The sceme of "O" Brother, Where Art Thou?" and that of Homer's " Odyssey" are similar. A man worried that his wife might marry another man, while he is on a journey home to his wife and family. The film takes the story out of the ancient world and sets in old Mississippi during the Great Depression era. Many of the characters were adapted from The Odyssey; Sirens, a one-eyed man, Penelope, and Lotus-eaters to name a few. The main characters in the stories have the same name. The Odyssey the main character's name is Odysseus and in the film it is Ulysses. Ulysses is the translation of the Greek name Odysseus the hero of the odyseey.
The theme song in O" Brother, Where Art Thou?, talks about a man of sorrow and how his life has not been the luckiest. In line 1.1 of the Odyssey states "Sing in me o Muse, of the man, the man of twists and turns." p77 "Luckless man." p.79 gives how Odysseus has not have had the best luck and he has many bad things happen to him. The same description is given in the main song in the film "I am a man of constant sorrow" Both Odysseus and Ulysses" (George Clooney) meet ill-fated travels on their journey home. The song emphasizes "I've seen trouble all my day." Both men had gone through a lot Odysseus had fought many wars and Ulysses had gone to jail for a crime. "It's fare thee well my old lover" this was a line in the song, which both men's motivation to get home were to see their lovers once again. They both had their doubts when they were on their way home they would never make it back to their lovers.
The first connection between the two is the opening for both the film and the book "Sing in me O Muse, of the man." Every time Ulysses or Odysseus would fall asleep or close their eyes something bad would happen. There were two different scenarios when the men had stuck in the water. Both men had made it to safety due to a wooden object. Odysseus, who had been ship-wrecked floated on to the island of Calypso on top of a wooden plank.