angry because he only had two weeks left in prison, and the fact that he's escaped will put him back in jail until he's in his 80s. This moment is ironic because not only have Delmar and Pete been misled, but the viewer has been misled as well. While we have believed that the entire premise of the film and the motivating factors behind Everett's actions have been in pursuit of the treasure buried near his cabin, it is a rather sudden reversal when we realize that the treasure never existed at all.