Vernon's Not the Only Suitor

One can draw many parallels between the Coen brothers' O Brother Where Art Thou and Homer's The Odyssey. There are obvious and subtle similarities in plot, setting, and character, just to name a few. It was apparent that Vernon T. Waldrip who was the suitor of Everett's wife Penny was akin to the suitors who tried to win Penelope's heart. However, I also observed that Vernon's associations with Homer Stokes and the Klu Klux Klan suggested that they too could be modeled off of the suitors in The Odyssey.

Vernon dressed in his nice suit and tie is more respectable, responsible, and richer (aka "bona-fide") than Everett who approaches Penny in dirty clothes. Everett's return to his home town is very much like Odysseus' return to Ithaca disguised as a beggar. Although it's not explicitly stated in The Odyssey, it's safe to assume that the suitors look much better and more well off than Odysseus in beggar form just like Vernon's superior appearance to that of Everett's. 

I also see some resemblances in the subsequent "fight" scene where Vernon punches out Everett to all those times the suitors threw foot stools at Odysseus. When Everett and Vernon started fighting, my immediate thought was that Everett would obviously win, because he's all tough and strong looking whereas Vernon looks like an uptight string bean. But Everett ends up failing horribly in the fight. He tries to punch Vernon few times but misses and ends up getting punched a bunch of times himself. Although Odysseus is not actively fighting the suitors (yet) in his disguise, he is attacked with foot stools from the suitors and is helpless to defend himself. It was almost painful to watch Vernon repeatedly punch Everett who is looking like a helpless and slow-reacting puppy. Everett's unkept appearance and helpless fight scene parallel Odysseus thus enforcing Vernon's similarities to the suitors. 

The manager of Homer Stokes' election campaign is Vernon. Homer Stokes is not a good person, because he is part of the Klu Klux Klan. The suitors are also bad guys, because they are courting Penelope and Telemachus wants them to leave. Both groups are overstepping boundaries and morals in a way - the KKK being the KKK and the suitors violating the importance of Greek hospitality in Odysseus' house. The KKK rally in the film reminded me a lot of the suitors' gatherings, because there is sinister plotting going on in both. In the film, the KKK are planning to hang Tommy Johnson while in the book, the suitors discuss how to take down Telemachus which are both not very nice things to do. Vernon's relation to Homer along with the KKK's racist behavior parallels the rudeness and behaviors of the suitors in The Odyssey. 

 

The Obsession with Eagles

And to seal his prayer, farseeing Zeus sent down a sign. He launched two eagles ... —a glaring, fatal sign— talons slashing each other ... All were dumbstruck, ... people brooding, deeply, what might come to pass … Until the old warrior Halitherses, Mastor’s son, broke the silence for them: the one who outperformed all men of his time at reading bird-signs, sounding out the omens ... “... a great disaster is rolling like a breaker toward their heads. Clearly Odysseus won’t be far from loved ones any longer— now, right now, he’s somewhere near, ... breeding bloody death for all these suitors here, pains aplenty too for the rest of us who live in Ithaca’s sunlit air. (2.146 - 86)

In Book 2 appears the first sign of the ominous eagle sent down by Zeus. The scene describes in great detail the vicious eagles fighting (I took out a lot of the intense details, because it's such a long quote). We are already seeing foreshadowing of Odysseus' return to Ithaca and his revenge plan from the "breeding bloody death for all these suitors" part of the quote as early as Book 2(2.l84).

For good part of the book through Telemachus' trip and The Wanderings, there is no mention of the eagle omen until Book 15 when Telemachus is setting sail to return back to Ithaca, "At his last words a bird flew past on the right, an eagle clutching a huge white goose in its talons..." (15.179 - 80). The crowd goes crazy, and King Menelaus interprets the omen as Odysseus, like the eagle who plucked the helpless goose, "will descend on his house and take revenge," (15.197). Menelaus' interpretation of the eagle is very similar to that of Halithereses' from Book 2 (coincidence? I think not!). Homer is heavily foreshadowing that Odysseus will carry out some kind of revenge on the suitors.

Irony is thrown into the mix in Book 19 when Penelope talks to Odysseus disguised as the beggar. Penelope tells Odysseus about this very strange dream she has where an eagle kills her twenty geese and then leaves them "in heaps throughout the halls," (16.608). After having read the slaughter scene, looking back on this, I can't help but laugh, because that's pretty much exactly what happens to the suitors. Furthermore, the eagle even calls out in a human voice, "'The geese were your suitors - I was once the eagle but now I am your husband back again at last, about to launch a terrible fate against them all!'" (19.618 - 20). It's pretty obvious at this point that the suitors' fates are pretty much sealed. Then Penelope remarks that the geese just go back to pecking their wheat in the same water trough where they always eat. It's ironic, because everyone is getting these warning signs that Odysseus is coming except for the suitors who are oblivious to everything and continue to feast in the great hall just like the geese in Penelope's dream who just "peck their wheat"(19.606). Likening the suitors to the geese in Penelope's dream and to the white goose from Book 15 really emphasizes how powerless they are to Odysseus' wrath, because geese are birds of prey and weak compared to eagles.

In Book 20, the eagle omen presents itself to the suitors who are plotting against Telemachus. Odysseus in disguises tells the suitors that Odysseus is coming home and the cowherd cries out, "'if only Zeus would make that oath come true.'" (16.263.) And lo and behold, an eagle clutching a trembling dove appears in the sky which prompts Amphinomous to call off their plot saying "My friends, we'll never carry off this plot to kill the prince. Let's concentrate on feasting," (20. 272 - 73). I view this scene as Amphinomous interpreting the omen as a warning not to kill the prince rather than that Odysseus is coming back, because the suitors continue to deny the possibility of his return. Even when the foreboding eagle is presented to the suitors, they still don't recognize what's in store for them.

My eagle radar goes up again in Book 22's slaughter scene where the attackers (Odysseus & co.) are described as eagles in their slaughtering; it's pretty graphic. Odysseus is finally fulfilling his symbolic role as the eagle as he's slashing left and right through his suitors like the eagles that prey on smaller birds. Omens were a big part of Greek mythology and for the Ancient Greeks, the eagle is a message from the Gods. Homer uses this important bird symbol throughout The Odyssey to foreshadow the events to come.

Calypso - An Ancient Greek Feminist?

At the end of Book 4 of The Odyssey, it is revealed to Telemachus that Odysseus is alive and he is trapped on an island with the nymph Calypso. So far in the book, the general portrayal of Calypso is more on the negative side. Proteus describes that she is keeping him on the island by force and that he weeps "live warm tears." Feels like a reversal of 'typical' gender roles; there is a female in control of a male who cries a lot. It is also interesting in Book 5 the way that Odysseus and Calypso are respectively described, "unwilling lover alongside lover all too willing." It's ironic, because Odysseus' situation on the island is somewhat similar to Penelope's situation back home. She has a bunch of suitors who want to marry her but that she has no interest in.

In Book 5 when all the gods except Poseidon agree to release Odysseus, Hermes is sent to do his messenger job and tell Calypso to move on and let Odysseus free. This is the first time we as readers are meeting Calypso and seeing her side of the story. I expected her to be this villainous enchantress-like character, but her dialogue didn't really match up to that. 

Calypso really ticked off when Hermes tells her that Zeus is commanding her to release Odysseus. She points out that goddesses are not allowed to have affairs with mortal men while male gods are basically sleeping with mortal women left and right. By criticizing the double standard among gods and goddesses, she's kind of like an early Ancient Greek feminist to me. I don't know Calypso's views on other issues that may show she isn't, but she is taking a stand for herself while also bringing light to a problem in the godly patriarchy (in the end she can't defy Zeus so she lets Odysseus go). I have yet to see Penelope speak up against her suitors, so Calypso pops out to me as a strong female character.