Comparing and Contrasting The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou?

     The movie O Brother Where Art Thou? is an adaptation of The Odyssey by Homer.  O Brother Where Art Thou? was made in 2000 but takes place in the 1930s.  The Odyssey was first an oral story, passed down by word of mouth, until it was written down by Homer during the Greek rule.  Telemachos, in The Odyssey, and Everet's daughters, in O Brother have several similarities and differences.  These similarities and differences between the children of Odysseus and Everet in The Odyssey and O Brother are their encounters with their fathers, thinking their father is dead and their opinion of the suitor(s).
     In The Odyssey, Odysseus' son Telamachos has several instances that convey his character.  Telemachos  meets his father before his mother, Penelope, does.  The father and son reunion takes place in the home of the swine herder, Eumaos.  In The Odyssey, Telemachos believes that his father is dead because Odysseus hasn't returned from the Trojan war.  Telemachos tells Mentes, who is really Athena in disguise that his father is "...lost; he came to grief and perished,".  Telemachos also has a strong hatred for his mothers suitors.  He feels they are taking advantage of both his mother and himself.  He says that "they have an easy life, scot free, eating the livestock of another-".  These things show the feelings and experiences of Telemachos.
     The seven daughters of Everet in O Brother are similar and different to Telemachos in several ways.  Like Telemachos, Everet's daughters meet their father before their mother does.  But unlike the happy loving reunion of Odysseus and Telemachos, Everet's daughters aren't as loving to their father.  Also similarly to The Odyssey is Everet's daughters belief that their father has passed away.  After hugging their father they pull back saying that he can't be their daddy, their daddy "was ran over by a train."  Unlike Telemachos' opinion of his mother's suitors, Everet's daughters like their mother's suitor.  they share their mother's view that the suitor is "bonafide".
     The encounters with their fathers, thinking their father is dead and their opinions of the suitor(s) are the similarities and differences between the children of Odysseus and Everet in The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou?  These similarities and differences, among others, lead the reader and viewer to whether or not O Brother is a faithful adaptation of The Odyssey.  O Brother Where Art Thou? is a faithful adaptation of The Odyssey because even though it changes some characters and the time and place of which the story happens, the main events are still present.