The Odyssey by Homer and O' Brother Where Art Thou?

The black man on the railroad handcar may be similar to Nestor, oldest of the Trojan War heroes, who is consulted by Odysseus's son Telemachus. He is repeatedly and formally described by Homer as the 'Gerenian charioteer': the railroad handcar may represent Nestor’s chariot. As another parallel Homer himself was according to tradition blind and bearded. However, it is more likely an allusion to Tiresias, who predicted the trials and tribulations of Odysseus's route home when Odysseus visited him in the underworld.
The merciless sheriff is comparable to the god Poseidon who torments Odysseus and prolongs his journey home. A link between Satan and Poseidon may be being made when Everett mentions that Satan carries "a giant hay fork" which both figures are often portrayed with just such an instrument. In the final scene of the film, the sheriff's dog and his hired men are killed in a surprise flood. The sheriff’s fate is unknown or maybe he is dead, as no body appears, while Everett and his friends save themselves; Poseidon, god of the waters, destroyed all who had operated a ship sent to aid Odysseus, turning them into a rock in revenge for the blinding of his son Polyphemus, and also plagued Odysseus himself constantly with floods. The sheriff may also reference the god Hades who, as ruler of the underworld, is sometimes compared to Satan; the sheriff's hound echoes Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of the underworld.