Pete: Well I'll be a sonofabitch. Delmar's been saved.
Delmar: Well that's it, boys. I've been redeemed.
Another scene that helps to illustrate this idea is when the valley is flooded right before Tommy, Pete, Delmar, and Everett are to be hanged. (Earlier in the movie Tommy describes the devil as "white, as white as you folks, with empty eyes and a big hollow voice. He likes to travel around with a mean old hound." --which is Sheriff Cooley) So, the flooding of the valley saves the men from the devil himself, and literally washes away their past.
Both of these scenes use the image of water to symbolize the rinsing away of their past life, purifying and baptizing them into their new life. This imagery helps to reinforce my definition of their road trip.
Question: George Clooney's character is Ulysses Everett McGill. Throughout the movie, Pete and Delmar refer to him as Everett, and not Ulysses. Why is this? Is it significant?
I also felt that the most significant moment in the movie in terms of its definition of a road trip was the scene where the whole valley is flooded. It looks as if Everett, Tommy, Pete, and Delmar have no chance of escaping death, and then the huge wave of water comes out of nowhere and washes everything out. I also felt that this was symbolic - their troubles and transgressions from the past are "purified" by this water, and it offers them a new life. I felt that this movie's definition of a road trip was a journey in which it is the twists, turns, and mistakes that bring allow them to learn and reach their destination.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think is significant about the fact that the ring that Everett retrieved was the wrong one? If this is the wrong treasure, then what is the right treasure?
I agree that one of the most significant moments in the movie was when Delmar was baptized. This shows how his sins burdened him and how he believed that by being baptized he could forget about everything wrong he did in the past and be straight with the Lord and the law. Then Pete runs in the water to be baptized as well. These boys want to forget their past and the wrong things they once did, and move on towards bigger and better dreams. Then when the boys are picked up by George on the side of the road, they say again, "I was bad until yesterday, and then me and Pete were saved." I think this movie's definition of a road trip describes people trying to move on to a better life by relying on their companions, attempting to forget the past and by being redeemed or "purified" as Jennigale said.
ReplyDeleteMy question is similar to Jennigale's, Why do you think Penny insisted that Everett bring back her original ring? Why was the ring he found not good enough for her?
This film's definition of road trip was in fact about redemption, forgetting your past, and starting over fresh. In this movie the boys take to the road to escape the law but find much more along the way, such as companionship, fame and a fresh start to their lives. In the end they succeed in finding lives that aren't limited by their criminal pasts and Everett even gets his family back.
ReplyDeleteMy question is: Why did the siren girls only turn Pete in?
I think the movie's definition of road trip is salvation and redemption as well. I think one of the most important scenes is when the three men come across a blind man on a one man push-cart. He tells the three outlaws:
ReplyDelete"You seek a great fortune, you three who are now in chains. You will find a fortune, though it will not be the one you seek. But first... first you must travel a long and difficult road, a road fraught with peril. Mm-hmm. You shall see thangs, wonderful to tell. You shall see a... a cow... on the roof of a cotton house, ha. And, oh, so many startlements. I cannot tell you how long this road shall be, but fear not the obstacles in your path, for fate has vouchsafed your reward. Though the road may wind, yea, your hearts grow weary, still shall ye follow them, even unto your salvation."
He is telling them what their "road trip" is going to consist of and what their travels will lead to. Pete and Delmar are running away from their criminal past and Everett is chasing the life he had with his family before his criminal ways.
All three men reach their goal: Pete and Delmar are saved by being baptized in the river and Everett is saved later when he finally gets his family back. All three men are also pardoned by the governor as a result of being the Soggy Bottom Boys.