Daily Dialogue — May 8, 2019

Pete: I’ll be a sonofabitch. Delmar’s been saved.
Delmar O’Donnell: Well, that’s it, boys. I’ve been redeemed. The preacher’s done warshed away all my sins and transgressions. It’s the straight and narrow from here on out, and heaven everlasting’s my reward.
Ulysses Everett McGill: Delmar, what are you talking about? We’ve got bigger fish to fry.
Delmar O’Donnell: The preacher says all my sins is warshed away, including that Piggly Wiggly I knocked over in Yazoo.
Ulysses Everett McGill: I thought you said you was innocent of those charges?
Delmar O’Donnell: Well, I was lyin’. And the preacher says that that sin’s been warshed away too. Neither God nor man’s got nothin’ on me now. C’mon in boys, the water is fine.

— O Brother, Where Are Thou? (2000), written by Homer (“The Odyssey”), Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Baptism.

Trivia: Although Homer is given a co-writing credit on the film, Joel Coen and Ethan Coen claim never to have read “The Odyssey” and are familiar with it only through cultural osmosis and film adaptations.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Of the three lead characters, Delmar is the one who goes through the biggest arc, albeit it’s unclear whether his change sticks or not. This baptism scene is one stage in his arc.