1. The Hero’s Journey in….

2. The Hero: Ulysses Everett McGill
Everett is a con-man and escaped criminal
Exceptional Strength: Everett is very clever, and he can often trick or manipulate people into doing what he wants
Flaw: Because he’s so clever, Everett has trouble being honest and humble. He thinks he’s so smart that he’ll never get caught in a lie, which is what got him arrested in the first place for practicing law without a license.
“He must be indeed a shifty, lying fellow…who could surpass you in all manner of craft even though you had a god for your antagonist. Daredevil that you are, full of guile, unwearying in deceit, can you not drop your tricks and your instinctive falsehoods…?” – Athena in The Odyssey (183)
Like Odysseus, Everett is incredibly clever. He resorts to lies as an “instinctive” reaction and is “unwearying in deceit.”

3. Call to adventure: Buried treasure
Everett claims to have buried money from a robbery that will soon be lost: the place it is buried will be flooded when a dam is demolished

4. Crossing the threshold: Prison break!
Because they want to retrieve the treasure, they leave the ordinary world of prison life and enter the world of adventure: being on the run!

5. The Mentor: The Old Man
Early on, Everett and his companions meet a mysterious blind old man:
He helps them by:
Giving them a ride on his cart so they can escape the police
Revealing that they will find a treasure, but not the one they seek
Warning them of the dangers they will face

6. Helpers Delmer and Pete: Tommy
Chained together with Everett at the start of the movie, so they escape with him
Delmer is simple, good hearted and loyal
Pete is fierce and a bit mean, but he “gets the job done”
Tommy
A hitch-hiking guitarist who claims to have sold his soul to the devil
Together, the three join with Everett to form “The Soggy Bottom Boys”

7. Obstacle #1: Never Trust a Hogwollop
Everett and his team go to a farm owned by Pete’s cousin Washington.
Washington turns them in for reward money, and they must escape!

8. Obstacle #2: Money
After escaping, Everett and his peers need money to repair the car they stole from Washington’s son
They manage to earn $50 by recording a song, “Man of Constant Sorrow”
They learn they have the skills and talent to be a band, though they don’t realize it: because they merely treat it as a scam, they don’t understand how popular their song becomes

9. Obstacle #3: Sirens
The three escapees are lured in by beautiful women who are singing a song
Because they get lulled into a false sense of security, Pete gets captured (and they think he turns into a toad!)
“First you will come to the Sirens, who enchant all who come near them. If anyone unwarily draws in too close and hears the singing of the Sirens, his wife and children will never welcome him home again…” – Circe in The Odyssey (163)
Just like the sirens, these women lure in Everett and the other weary travels and endanger their quest to get home.

10. Obstacle #4: Big Dan
A traveling bible salesmen, Big Dan, offers to join Everett and Pete for lunch
Instead of revealing how to make a bunch of money selling bibles as he promised to, Big Dan beats and robs the two
Everett learns he isn’t quite as clever as he thinks he is, and he can’t always outsmart people.
“Pete” the toad gets killed!

11. Death and Rebirth Many deaths/rebirths converge
Pete wasn’t actually killed by Big Dan!
But since he wasn’t actually killed, this “rebirth” is an illusion
Instead, the dream of the treasure dies: Everett reveals that it was all a lie to convince them to escape so he could prevent his wife from remarrying
After arguing, the three manage to save Tommy from death, and the Soggy Bottom Boys are truly reborn!

12. Revelation: The Truth Doesn’t Always Hurt
By admitting the truth to Pete and Delmer, Everett convinces them to join him and help get his wife back
Working together, The Soggy Bottom Boys impress not only Everett’s wife, Penny, but also Governor Pappy O’Daniel, who pardons them and gives them jobs in his cabinet
Everett realizes that he doesn’t have to lie and trick people to get ahead

13. Atonement
When he goes to reclaim his wedding ring to marry his wife, Everett almost gets executed by a mysterious lawman who has been pursuing him
He can’t lie his way out of things, so the only thing he can do is pray for forgiveness and to see his family again
At that moment, the dam is destroyed, and Everett learns once again that sometimes one must have the humility to admit one’s mistakes and ask for help
“When they saw all this, my men begged me to…make off with them to the ship…It would have indeed been better if we had done so but I would not listen to them.” Odysseus in The Odyssey (119)
Both Odysseus and Everett had to learn lessons from their mistakes and admit they were wrong before they could make their way back home.

14. Resolution
Because he learns to be a more honest and humble person, Everett gets his treasure: he remarries Penny and gets his family back!