Notes

One eyed characters:
Although the salesman who works at the car lot is less intimidating than the Cyclops the both have a one eyed character at one point in their journeys . In The Grapes of Wrath when the Joads are looking for a car for their "Road Trip" to California they visit a car lot. In this car lot they meet a one-eyed salesman with low self esteem who despises his boss. Throughout their "stay" at the car lot the salesman spends more time complaining, wallowing in self pity and describing his struggles of only having one eye instead of actually doing his job. Eventually Tom has enough of his whining and lectures him, Which leads me to my next comparison; both roles have a good amount of arrogance attached to them. Both characters use any opportunity they get to show off their best assets. Whether it's Wit, Self-Assertiveness or Knowledge. For Example when Odysseus is trapped in the Cyclops' cave the Cyclops tries to trick him, but Odysseus being the clever character that he is outwits him. " 'But tell me, where did you moor your sturdy ship when you arrived? Up the coast or close in? I'd just like to know.' So he laid his trap but he never caught me, no, wise to the world I shot back in my crafty way, 'My ship? Poseidon god of the earthquake smashed my ship, he drove it against the rocks at your island's far cape" By telling him this he believes that the ship is destroyed which means he can't steal is to flee the island. Even though they weren't on the same level of brightness, they were both wise in their own way, Using their Knowledge to their advantage. "Tom turned on him. 'Now look-a-here, fella. You got that eye wide open. An' ya dirty, ya stink. Ya jus' askin' for it. Ya like it. Lets ya feel sorry for yaself. 'Course ya can't get no woman with that empty eye flappin' aroun'. Put somepin over it an' wash ya face. You ain't hittin' nobody with no pipe wrench.'
'I tell ya, a one-eye' fella got a hard row.' the man said. 'Can't see stuff the way other fellas can. Can't see how far off a thing is. Ever'thing's jus' flat.'
Tom said, 'Ya full a crap. Why, I knowed a one-legged whore one time. Think she was takin' two-bits in a alley? No, by God! She's gettin' half a dollar extra. She says, 'How many one-legged women you slep' with? None!' she says. 'O.K.,' she says. 'You got somepin pretty special here, an' it's gonna cos' ya half a buck extry'. An' by God, she was gettin' 'em, too, an' the fellas comin' out thinkin' they're pretty lucky. She says she's good luck. An' I knowed a hump-back in—in a place I was. Make his whole livin' lettin' folks rub his hump for luck. Jesus Christ, an' all you got is one eye gone.'
The man said stumblingly, 'Well, Jesus, ya see somebody edge away from ya, an' it gets into ya.'
'Cover it up then, goddamn it. Ya stickin' it out like a cow's ass. Ya like to feel sorry for yaself. There ain't nothin' the matter with you. Buy yaself some white pants. Ya gettin' drunk an' cryin' in ya bed, I bet. Need any help, Al?' " In this passage Tom is using his own experiences to help the salesman