A Racist Polyphemus

Character Parallel 3: The Cyclopes

In the Odyssey the cyclopes Polyphemus attacks Odysseus and his crew as they are in his cave when he returns. The cyclopes eventually is overcome by human wit as Odysseus and his crew drive a burning stake through his eye and escape disguised as sheep

In O Brother the character of Big Dan Teague becomes a modern day version of Polyphemus. Throughout the film he is seen wearing an eyepatch, symbolises the cyclopes single eye. Disguised as a Bible salesman he steals from Everett and is later revealed as a grand master of the KKK. The following scene from the film portrays Big Dan escaping death by catching a sharpened confederate flag before it punctures his eye and later being killed by a burning cross, an allusion to the burning stake. 

Laconian black-figure cup, 565-560 B.C.
portraying the death of Polyphemus