Saturday, July 28, 2012
Character Analysis
Stephen's earliest memories — intensely vivid and fragmented — are proof that from the first, he always viewed his world from an artist's perspective. Later, as a young man, Stephen retains his childlike curiosity about people and things. He continues to make keen observations and displays an acute sensitivity which eventually causes him to realize that his destiny is to create — to become an artist and to define his artistic soul. Thus, he leaves for the Continent, severing himself from his family, his faith, and his country.
Stephen's journey through life, prior to his leaving for the Continent, is not easy. He is a troubled little boy, and it is little wonder. From his mother, Mary Joyce, while he is learning about piety, he takes on her deeply guilt-ridden sense of duty. In contrast, Stephen's father, Simon, teaches him only the most superficial code of social conduct, advocating irresponsibility as a means of finding personal freedom. Thus, Stephen's earliest morality consists of a combination of his mother's admonition, "Apologise," and his father's advice, "Never . . . peach on a fellow." One parent tells him to confess and feel guilty; the other tells him to lie and feel no guilt. This paradoxical legacy is indeed heavy emotional baggage for Stephen, who, at six years old, is sent out to face the world at Clongowes Wood College.
At this Jesuit boarding school, Stephen is quickly initiated into a life of cruelty, isolation, and injustice; he learns that escape is possible only through short-lived personal victories. Understandably, Stephen is overcome by homesickness, feelings of inadequacy, and actual physical illness, all of which alienate him from his fellow students. Most of Stephen's efforts to adapt to Clongowes result in humiliation; for example, he is mocked when he confesses that Yes, his mother kisses him. Floundering in guilt and confusion, his soul cries out: "Yes, his mother kisses him. Was that right?" If so, why is he teased?
Other things also confuse Stephen: should he spy on his fellow classmates and report their sacrilegious behavior? He could do so easily and with good conscience, and he could certainly "peach" on the boy who pushed him in the "square ditch." These and other confusing issues cause Stephen to constantly be on the defensive and to yearn for the comfortable security of home. Ironically, when Stephen is able to return home for the Christmas holidays, he realizes that home is not the harmonious haven that it once seemed to be.
After the Christmas Day battle royal, Stephen views his family differently. He sees the tyranny of religious zeal (embodied in Dante, his governess), and he also sees the cost of anti-clerical, political activism (embodied in Mr. Casey, his father's friend). The argument between Dante and Mr. Casey proves to Stephen that the adult world is as flawed and as cruel as his own small world. He is further disillusioned when he learns that the clerical community contains its own form of hypocritical cruelty. He realizes that if he is to obtain justice at Clongowes (regarding the pandying incident), he must relinquish personal weakness, fly in the face of both custom and tradition, and be willing to stand alone and confront the dark, unknown forces of the world.
Stephen's later experiences at Belvedere College initiate him into the turbulent world of adolescence. At Belvedere, Stephen feels confused and ashamed of his family's poverty, yet he overcompensates for his feelings of inadequacy by excelling in both drama and writing. Furthermore, he finds an artistic outlet for his adolescent moodiness in his love for Romantic literature.
In spite of his attempts to adjust to the school and to the Church, Stephen exhibits the restlessness and unpredictable mood swings of the typical adolescent, compounded by feelings of inferiority and, most of all, by persistent feelings of sexual urgency. Eventually, these longings for sex are satisfied in the arms of a Dublin prostitute. This experience marks the end of Stephen's innocence and the beginning of his search for life's deeper meanings.
At this point, Stephen's struggles with his sex drive seem all the more painful because he serves as prefect of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, and, therefore, he has an obligation to provide a good example for the younger boys at the school. Stephen's period of lust and frustration, however, is short-lived. After listening to Father Arnall's Judgment Day sermons, delivered during a three-day religious retreat, Stephen is so consumed with guilt and fear that he seeks out a kindly Capuchin monk to hear his confession. Afterward, he vows to purify his life.
Accordingly, he becomes a model saint of a young lad; but this phase is also short-lived. Stephen finally acknowledges his feelings of sexuality, and he also acknowledges his own moral imperfections, as well as the moral imperfections of people around him. He becomes cynical about those who profess to have a flawless faith and begins to use his intellect and logic in order to dissect spiritual matters.
The question of whether or not Stephen should pursue a life of spirituality is resolved once and for all after his meeting with the Jesuit director, who unwittingly reveals that a religious life would deny Stephen all pleasures of the natural world — a fate Stephen cannot imagine. His decision to turn from a religious vocation makes him realize that he is now free — free to pursue the pleasures of life through art.
To Stephen, artistic expression involves more than a casual appreciation of style or form; it involves a complete communion of body, mind, and spirit. Stephen experiences this "esthetic harmony" as he gazes at a girl wading in the sea; she epitomizes his expectations of life in the form of art, freedom, and sexuality. From this moment, Stephen dedicates himself to the pursuit of such a life.
Stephen chooses to forge his future by first testing his new philosophy against the established customs, mores, and restrictions of Dublin society. Almost systematically, he interacts with his family and his friends, and one by one, he dissociates himself from them, as well as from the values that they represent.
Although we might not agree that it is necessary for Stephen to break free of all the bonds which tie him to his disappointing and unfulfilled past, we acknowledge that he alone must make the decision about leaving Ireland. Note that as Stephen departs from his homeland, in search of himself, he seems to possess the confidence, the egocentrism, and a tentative hope for the future common to everyone who leaves home for the first time. Although it is clear that his life's lessons have only begun, we wish him well and hope that his future will hold him "forever in good stead."
Stephen's journey through life, prior to his leaving for the Continent, is not easy. He is a troubled little boy, and it is little wonder. From his mother, Mary Joyce, while he is learning about piety, he takes on her deeply guilt-ridden sense of duty. In contrast, Stephen's father, Simon, teaches him only the most superficial code of social conduct, advocating irresponsibility as a means of finding personal freedom. Thus, Stephen's earliest morality consists of a combination of his mother's admonition, "Apologise," and his father's advice, "Never . . . peach on a fellow." One parent tells him to confess and feel guilty; the other tells him to lie and feel no guilt. This paradoxical legacy is indeed heavy emotional baggage for Stephen, who, at six years old, is sent out to face the world at Clongowes Wood College.
At this Jesuit boarding school, Stephen is quickly initiated into a life of cruelty, isolation, and injustice; he learns that escape is possible only through short-lived personal victories. Understandably, Stephen is overcome by homesickness, feelings of inadequacy, and actual physical illness, all of which alienate him from his fellow students. Most of Stephen's efforts to adapt to Clongowes result in humiliation; for example, he is mocked when he confesses that Yes, his mother kisses him. Floundering in guilt and confusion, his soul cries out: "Yes, his mother kisses him. Was that right?" If so, why is he teased?
Other things also confuse Stephen: should he spy on his fellow classmates and report their sacrilegious behavior? He could do so easily and with good conscience, and he could certainly "peach" on the boy who pushed him in the "square ditch." These and other confusing issues cause Stephen to constantly be on the defensive and to yearn for the comfortable security of home. Ironically, when Stephen is able to return home for the Christmas holidays, he realizes that home is not the harmonious haven that it once seemed to be.
After the Christmas Day battle royal, Stephen views his family differently. He sees the tyranny of religious zeal (embodied in Dante, his governess), and he also sees the cost of anti-clerical, political activism (embodied in Mr. Casey, his father's friend). The argument between Dante and Mr. Casey proves to Stephen that the adult world is as flawed and as cruel as his own small world. He is further disillusioned when he learns that the clerical community contains its own form of hypocritical cruelty. He realizes that if he is to obtain justice at Clongowes (regarding the pandying incident), he must relinquish personal weakness, fly in the face of both custom and tradition, and be willing to stand alone and confront the dark, unknown forces of the world.
Stephen's later experiences at Belvedere College initiate him into the turbulent world of adolescence. At Belvedere, Stephen feels confused and ashamed of his family's poverty, yet he overcompensates for his feelings of inadequacy by excelling in both drama and writing. Furthermore, he finds an artistic outlet for his adolescent moodiness in his love for Romantic literature.
In spite of his attempts to adjust to the school and to the Church, Stephen exhibits the restlessness and unpredictable mood swings of the typical adolescent, compounded by feelings of inferiority and, most of all, by persistent feelings of sexual urgency. Eventually, these longings for sex are satisfied in the arms of a Dublin prostitute. This experience marks the end of Stephen's innocence and the beginning of his search for life's deeper meanings.
At this point, Stephen's struggles with his sex drive seem all the more painful because he serves as prefect of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, and, therefore, he has an obligation to provide a good example for the younger boys at the school. Stephen's period of lust and frustration, however, is short-lived. After listening to Father Arnall's Judgment Day sermons, delivered during a three-day religious retreat, Stephen is so consumed with guilt and fear that he seeks out a kindly Capuchin monk to hear his confession. Afterward, he vows to purify his life.
Accordingly, he becomes a model saint of a young lad; but this phase is also short-lived. Stephen finally acknowledges his feelings of sexuality, and he also acknowledges his own moral imperfections, as well as the moral imperfections of people around him. He becomes cynical about those who profess to have a flawless faith and begins to use his intellect and logic in order to dissect spiritual matters.
The question of whether or not Stephen should pursue a life of spirituality is resolved once and for all after his meeting with the Jesuit director, who unwittingly reveals that a religious life would deny Stephen all pleasures of the natural world — a fate Stephen cannot imagine. His decision to turn from a religious vocation makes him realize that he is now free — free to pursue the pleasures of life through art.
To Stephen, artistic expression involves more than a casual appreciation of style or form; it involves a complete communion of body, mind, and spirit. Stephen experiences this "esthetic harmony" as he gazes at a girl wading in the sea; she epitomizes his expectations of life in the form of art, freedom, and sexuality. From this moment, Stephen dedicates himself to the pursuit of such a life.
Stephen chooses to forge his future by first testing his new philosophy against the established customs, mores, and restrictions of Dublin society. Almost systematically, he interacts with his family and his friends, and one by one, he dissociates himself from them, as well as from the values that they represent.
Although we might not agree that it is necessary for Stephen to break free of all the bonds which tie him to his disappointing and unfulfilled past, we acknowledge that he alone must make the decision about leaving Ireland. Note that as Stephen departs from his homeland, in search of himself, he seems to possess the confidence, the egocentrism, and a tentative hope for the future common to everyone who leaves home for the first time. Although it is clear that his life's lessons have only begun, we wish him well and hope that his future will hold him "forever in good stead."
Chapter V
Summary
In the days following Stephen's first sexual experience (Joyce refers to it as Stephen's "first violent sin"), he discovers that he craves food; his sexual appetite has seemingly whetted his appetite for meat and carrots and potatoes. His studies suddenly become either wholly unimportant — or else they take on new, shaming importance; for example, while completing a mathematical equation, Stephen is reminded that his sinful nature is increasingly multiplying.
Often Stephen feels slothful — lethargic, apathetic, and unable to pray. He feels that "a wave of vitality [has passed] out of him," taking with it his resistance to temptation. Although he knows that he is in danger of "eternal damnation," a "cold indifference" has seized him and prevents repentance and reparation.
Stephen feels contaminated by every kind of sin, but he continues to serve as the prefect of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The statue of the Virgin, the symbol of the "refuge of sinners," does not humiliate Stephen; he finds pity and comfort in the words of the litanies that he says in her honor.
Stephen also continues his catechism classes, but now he begins to contemplate the technicalities of religious doctrine that pertain to his "violent sin." He analyzes the origin and the result of his present sinful status, and he realizes that his sin of lust has rapidly spread into the other "deadly sin" categories — anger, covetousness, pride, envy, gluttony, and sloth. Then, at the very moment when Stephen is convinced that he has a consummately sinful nature, and when he is questioning the spiritual reality of the sacrament of the eucharist, he hears the rector announce the beginning of a three-day spiritual retreat which will be held at Belvedere in honor of the school's patron saint, Francis Xavier. The announcement of the retreat "wither[s] up" Stephen's heart.
On the first day of the retreat, Stephen sits on the front bench of the chapel as Father Arnall begins his sermon on the "last things" that happen to people — "death, judgment, hell and heaven." The gravity of this Judgment Day sermon, taken from Ecclesiasticus 7:36, penetrates Stephen's heart, making him vividly imagine the judgment that he would receive for the sin of lust — if he were to die suddenly. Father Arnall emphasizes that one should examine one's conscience and repent one's sins while one still has the chance. Stephen earnestly considers his pitiful state and the enormity of his offense against the omnipotent personality of God. His guilt increases, making him feel as though every word of the sermon is spoken personally to him.
Later, Stephen's thoughts turn to Emma (the girl about whom he fantasizes), the "packet of pictures" he hid, and the "foul long letters" which he left in a place where he was certain that some unknown girl would find them and read them. He shamefully entreats the Blessed Virgin, who is less stern toward the sinner than God the Father, to understand his mistakes and have mercy on him — despite his terrible sins.
On the second day of the retreat, the sermon begins with these fearsome words from Isaiah 5:14: "Hell has enlarged its soul and opened its mouth without any limits." In other words, Hell has not yet gorged itself. Hell is still hungry — hungry for Stephen.
Stephen hears how God's once-beloved angel Lucifer, because of his pride, was hurled into the everlasting darkness of Hell by a vengeful God. Lucifer's sin was his refusal to serve God (non serviam). In order to fill the seats left vacant by Lucifer and his cohorts, God created Adam and Eve, but even they failed to obey His commands. Thus began the "inheritance" of mankind's sinful nature.
The retreat master reminds the boys that they were redeemed from Original Sin (their inherited sinful nature) by the death of Jesus Christ, who suffered crucifixion for the remission of the sins of the world. However, this reminder of God's supreme sacrifice of His son fails to comfort Stephen; instead, it causes him to grow increasingly remorseful as the speaker depicts ever more vividly the dark, burning punishments of Hell.
These graphic descriptions of Hell — its stench and its torments — are extremely painful for Stephen because the retreat master continually dwells on how the sinner will suffer through the senses — what the sinner will hear, what he will smell, what he will see, and the pain he will feel. Remember that despite Stephen's cold, rather contemptuous intellectuality, he has, since the beginning of this novel — ever since the moocow incident — perceived the world around him primarily in terms of his sensory awareness of it. Here, during Father Arnall's sermons, Stephen's deepest fears become frighteningly real. As he listens to the retreat master describe the crowded confinement of Hell, he can almost feel the bodies of the damned; as he imagines the smoky darkness of Hell, his eyes struggle to see; as he imagines the shrieking cacophony of Hell, his ears throb with pain; and as he imaginatively inhales the reeking inferno into which he will be cast for eternity because of his sins, the smell is overpowering.
But, Arnall emphasizes, the physical torture in Hell is only a part of eternal damnation; the psychological punishment will be as terrible as the physical punishment. He stresses that people who are consigned to Hell will have to endure the piercing, painful howls of the other damned sinners, as well as the jeers of the demons — all the while knowing that escape is impossible. Once a person is in Hell, there is no escape: he is there for eternity.
With his "legs shaking and the scalp of his head trembling as though it had been touched by ghostly fingers," Stephen leaves the chapel, horrified and guilty, fiercely aware of his need to be saved. Although he knows that he must make an immediate confession, he asks God to forgive his reluctance to do so in the college chapel because his shame is too great.
Later, after Father Arnall has discussed the physical existence of Hell in the first sermon and the physical and psychological torments in the second sermon, he begins his third sermon. Using Psalms 30:23 as an introduction, he describes the spiritual pain in Hell, focusing particularly on the poena damni, the pain of loss when one is removed from God's sight. Using bold, concrete imagery, he describes the cruel worm's (Satan's) "triple sting," the pain of conscience which causes the sinner to (1) remember his past pleasures with disgust, (2) see the "hideous malice" of the sin as God Himself sees it, and (3) realize that he deliberately chose not to repent and, therefore, must suffer damnation for eternity. The retreat master concludes by leading the congregation in an act of contrition.
Overwhelmed by the searing impact of the sermon, Stephen humbly returns to his room; he examines his conscience, and, one by one, he calculates the magnitude of his sins. Later, as he climbs into bed, his imagination conjures up cruel, grotesque creatures, crowding around him in filthy, foul-smelling surroundings, swishing their long tails.
Shaken, Stephen flings back the blankets, absolutely convinced that God has given him this ominous vision in order to enable him to see "the hell [which was being] reserved for his sins."
Stephen vomits profusely "in agony," prays to the Blessed Virgin for help, and begins wandering through the "slimy" streets of Dublin in search of a remote church where some unknown priest can hear his confession. At a chapel on Church Street, he finds an old, kindly Capuchin cleric who listens lackadaisically, gives him his penance, and tells him platitudinously to ask the Blessed Virgin for help in overcoming temptation.
Relieved and elated, Stephen leaves the chapel in a state of grace. Next morning, he takes Holy Communion during Mass and vows to begin a new life of purity and sanctity.
Analysis
Having committed the "violent" sin of lust, Stephen fears that he has initiated a chain reaction, what Thomas Aquinas called the Seven Deadly Sins. Stephen is aware of a "pride in himself," a pride in the "greatness" of his sin, a "covetousness in using money" to buy sexual favors from prostitutes, an "envy" of those whose vices are even more serious than his own, anger toward his innocent classmates, a "gluttonous enjoyment of his food," and a "spiritual and bodily sloth" which seems to have drained his whole being.
This obsession with sin causes Stephen to conjure up a series of "if's" and "why's" pertaining to religion. He tries to demystify his faith, challenge its validity, and perhaps find absolution through a religious technicality. Unhappily, the announcement of the retreat causes him to feel the full weight of his sin. He approaches the retreat experience with a "withered" heart and a feeling of dread.
The first and the briefest of the retreat sermons urges the boys to remember God's purpose for creating mankind; afterward, they should consider the present condition of their souls and then determine their fates if they were suddenly to die and have to face Divine Judgment. Would they go to Heaven? Or to Hell?
Clearly, this challenge of purity is difficult for a sixteen-year-old boy who enjoys sex and seeks out prostitutes as often as he can afford to do so; ironically, Stephen is viewed by the priests and the other boys as one of the "elder boys," a boy whose model behavior should be emulated by the younger boys. Throughout the first sermon, Stephen feels as though his spiritual life is passing before him, and, here, Joyce graphically records the details of Stephen's vivid imagination pertaining to his death and judgment. Stephen feels particularly agonized by Father Arnall's description of a lost soul because Stephen believes that he is already a lost soul. He believes that the sermon is delivered specifically to him — that he is being specifically warned about his sins: "Every word for him!"
At this point, Stephen begins to respond to life more intensely than ever in terms of his basic physical senses. Even after the sermon, Stephen continues to feel caged and tortured with guilt. He hears the "words of doom cried by the angel" and is mocked by the sound of a girl's laughter as he walks home from the retreat. In his mind, he sees the desecrated image of Emma, upon whose "innocence" he has "trampled"; the "sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils." Next, he remembers touching the "sootcoated packet of pictures" and placing the "foul long letters" where a young girl can find them. Finally, he tastes tears on his lips as he imagines kissing the sleeve of the Blessed Virgin, imploring her to intervene and save his soul from eternal damnation.
Ellman's biography of Joyce suggests that there are parallels in Joyce's life with certain key features of this chapter. For example, Joyce's own sexual initiation occurred at a time when he himself was serving as prefect for the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin; later, Joyce possessed a perverse longing to "adore and desecrate" the one love of his life, Nora Barnacle. Joyce also wrote a series of "foul long letters" to Nora during their brief separation in 1909, but despite Nora's efforts to destroy these letters, Joyce hid some of them away, hoping that someday others might read them. Many people have read them; the letters offer keen insights and explanations for Joyce's literary treatment of women.
The second sermon of the retreat begins with an examination of the origin of sin — specifically, Lucifer's prideful refusal to serve God and obey His will. A description of Adam and Eve's fall from grace follows, and Christ's sacrifice is also detailed. The purpose of this spiritual exercise is to create the most terrifying vision imaginable of the physical torments of Hell and infuse the boys with anguished feelings of guilt and fear.
The priest intends to "put the fear of God" into these potentially wayward young boys. The "nature of that abode of the damned," as Joyce portrays it, dramatically reveals the underpinnings of Dante's Inferno. This coincidence is not surprising because Joyce revered Dante's masterpiece almost as much as he did the Bible; he considered Dante's works to be "spiritual food." Nonetheless, this particular Hell is very definitely a realm of Joyce's own design, wherein his fears of restriction and darkness are merged with residual anxieties from his early experiences with the Roman Catholic Church.
Joyce's personal hell is revealed through his emphasis on sensory details in this chapter. His poor vision required that he rely on his remaining senses; thus he emphasizes the stench and the taste of the air of Hell, filled with the toxins of "rotting human fungus," the interminable screams of the anguished sinners, and the "unspeakable fury" of the flames as they devour human flesh.
Joyce also understands the internal torment of the "company of the damned" and describes its lowly stature with vivid animal imagery: "a cock, a monkey and a serpent . . . hateful and hurtful beasts." This animal imagery, as well as the "goatish" beasts which haunt Stephen's dreams, is derived from our enormous stock of Western mythical lore and symbols.
The final sermon of the retreat climaxes in a series of questions from the "voices of conscience": "Why did you sin? . . . Why did you not give up . . . that impure habit? . . . Why did you not . . . repent of your evils ways?" Here, Stephen suffers a "spasm of religious terror" and is obsessed with a burning need to confess and begin a dedicated reparation of his life.
During the third sermon, Stephen contemplates the torment of a life without God. As the retreat master focuses on the darkness of an eternity removed from God's divine presence, Stephen imagines himself bearing the full burden of his sins until the end of time. Finally as the retreat master examines the concept of eternity in a vast metaphor and concludes by discussing the grandeur of God, Stephen's "brain reel[s] dizzily" as he tries to fathom the enormous everlastingness of eternity.
During the past three days, Stephen has suffered terribly as he emotionally conjured up the burning torments of Hell. He has undergone physical anguish, as well as spiritual and imaginative Hell; his has been a journey that parallels the period of testing common to most mythical heroes. The mythical hero's descent into Hell is detailed in Dante's Inferno, and Daedalus, Stephen's mythical namesake, disobeyed orders from the powerful King Minos and was cast into the labyrinth of his own design, imprisoned with the monstrous Minotaur. Similarly, Stephen, through his disobedience to God's will, has been cast into a loathsome hell of his own imagination, where he suffers restriction and is threatened by beasts within his soul.
Stephen's repentance and humility are closely paralleled with the biblical story of the disobedient Jonah, who was confined in the belly of a whale. After three days and a humble repentance, Jonah was cast out of the whale. This duration of three days also carries the symbolic significance of the three days during which Christ descended into the depths of Hell and returned with the keys of Hell and Death; thus he atoned for man's sins and became his Redeemer. Stephen's three-day retreat enables him to imaginatively experience Hell, repent his sins, and fly free (like Daedalus) from damnation, through sincere and contrite confession.
It is worth noting that although the chapter concludes with Stephen's confession and rededication to a life without sin, the Capuchin priest was chosen by Stephen because he believed that the Capuchin would be more merciful in his directives than Stephen's own priest would have been at Belvedere College. Note, too, that Stephen shows his preference for the benignity of Mary, rather than confront the stern justice of an omnipotent male God. Even the act of confessing to a Capuchin priest ("capuchin" also means a hooded cloak worn by women), rather than a possibly "tough" priest at Belvedere College, indicates Stephen's growing tendency toward creating a softer, more beautiful world to exist in, rather than enduring the harsh, more realistic one.
Glossary
his scribbler his notebook.
Shelley's fragment the reference is to Shelley's unfinished poem "To the Moon."
sinned mortally To commit a mortal sin, one must be fully aware that a sin is being committed; knowingly and willingly acting against the laws of God.
grace the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God; the condition of being in God's favor.
surd an irrational number; the root of an integer.
Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary a religious association formed by the Jesuit order and based on Loyola's devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Stephen is the administrative leader (prefect) of this organization, which performs charitable works and meets on Saturday mornings for prayers in honor of the Virgin Mary.
Quasi cedrus exalta sum . . . odoris. I was exalted just as the cedars of Lebanon and the cypress trees of Mount Zion. I was exalted just as the palms in Cadiz (Spain) and as the roses in Jericho. I was exalted just as the beautiful olives on the plains and the plane trees that grow alongside the streams. Just as I gave forth the strong fragrance of cinnamon and the balsam tree, I also gave forth the sweet fragrance of the choicest myrrh.
sums and cuts The teacher has assigned the next problems to be done.
Ennis, who had gone to the yard Ennis had gone to the school urinal.
We can scut the whole hour. We have the next hour free.
catechism a series of questions and answers containing the summing up and the key principles of Catholicism.
the particular judgment This judgment occurs immediately following death; the Day of Final Judgment, the Last Judgment, occurs when Christ returns to earth and pronounces the final destiny for those who are still alive.
Emma The reference is to Emma Clery, the young girl to whom Stephen has written poems, much as Dante did to Beatrice.
hanged upon a gibbet a strange, seemingly vernacular description of the Crucifixion; perhaps Father Arnall is using the phrase to impress upon the boys the fact that Christ was executed "like a common criminal."
in a blue funk to be in a state of terror; in American slang, one could say that Father Arnall was trying to scare the boys out of their wits.
Saint Thomas Saint Thomas Aquinas; thirteenth-century monk, theologian, and philosopher. His works summarize all that is known about God by evidence of reasoning and faith and serve as the cornerstone of the Roman Catholic faith. Stephen develops his own aesthetic theory from the ideas of Aquinas and Aristotle.
venial sin a minor sin, committed without full understanding of its seriousness or without full consent of the will.
he repeated the act of contrition Stephen is repeating the traditional prayer of repentent sinners, vowing nevermore to sin.
his angel guardian Every baptized Roman Catholic has a personal guardian angel.
the ciborium the container for the consecrated wafers.
Corpus Domini nostri the Body of our Lord; the words spoken before serving the Host, or wafer, during communion.
In vitam eternam. Amen. Into eternal life. So be it.
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Summary and Analysis Chapter II
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Summary and Analysis Chapter IV
In the days following Stephen's first sexual experience (Joyce refers to it as Stephen's "first violent sin"), he discovers that he craves food; his sexual appetite has seemingly whetted his appetite for meat and carrots and potatoes. His studies suddenly become either wholly unimportant — or else they take on new, shaming importance; for example, while completing a mathematical equation, Stephen is reminded that his sinful nature is increasingly multiplying.
Often Stephen feels slothful — lethargic, apathetic, and unable to pray. He feels that "a wave of vitality [has passed] out of him," taking with it his resistance to temptation. Although he knows that he is in danger of "eternal damnation," a "cold indifference" has seized him and prevents repentance and reparation.
Stephen feels contaminated by every kind of sin, but he continues to serve as the prefect of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The statue of the Virgin, the symbol of the "refuge of sinners," does not humiliate Stephen; he finds pity and comfort in the words of the litanies that he says in her honor.
Stephen also continues his catechism classes, but now he begins to contemplate the technicalities of religious doctrine that pertain to his "violent sin." He analyzes the origin and the result of his present sinful status, and he realizes that his sin of lust has rapidly spread into the other "deadly sin" categories — anger, covetousness, pride, envy, gluttony, and sloth. Then, at the very moment when Stephen is convinced that he has a consummately sinful nature, and when he is questioning the spiritual reality of the sacrament of the eucharist, he hears the rector announce the beginning of a three-day spiritual retreat which will be held at Belvedere in honor of the school's patron saint, Francis Xavier. The announcement of the retreat "wither[s] up" Stephen's heart.
On the first day of the retreat, Stephen sits on the front bench of the chapel as Father Arnall begins his sermon on the "last things" that happen to people — "death, judgment, hell and heaven." The gravity of this Judgment Day sermon, taken from Ecclesiasticus 7:36, penetrates Stephen's heart, making him vividly imagine the judgment that he would receive for the sin of lust — if he were to die suddenly. Father Arnall emphasizes that one should examine one's conscience and repent one's sins while one still has the chance. Stephen earnestly considers his pitiful state and the enormity of his offense against the omnipotent personality of God. His guilt increases, making him feel as though every word of the sermon is spoken personally to him.
Later, Stephen's thoughts turn to Emma (the girl about whom he fantasizes), the "packet of pictures" he hid, and the "foul long letters" which he left in a place where he was certain that some unknown girl would find them and read them. He shamefully entreats the Blessed Virgin, who is less stern toward the sinner than God the Father, to understand his mistakes and have mercy on him — despite his terrible sins.
On the second day of the retreat, the sermon begins with these fearsome words from Isaiah 5:14: "Hell has enlarged its soul and opened its mouth without any limits." In other words, Hell has not yet gorged itself. Hell is still hungry — hungry for Stephen.
Stephen hears how God's once-beloved angel Lucifer, because of his pride, was hurled into the everlasting darkness of Hell by a vengeful God. Lucifer's sin was his refusal to serve God (non serviam). In order to fill the seats left vacant by Lucifer and his cohorts, God created Adam and Eve, but even they failed to obey His commands. Thus began the "inheritance" of mankind's sinful nature.
The retreat master reminds the boys that they were redeemed from Original Sin (their inherited sinful nature) by the death of Jesus Christ, who suffered crucifixion for the remission of the sins of the world. However, this reminder of God's supreme sacrifice of His son fails to comfort Stephen; instead, it causes him to grow increasingly remorseful as the speaker depicts ever more vividly the dark, burning punishments of Hell.
These graphic descriptions of Hell — its stench and its torments — are extremely painful for Stephen because the retreat master continually dwells on how the sinner will suffer through the senses — what the sinner will hear, what he will smell, what he will see, and the pain he will feel. Remember that despite Stephen's cold, rather contemptuous intellectuality, he has, since the beginning of this novel — ever since the moocow incident — perceived the world around him primarily in terms of his sensory awareness of it. Here, during Father Arnall's sermons, Stephen's deepest fears become frighteningly real. As he listens to the retreat master describe the crowded confinement of Hell, he can almost feel the bodies of the damned; as he imagines the smoky darkness of Hell, his eyes struggle to see; as he imagines the shrieking cacophony of Hell, his ears throb with pain; and as he imaginatively inhales the reeking inferno into which he will be cast for eternity because of his sins, the smell is overpowering.
But, Arnall emphasizes, the physical torture in Hell is only a part of eternal damnation; the psychological punishment will be as terrible as the physical punishment. He stresses that people who are consigned to Hell will have to endure the piercing, painful howls of the other damned sinners, as well as the jeers of the demons — all the while knowing that escape is impossible. Once a person is in Hell, there is no escape: he is there for eternity.
With his "legs shaking and the scalp of his head trembling as though it had been touched by ghostly fingers," Stephen leaves the chapel, horrified and guilty, fiercely aware of his need to be saved. Although he knows that he must make an immediate confession, he asks God to forgive his reluctance to do so in the college chapel because his shame is too great.
Later, after Father Arnall has discussed the physical existence of Hell in the first sermon and the physical and psychological torments in the second sermon, he begins his third sermon. Using Psalms 30:23 as an introduction, he describes the spiritual pain in Hell, focusing particularly on the poena damni, the pain of loss when one is removed from God's sight. Using bold, concrete imagery, he describes the cruel worm's (Satan's) "triple sting," the pain of conscience which causes the sinner to (1) remember his past pleasures with disgust, (2) see the "hideous malice" of the sin as God Himself sees it, and (3) realize that he deliberately chose not to repent and, therefore, must suffer damnation for eternity. The retreat master concludes by leading the congregation in an act of contrition.
Overwhelmed by the searing impact of the sermon, Stephen humbly returns to his room; he examines his conscience, and, one by one, he calculates the magnitude of his sins. Later, as he climbs into bed, his imagination conjures up cruel, grotesque creatures, crowding around him in filthy, foul-smelling surroundings, swishing their long tails.
Shaken, Stephen flings back the blankets, absolutely convinced that God has given him this ominous vision in order to enable him to see "the hell [which was being] reserved for his sins."
Stephen vomits profusely "in agony," prays to the Blessed Virgin for help, and begins wandering through the "slimy" streets of Dublin in search of a remote church where some unknown priest can hear his confession. At a chapel on Church Street, he finds an old, kindly Capuchin cleric who listens lackadaisically, gives him his penance, and tells him platitudinously to ask the Blessed Virgin for help in overcoming temptation.
Relieved and elated, Stephen leaves the chapel in a state of grace. Next morning, he takes Holy Communion during Mass and vows to begin a new life of purity and sanctity.
Analysis
Having committed the "violent" sin of lust, Stephen fears that he has initiated a chain reaction, what Thomas Aquinas called the Seven Deadly Sins. Stephen is aware of a "pride in himself," a pride in the "greatness" of his sin, a "covetousness in using money" to buy sexual favors from prostitutes, an "envy" of those whose vices are even more serious than his own, anger toward his innocent classmates, a "gluttonous enjoyment of his food," and a "spiritual and bodily sloth" which seems to have drained his whole being.
This obsession with sin causes Stephen to conjure up a series of "if's" and "why's" pertaining to religion. He tries to demystify his faith, challenge its validity, and perhaps find absolution through a religious technicality. Unhappily, the announcement of the retreat causes him to feel the full weight of his sin. He approaches the retreat experience with a "withered" heart and a feeling of dread.
The first and the briefest of the retreat sermons urges the boys to remember God's purpose for creating mankind; afterward, they should consider the present condition of their souls and then determine their fates if they were suddenly to die and have to face Divine Judgment. Would they go to Heaven? Or to Hell?
Clearly, this challenge of purity is difficult for a sixteen-year-old boy who enjoys sex and seeks out prostitutes as often as he can afford to do so; ironically, Stephen is viewed by the priests and the other boys as one of the "elder boys," a boy whose model behavior should be emulated by the younger boys. Throughout the first sermon, Stephen feels as though his spiritual life is passing before him, and, here, Joyce graphically records the details of Stephen's vivid imagination pertaining to his death and judgment. Stephen feels particularly agonized by Father Arnall's description of a lost soul because Stephen believes that he is already a lost soul. He believes that the sermon is delivered specifically to him — that he is being specifically warned about his sins: "Every word for him!"
At this point, Stephen begins to respond to life more intensely than ever in terms of his basic physical senses. Even after the sermon, Stephen continues to feel caged and tortured with guilt. He hears the "words of doom cried by the angel" and is mocked by the sound of a girl's laughter as he walks home from the retreat. In his mind, he sees the desecrated image of Emma, upon whose "innocence" he has "trampled"; the "sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils." Next, he remembers touching the "sootcoated packet of pictures" and placing the "foul long letters" where a young girl can find them. Finally, he tastes tears on his lips as he imagines kissing the sleeve of the Blessed Virgin, imploring her to intervene and save his soul from eternal damnation.
Ellman's biography of Joyce suggests that there are parallels in Joyce's life with certain key features of this chapter. For example, Joyce's own sexual initiation occurred at a time when he himself was serving as prefect for the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin; later, Joyce possessed a perverse longing to "adore and desecrate" the one love of his life, Nora Barnacle. Joyce also wrote a series of "foul long letters" to Nora during their brief separation in 1909, but despite Nora's efforts to destroy these letters, Joyce hid some of them away, hoping that someday others might read them. Many people have read them; the letters offer keen insights and explanations for Joyce's literary treatment of women.
The second sermon of the retreat begins with an examination of the origin of sin — specifically, Lucifer's prideful refusal to serve God and obey His will. A description of Adam and Eve's fall from grace follows, and Christ's sacrifice is also detailed. The purpose of this spiritual exercise is to create the most terrifying vision imaginable of the physical torments of Hell and infuse the boys with anguished feelings of guilt and fear.
The priest intends to "put the fear of God" into these potentially wayward young boys. The "nature of that abode of the damned," as Joyce portrays it, dramatically reveals the underpinnings of Dante's Inferno. This coincidence is not surprising because Joyce revered Dante's masterpiece almost as much as he did the Bible; he considered Dante's works to be "spiritual food." Nonetheless, this particular Hell is very definitely a realm of Joyce's own design, wherein his fears of restriction and darkness are merged with residual anxieties from his early experiences with the Roman Catholic Church.
Joyce's personal hell is revealed through his emphasis on sensory details in this chapter. His poor vision required that he rely on his remaining senses; thus he emphasizes the stench and the taste of the air of Hell, filled with the toxins of "rotting human fungus," the interminable screams of the anguished sinners, and the "unspeakable fury" of the flames as they devour human flesh.
Joyce also understands the internal torment of the "company of the damned" and describes its lowly stature with vivid animal imagery: "a cock, a monkey and a serpent . . . hateful and hurtful beasts." This animal imagery, as well as the "goatish" beasts which haunt Stephen's dreams, is derived from our enormous stock of Western mythical lore and symbols.
The final sermon of the retreat climaxes in a series of questions from the "voices of conscience": "Why did you sin? . . . Why did you not give up . . . that impure habit? . . . Why did you not . . . repent of your evils ways?" Here, Stephen suffers a "spasm of religious terror" and is obsessed with a burning need to confess and begin a dedicated reparation of his life.
During the third sermon, Stephen contemplates the torment of a life without God. As the retreat master focuses on the darkness of an eternity removed from God's divine presence, Stephen imagines himself bearing the full burden of his sins until the end of time. Finally as the retreat master examines the concept of eternity in a vast metaphor and concludes by discussing the grandeur of God, Stephen's "brain reel[s] dizzily" as he tries to fathom the enormous everlastingness of eternity.
During the past three days, Stephen has suffered terribly as he emotionally conjured up the burning torments of Hell. He has undergone physical anguish, as well as spiritual and imaginative Hell; his has been a journey that parallels the period of testing common to most mythical heroes. The mythical hero's descent into Hell is detailed in Dante's Inferno, and Daedalus, Stephen's mythical namesake, disobeyed orders from the powerful King Minos and was cast into the labyrinth of his own design, imprisoned with the monstrous Minotaur. Similarly, Stephen, through his disobedience to God's will, has been cast into a loathsome hell of his own imagination, where he suffers restriction and is threatened by beasts within his soul.
Stephen's repentance and humility are closely paralleled with the biblical story of the disobedient Jonah, who was confined in the belly of a whale. After three days and a humble repentance, Jonah was cast out of the whale. This duration of three days also carries the symbolic significance of the three days during which Christ descended into the depths of Hell and returned with the keys of Hell and Death; thus he atoned for man's sins and became his Redeemer. Stephen's three-day retreat enables him to imaginatively experience Hell, repent his sins, and fly free (like Daedalus) from damnation, through sincere and contrite confession.
It is worth noting that although the chapter concludes with Stephen's confession and rededication to a life without sin, the Capuchin priest was chosen by Stephen because he believed that the Capuchin would be more merciful in his directives than Stephen's own priest would have been at Belvedere College. Note, too, that Stephen shows his preference for the benignity of Mary, rather than confront the stern justice of an omnipotent male God. Even the act of confessing to a Capuchin priest ("capuchin" also means a hooded cloak worn by women), rather than a possibly "tough" priest at Belvedere College, indicates Stephen's growing tendency toward creating a softer, more beautiful world to exist in, rather than enduring the harsh, more realistic one.
Glossary
his scribbler his notebook.
Shelley's fragment the reference is to Shelley's unfinished poem "To the Moon."
sinned mortally To commit a mortal sin, one must be fully aware that a sin is being committed; knowingly and willingly acting against the laws of God.
grace the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God; the condition of being in God's favor.
surd an irrational number; the root of an integer.
Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary a religious association formed by the Jesuit order and based on Loyola's devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Stephen is the administrative leader (prefect) of this organization, which performs charitable works and meets on Saturday mornings for prayers in honor of the Virgin Mary.
Quasi cedrus exalta sum . . . odoris. I was exalted just as the cedars of Lebanon and the cypress trees of Mount Zion. I was exalted just as the palms in Cadiz (Spain) and as the roses in Jericho. I was exalted just as the beautiful olives on the plains and the plane trees that grow alongside the streams. Just as I gave forth the strong fragrance of cinnamon and the balsam tree, I also gave forth the sweet fragrance of the choicest myrrh.
sums and cuts The teacher has assigned the next problems to be done.
Ennis, who had gone to the yard Ennis had gone to the school urinal.
We can scut the whole hour. We have the next hour free.
catechism a series of questions and answers containing the summing up and the key principles of Catholicism.
the particular judgment This judgment occurs immediately following death; the Day of Final Judgment, the Last Judgment, occurs when Christ returns to earth and pronounces the final destiny for those who are still alive.
Emma The reference is to Emma Clery, the young girl to whom Stephen has written poems, much as Dante did to Beatrice.
hanged upon a gibbet a strange, seemingly vernacular description of the Crucifixion; perhaps Father Arnall is using the phrase to impress upon the boys the fact that Christ was executed "like a common criminal."
in a blue funk to be in a state of terror; in American slang, one could say that Father Arnall was trying to scare the boys out of their wits.
Saint Thomas Saint Thomas Aquinas; thirteenth-century monk, theologian, and philosopher. His works summarize all that is known about God by evidence of reasoning and faith and serve as the cornerstone of the Roman Catholic faith. Stephen develops his own aesthetic theory from the ideas of Aquinas and Aristotle.
venial sin a minor sin, committed without full understanding of its seriousness or without full consent of the will.
he repeated the act of contrition Stephen is repeating the traditional prayer of repentent sinners, vowing nevermore to sin.
his angel guardian Every baptized Roman Catholic has a personal guardian angel.
the ciborium the container for the consecrated wafers.
Corpus Domini nostri the Body of our Lord; the words spoken before serving the Host, or wafer, during communion.
In vitam eternam. Amen. Into eternal life. So be it.
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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man By James Joyce Summary and Analysis Chapter III
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Summary and Analysis Chapter IV
Summary
In the days following Stephen's first sexual experience (Joyce refers to it as Stephen's "first violent sin"), he discovers that he craves food; his sexual appetite has seemingly whetted his appetite for meat and carrots and potatoes. His studies suddenly become either wholly unimportant — or else they take on new, shaming importance; for example, while completing a mathematical equation, Stephen is reminded that his sinful nature is increasingly multiplying.
Often Stephen feels slothful — lethargic, apathetic, and unable to pray. He feels that "a wave of vitality [has passed] out of him," taking with it his resistance to temptation. Although he knows that he is in danger of "eternal damnation," a "cold indifference" has seized him and prevents repentance and reparation.
Stephen feels contaminated by every kind of sin, but he continues to serve as the prefect of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The statue of the Virgin, the symbol of the "refuge of sinners," does not humiliate Stephen; he finds pity and comfort in the words of the litanies that he says in her honor.
Stephen also continues his catechism classes, but now he begins to contemplate the technicalities of religious doctrine that pertain to his "violent sin." He analyzes the origin and the result of his present sinful status, and he realizes that his sin of lust has rapidly spread into the other "deadly sin" categories — anger, covetousness, pride, envy, gluttony, and sloth. Then, at the very moment when Stephen is convinced that he has a consummately sinful nature, and when he is questioning the spiritual reality of the sacrament of the eucharist, he hears the rector announce the beginning of a three-day spiritual retreat which will be held at Belvedere in honor of the school's patron saint, Francis Xavier. The announcement of the retreat "wither[s] up" Stephen's heart.
On the first day of the retreat, Stephen sits on the front bench of the chapel as Father Arnall begins his sermon on the "last things" that happen to people — "death, judgment, hell and heaven." The gravity of this Judgment Day sermon, taken from Ecclesiasticus 7:36, penetrates Stephen's heart, making him vividly imagine the judgment that he would receive for the sin of lust — if he were to die suddenly. Father Arnall emphasizes that one should examine one's conscience and repent one's sins while one still has the chance. Stephen earnestly considers his pitiful state and the enormity of his offense against the omnipotent personality of God. His guilt increases, making him feel as though every word of the sermon is spoken personally to him.
Later, Stephen's thoughts turn to Emma (the girl about whom he fantasizes), the "packet of pictures" he hid, and the "foul long letters" which he left in a place where he was certain that some unknown girl would find them and read them. He shamefully entreats the Blessed Virgin, who is less stern toward the sinner than God the Father, to understand his mistakes and have mercy on him — despite his terrible sins.
On the second day of the retreat, the sermon begins with these fearsome words from Isaiah 5:14: "Hell has enlarged its soul and opened its mouth without any limits." In other words, Hell has not yet gorged itself. Hell is still hungry — hungry for Stephen.
Stephen hears how God's once-beloved angel Lucifer, because of his pride, was hurled into the everlasting darkness of Hell by a vengeful God. Lucifer's sin was his refusal to serve God (non serviam). In order to fill the seats left vacant by Lucifer and his cohorts, God created Adam and Eve, but even they failed to obey His commands. Thus began the "inheritance" of mankind's sinful nature.
The retreat master reminds the boys that they were redeemed from Original Sin (their inherited sinful nature) by the death of Jesus Christ, who suffered crucifixion for the remission of the sins of the world. However, this reminder of God's supreme sacrifice of His son fails to comfort Stephen; instead, it causes him to grow increasingly remorseful as the speaker depicts ever more vividly the dark, burning punishments of Hell.
These graphic descriptions of Hell — its stench and its torments — are extremely painful for Stephen because the retreat master continually dwells on how the sinner will suffer through the senses — what the sinner will hear, what he will smell, what he will see, and the pain he will feel. Remember that despite Stephen's cold, rather contemptuous intellectuality, he has, since the beginning of this novel — ever since the moocow incident — perceived the world around him primarily in terms of his sensory awareness of it. Here, during Father Arnall's sermons, Stephen's deepest fears become frighteningly real. As he listens to the retreat master describe the crowded confinement of Hell, he can almost feel the bodies of the damned; as he imagines the smoky darkness of Hell, his eyes struggle to see; as he imagines the shrieking cacophony of Hell, his ears throb with pain; and as he imaginatively inhales the reeking inferno into which he will be cast for eternity because of his sins, the smell is overpowering.
But, Arnall emphasizes, the physical torture in Hell is only a part of eternal damnation; the psychological punishment will be as terrible as the physical punishment. He stresses that people who are consigned to Hell will have to endure the piercing, painful howls of the other damned sinners, as well as the jeers of the demons — all the while knowing that escape is impossible. Once a person is in Hell, there is no escape: he is there for eternity.
With his "legs shaking and the scalp of his head trembling as though it had been touched by ghostly fingers," Stephen leaves the chapel, horrified and guilty, fiercely aware of his need to be saved. Although he knows that he must make an immediate confession, he asks God to forgive his reluctance to do so in the college chapel because his shame is too great.
Later, after Father Arnall has discussed the physical existence of Hell in the first sermon and the physical and psychological torments in the second sermon, he begins his third sermon. Using Psalms 30:23 as an introduction, he describes the spiritual pain in Hell, focusing particularly on the poena damni, the pain of loss when one is removed from God's sight. Using bold, concrete imagery, he describes the cruel worm's (Satan's) "triple sting," the pain of conscience which causes the sinner to (1) remember his past pleasures with disgust, (2) see the "hideous malice" of the sin as God Himself sees it, and (3) realize that he deliberately chose not to repent and, therefore, must suffer damnation for eternity. The retreat master concludes by leading the congregation in an act of contrition.
Overwhelmed by the searing impact of the sermon, Stephen humbly returns to his room; he examines his conscience, and, one by one, he calculates the magnitude of his sins. Later, as he climbs into bed, his imagination conjures up cruel, grotesque creatures, crowding around him in filthy, foul-smelling surroundings, swishing their long tails.
Shaken, Stephen flings back the blankets, absolutely convinced that God has given him this ominous vision in order to enable him to see "the hell [which was being] reserved for his sins."
Stephen vomits profusely "in agony," prays to the Blessed Virgin for help, and begins wandering through the "slimy" streets of Dublin in search of a remote church where some unknown priest can hear his confession. At a chapel on Church Street, he finds an old, kindly Capuchin cleric who listens lackadaisically, gives him his penance, and tells him platitudinously to ask the Blessed Virgin for help in overcoming temptation.
Relieved and elated, Stephen leaves the chapel in a state of grace. Next morning, he takes Holy Communion during Mass and vows to begin a new life of purity and sanctity.
Analysis
Having committed the "violent" sin of lust, Stephen fears that he has initiated a chain reaction, what Thomas Aquinas called the Seven Deadly Sins. Stephen is aware of a "pride in himself," a pride in the "greatness" of his sin, a "covetousness in using money" to buy sexual favors from prostitutes, an "envy" of those whose vices are even more serious than his own, anger toward his innocent classmates, a "gluttonous enjoyment of his food," and a "spiritual and bodily sloth" which seems to have drained his whole being.
This obsession with sin causes Stephen to conjure up a series of "if's" and "why's" pertaining to religion. He tries to demystify his faith, challenge its validity, and perhaps find absolution through a religious technicality. Unhappily, the announcement of the retreat causes him to feel the full weight of his sin. He approaches the retreat experience with a "withered" heart and a feeling of dread.
The first and the briefest of the retreat sermons urges the boys to remember God's purpose for creating mankind; afterward, they should consider the present condition of their souls and then determine their fates if they were suddenly to die and have to face Divine Judgment. Would they go to Heaven? Or to Hell?
Clearly, this challenge of purity is difficult for a sixteen-year-old boy who enjoys sex and seeks out prostitutes as often as he can afford to do so; ironically, Stephen is viewed by the priests and the other boys as one of the "elder boys," a boy whose model behavior should be emulated by the younger boys. Throughout the first sermon, Stephen feels as though his spiritual life is passing before him, and, here, Joyce graphically records the details of Stephen's vivid imagination pertaining to his death and judgment. Stephen feels particularly agonized by Father Arnall's description of a lost soul because Stephen believes that he is already a lost soul. He believes that the sermon is delivered specifically to him — that he is being specifically warned about his sins: "Every word for him!"
At this point, Stephen begins to respond to life more intensely than ever in terms of his basic physical senses. Even after the sermon, Stephen continues to feel caged and tortured with guilt. He hears the "words of doom cried by the angel" and is mocked by the sound of a girl's laughter as he walks home from the retreat. In his mind, he sees the desecrated image of Emma, upon whose "innocence" he has "trampled"; the "sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils." Next, he remembers touching the "sootcoated packet of pictures" and placing the "foul long letters" where a young girl can find them. Finally, he tastes tears on his lips as he imagines kissing the sleeve of the Blessed Virgin, imploring her to intervene and save his soul from eternal damnation.
Ellman's biography of Joyce suggests that there are parallels in Joyce's life with certain key features of this chapter. For example, Joyce's own sexual initiation occurred at a time when he himself was serving as prefect for the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin; later, Joyce possessed a perverse longing to "adore and desecrate" the one love of his life, Nora Barnacle. Joyce also wrote a series of "foul long letters" to Nora during their brief separation in 1909, but despite Nora's efforts to destroy these letters, Joyce hid some of them away, hoping that someday others might read them. Many people have read them; the letters offer keen insights and explanations for Joyce's literary treatment of women.
The second sermon of the retreat begins with an examination of the origin of sin — specifically, Lucifer's prideful refusal to serve God and obey His will. A description of Adam and Eve's fall from grace follows, and Christ's sacrifice is also detailed. The purpose of this spiritual exercise is to create the most terrifying vision imaginable of the physical torments of Hell and infuse the boys with anguished feelings of guilt and fear.
The priest intends to "put the fear of God" into these potentially wayward young boys. The "nature of that abode of the damned," as Joyce portrays it, dramatically reveals the underpinnings of Dante's Inferno. This coincidence is not surprising because Joyce revered Dante's masterpiece almost as much as he did the Bible; he considered Dante's works to be "spiritual food." Nonetheless, this particular Hell is very definitely a realm of Joyce's own design, wherein his fears of restriction and darkness are merged with residual anxieties from his early experiences with the Roman Catholic Church.
Joyce's personal hell is revealed through his emphasis on sensory details in this chapter. His poor vision required that he rely on his remaining senses; thus he emphasizes the stench and the taste of the air of Hell, filled with the toxins of "rotting human fungus," the interminable screams of the anguished sinners, and the "unspeakable fury" of the flames as they devour human flesh.
Joyce also understands the internal torment of the "company of the damned" and describes its lowly stature with vivid animal imagery: "a cock, a monkey and a serpent . . . hateful and hurtful beasts." This animal imagery, as well as the "goatish" beasts which haunt Stephen's dreams, is derived from our enormous stock of Western mythical lore and symbols.
The final sermon of the retreat climaxes in a series of questions from the "voices of conscience": "Why did you sin? . . . Why did you not give up . . . that impure habit? . . . Why did you not . . . repent of your evils ways?" Here, Stephen suffers a "spasm of religious terror" and is obsessed with a burning need to confess and begin a dedicated reparation of his life.
During the third sermon, Stephen contemplates the torment of a life without God. As the retreat master focuses on the darkness of an eternity removed from God's divine presence, Stephen imagines himself bearing the full burden of his sins until the end of time. Finally as the retreat master examines the concept of eternity in a vast metaphor and concludes by discussing the grandeur of God, Stephen's "brain reel[s] dizzily" as he tries to fathom the enormous everlastingness of eternity.
During the past three days, Stephen has suffered terribly as he emotionally conjured up the burning torments of Hell. He has undergone physical anguish, as well as spiritual and imaginative Hell; his has been a journey that parallels the period of testing common to most mythical heroes. The mythical hero's descent into Hell is detailed in Dante's Inferno, and Daedalus, Stephen's mythical namesake, disobeyed orders from the powerful King Minos and was cast into the labyrinth of his own design, imprisoned with the monstrous Minotaur. Similarly, Stephen, through his disobedience to God's will, has been cast into a loathsome hell of his own imagination, where he suffers restriction and is threatened by beasts within his soul.
Stephen's repentance and humility are closely paralleled with the biblical story of the disobedient Jonah, who was confined in the belly of a whale. After three days and a humble repentance, Jonah was cast out of the whale. This duration of three days also carries the symbolic significance of the three days during which Christ descended into the depths of Hell and returned with the keys of Hell and Death; thus he atoned for man's sins and became his Redeemer. Stephen's three-day retreat enables him to imaginatively experience Hell, repent his sins, and fly free (like Daedalus) from damnation, through sincere and contrite confession.
It is worth noting that although the chapter concludes with Stephen's confession and rededication to a life without sin, the Capuchin priest was chosen by Stephen because he believed that the Capuchin would be more merciful in his directives than Stephen's own priest would have been at Belvedere College. Note, too, that Stephen shows his preference for the benignity of Mary, rather than confront the stern justice of an omnipotent male God. Even the act of confessing to a Capuchin priest ("capuchin" also means a hooded cloak worn by women), rather than a possibly "tough" priest at Belvedere College, indicates Stephen's growing tendency toward creating a softer, more beautiful world to exist in, rather than enduring the harsh, more realistic one.
Glossary
his scribbler his notebook.
Shelley's fragment the reference is to Shelley's unfinished poem "To the Moon."
sinned mortally To commit a mortal sin, one must be fully aware that a sin is being committed; knowingly and willingly acting against the laws of God.
grace the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God; the condition of being in God's favor.
surd an irrational number; the root of an integer.
Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary a religious association formed by the Jesuit order and based on Loyola's devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Stephen is the administrative leader (prefect) of this organization, which performs charitable works and meets on Saturday mornings for prayers in honor of the Virgin Mary.
Quasi cedrus exalta sum . . . odoris. I was exalted just as the cedars of Lebanon and the cypress trees of Mount Zion. I was exalted just as the palms in Cadiz (Spain) and as the roses in Jericho. I was exalted just as the beautiful olives on the plains and the plane trees that grow alongside the streams. Just as I gave forth the strong fragrance of cinnamon and the balsam tree, I also gave forth the sweet fragrance of the choicest myrrh.
sums and cuts The teacher has assigned the next problems to be done.
Ennis, who had gone to the yard Ennis had gone to the school urinal.
We can scut the whole hour. We have the next hour free.
catechism a series of questions and answers containing the summing up and the key principles of Catholicism.
the particular judgment This judgment occurs immediately following death; the Day of Final Judgment, the Last Judgment, occurs when Christ returns to earth and pronounces the final destiny for those who are still alive.
Emma The reference is to Emma Clery, the young girl to whom Stephen has written poems, much as Dante did to Beatrice.
hanged upon a gibbet a strange, seemingly vernacular description of the Crucifixion; perhaps Father Arnall is using the phrase to impress upon the boys the fact that Christ was executed "like a common criminal."
in a blue funk to be in a state of terror; in American slang, one could say that Father Arnall was trying to scare the boys out of their wits.
Saint Thomas Saint Thomas Aquinas; thirteenth-century monk, theologian, and philosopher. His works summarize all that is known about God by evidence of reasoning and faith and serve as the cornerstone of the Roman Catholic faith. Stephen develops his own aesthetic theory from the ideas of Aquinas and Aristotle.
venial sin a minor sin, committed without full understanding of its seriousness or without full consent of the will.
he repeated the act of contrition Stephen is repeating the traditional prayer of repentent sinners, vowing nevermore to sin.
his angel guardian Every baptized Roman Catholic has a personal guardian angel.
the ciborium the container for the consecrated wafers.
Corpus Domini nostri the Body of our Lord; the words spoken before serving the Host, or wafer, during communion.
In vitam eternam. Amen. Into eternal life. So be it.
Back to Top
Previous
Summary and Analysis Chapter II
Next
Summary and Analysis Chapter IV
Chapter III
* Buy this Lit Note
o
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (0822010577) cover image
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Original study guide for literature
Buy Book (US $5.99)
Buy PDF (US $3.99)
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man By James Joyce Summary and Analysis Chapter III
* Summary and Analysis
* Original Text
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Summary and Analysis Chapter II
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Summary and Analysis Chapter IV
Summary
In the days following Stephen's first sexual experience (Joyce refers to it as Stephen's "first violent sin"), he discovers that he craves food; his sexual appetite has seemingly whetted his appetite for meat and carrots and potatoes. His studies suddenly become either wholly unimportant — or else they take on new, shaming importance; for example, while completing a mathematical equation, Stephen is reminded that his sinful nature is increasingly multiplying.
Often Stephen feels slothful — lethargic, apathetic, and unable to pray. He feels that "a wave of vitality [has passed] out of him," taking with it his resistance to temptation. Although he knows that he is in danger of "eternal damnation," a "cold indifference" has seized him and prevents repentance and reparation.
Stephen feels contaminated by every kind of sin, but he continues to serve as the prefect of the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The statue of the Virgin, the symbol of the "refuge of sinners," does not humiliate Stephen; he finds pity and comfort in the words of the litanies that he says in her honor.
Stephen also continues his catechism classes, but now he begins to contemplate the technicalities of religious doctrine that pertain to his "violent sin." He analyzes the origin and the result of his present sinful status, and he realizes that his sin of lust has rapidly spread into the other "deadly sin" categories — anger, covetousness, pride, envy, gluttony, and sloth. Then, at the very moment when Stephen is convinced that he has a consummately sinful nature, and when he is questioning the spiritual reality of the sacrament of the eucharist, he hears the rector announce the beginning of a three-day spiritual retreat which will be held at Belvedere in honor of the school's patron saint, Francis Xavier. The announcement of the retreat "wither[s] up" Stephen's heart.
On the first day of the retreat, Stephen sits on the front bench of the chapel as Father Arnall begins his sermon on the "last things" that happen to people — "death, judgment, hell and heaven." The gravity of this Judgment Day sermon, taken from Ecclesiasticus 7:36, penetrates Stephen's heart, making him vividly imagine the judgment that he would receive for the sin of lust — if he were to die suddenly. Father Arnall emphasizes that one should examine one's conscience and repent one's sins while one still has the chance. Stephen earnestly considers his pitiful state and the enormity of his offense against the omnipotent personality of God. His guilt increases, making him feel as though every word of the sermon is spoken personally to him.
Later, Stephen's thoughts turn to Emma (the girl about whom he fantasizes), the "packet of pictures" he hid, and the "foul long letters" which he left in a place where he was certain that some unknown girl would find them and read them. He shamefully entreats the Blessed Virgin, who is less stern toward the sinner than God the Father, to understand his mistakes and have mercy on him — despite his terrible sins.
On the second day of the retreat, the sermon begins with these fearsome words from Isaiah 5:14: "Hell has enlarged its soul and opened its mouth without any limits." In other words, Hell has not yet gorged itself. Hell is still hungry — hungry for Stephen.
Stephen hears how God's once-beloved angel Lucifer, because of his pride, was hurled into the everlasting darkness of Hell by a vengeful God. Lucifer's sin was his refusal to serve God (non serviam). In order to fill the seats left vacant by Lucifer and his cohorts, God created Adam and Eve, but even they failed to obey His commands. Thus began the "inheritance" of mankind's sinful nature.
The retreat master reminds the boys that they were redeemed from Original Sin (their inherited sinful nature) by the death of Jesus Christ, who suffered crucifixion for the remission of the sins of the world. However, this reminder of God's supreme sacrifice of His son fails to comfort Stephen; instead, it causes him to grow increasingly remorseful as the speaker depicts ever more vividly the dark, burning punishments of Hell.
These graphic descriptions of Hell — its stench and its torments — are extremely painful for Stephen because the retreat master continually dwells on how the sinner will suffer through the senses — what the sinner will hear, what he will smell, what he will see, and the pain he will feel. Remember that despite Stephen's cold, rather contemptuous intellectuality, he has, since the beginning of this novel — ever since the moocow incident — perceived the world around him primarily in terms of his sensory awareness of it. Here, during Father Arnall's sermons, Stephen's deepest fears become frighteningly real. As he listens to the retreat master describe the crowded confinement of Hell, he can almost feel the bodies of the damned; as he imagines the smoky darkness of Hell, his eyes struggle to see; as he imagines the shrieking cacophony of Hell, his ears throb with pain; and as he imaginatively inhales the reeking inferno into which he will be cast for eternity because of his sins, the smell is overpowering.
But, Arnall emphasizes, the physical torture in Hell is only a part of eternal damnation; the psychological punishment will be as terrible as the physical punishment. He stresses that people who are consigned to Hell will have to endure the piercing, painful howls of the other damned sinners, as well as the jeers of the demons — all the while knowing that escape is impossible. Once a person is in Hell, there is no escape: he is there for eternity.
With his "legs shaking and the scalp of his head trembling as though it had been touched by ghostly fingers," Stephen leaves the chapel, horrified and guilty, fiercely aware of his need to be saved. Although he knows that he must make an immediate confession, he asks God to forgive his reluctance to do so in the college chapel because his shame is too great.
Later, after Father Arnall has discussed the physical existence of Hell in the first sermon and the physical and psychological torments in the second sermon, he begins his third sermon. Using Psalms 30:23 as an introduction, he describes the spiritual pain in Hell, focusing particularly on the poena damni, the pain of loss when one is removed from God's sight. Using bold, concrete imagery, he describes the cruel worm's (Satan's) "triple sting," the pain of conscience which causes the sinner to (1) remember his past pleasures with disgust, (2) see the "hideous malice" of the sin as God Himself sees it, and (3) realize that he deliberately chose not to repent and, therefore, must suffer damnation for eternity. The retreat master concludes by leading the congregation in an act of contrition.
Overwhelmed by the searing impact of the sermon, Stephen humbly returns to his room; he examines his conscience, and, one by one, he calculates the magnitude of his sins. Later, as he climbs into bed, his imagination conjures up cruel, grotesque creatures, crowding around him in filthy, foul-smelling surroundings, swishing their long tails.
Shaken, Stephen flings back the blankets, absolutely convinced that God has given him this ominous vision in order to enable him to see "the hell [which was being] reserved for his sins."
Stephen vomits profusely "in agony," prays to the Blessed Virgin for help, and begins wandering through the "slimy" streets of Dublin in search of a remote church where some unknown priest can hear his confession. At a chapel on Church Street, he finds an old, kindly Capuchin cleric who listens lackadaisically, gives him his penance, and tells him platitudinously to ask the Blessed Virgin for help in overcoming temptation.
Relieved and elated, Stephen leaves the chapel in a state of grace. Next morning, he takes Holy Communion during Mass and vows to begin a new life of purity and sanctity.
Analysis
Having committed the "violent" sin of lust, Stephen fears that he has initiated a chain reaction, what Thomas Aquinas called the Seven Deadly Sins. Stephen is aware of a "pride in himself," a pride in the "greatness" of his sin, a "covetousness in using money" to buy sexual favors from prostitutes, an "envy" of those whose vices are even more serious than his own, anger toward his innocent classmates, a "gluttonous enjoyment of his food," and a "spiritual and bodily sloth" which seems to have drained his whole being.
This obsession with sin causes Stephen to conjure up a series of "if's" and "why's" pertaining to religion. He tries to demystify his faith, challenge its validity, and perhaps find absolution through a religious technicality. Unhappily, the announcement of the retreat causes him to feel the full weight of his sin. He approaches the retreat experience with a "withered" heart and a feeling of dread.
The first and the briefest of the retreat sermons urges the boys to remember God's purpose for creating mankind; afterward, they should consider the present condition of their souls and then determine their fates if they were suddenly to die and have to face Divine Judgment. Would they go to Heaven? Or to Hell?
Clearly, this challenge of purity is difficult for a sixteen-year-old boy who enjoys sex and seeks out prostitutes as often as he can afford to do so; ironically, Stephen is viewed by the priests and the other boys as one of the "elder boys," a boy whose model behavior should be emulated by the younger boys. Throughout the first sermon, Stephen feels as though his spiritual life is passing before him, and, here, Joyce graphically records the details of Stephen's vivid imagination pertaining to his death and judgment. Stephen feels particularly agonized by Father Arnall's description of a lost soul because Stephen believes that he is already a lost soul. He believes that the sermon is delivered specifically to him — that he is being specifically warned about his sins: "Every word for him!"
At this point, Stephen begins to respond to life more intensely than ever in terms of his basic physical senses. Even after the sermon, Stephen continues to feel caged and tortured with guilt. He hears the "words of doom cried by the angel" and is mocked by the sound of a girl's laughter as he walks home from the retreat. In his mind, he sees the desecrated image of Emma, upon whose "innocence" he has "trampled"; the "sordid details of his orgies stank under his very nostrils." Next, he remembers touching the "sootcoated packet of pictures" and placing the "foul long letters" where a young girl can find them. Finally, he tastes tears on his lips as he imagines kissing the sleeve of the Blessed Virgin, imploring her to intervene and save his soul from eternal damnation.
Ellman's biography of Joyce suggests that there are parallels in Joyce's life with certain key features of this chapter. For example, Joyce's own sexual initiation occurred at a time when he himself was serving as prefect for the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin; later, Joyce possessed a perverse longing to "adore and desecrate" the one love of his life, Nora Barnacle. Joyce also wrote a series of "foul long letters" to Nora during their brief separation in 1909, but despite Nora's efforts to destroy these letters, Joyce hid some of them away, hoping that someday others might read them. Many people have read them; the letters offer keen insights and explanations for Joyce's literary treatment of women.
The second sermon of the retreat begins with an examination of the origin of sin — specifically, Lucifer's prideful refusal to serve God and obey His will. A description of Adam and Eve's fall from grace follows, and Christ's sacrifice is also detailed. The purpose of this spiritual exercise is to create the most terrifying vision imaginable of the physical torments of Hell and infuse the boys with anguished feelings of guilt and fear.
The priest intends to "put the fear of God" into these potentially wayward young boys. The "nature of that abode of the damned," as Joyce portrays it, dramatically reveals the underpinnings of Dante's Inferno. This coincidence is not surprising because Joyce revered Dante's masterpiece almost as much as he did the Bible; he considered Dante's works to be "spiritual food." Nonetheless, this particular Hell is very definitely a realm of Joyce's own design, wherein his fears of restriction and darkness are merged with residual anxieties from his early experiences with the Roman Catholic Church.
Joyce's personal hell is revealed through his emphasis on sensory details in this chapter. His poor vision required that he rely on his remaining senses; thus he emphasizes the stench and the taste of the air of Hell, filled with the toxins of "rotting human fungus," the interminable screams of the anguished sinners, and the "unspeakable fury" of the flames as they devour human flesh.
Joyce also understands the internal torment of the "company of the damned" and describes its lowly stature with vivid animal imagery: "a cock, a monkey and a serpent . . . hateful and hurtful beasts." This animal imagery, as well as the "goatish" beasts which haunt Stephen's dreams, is derived from our enormous stock of Western mythical lore and symbols.
The final sermon of the retreat climaxes in a series of questions from the "voices of conscience": "Why did you sin? . . . Why did you not give up . . . that impure habit? . . . Why did you not . . . repent of your evils ways?" Here, Stephen suffers a "spasm of religious terror" and is obsessed with a burning need to confess and begin a dedicated reparation of his life.
During the third sermon, Stephen contemplates the torment of a life without God. As the retreat master focuses on the darkness of an eternity removed from God's divine presence, Stephen imagines himself bearing the full burden of his sins until the end of time. Finally as the retreat master examines the concept of eternity in a vast metaphor and concludes by discussing the grandeur of God, Stephen's "brain reel[s] dizzily" as he tries to fathom the enormous everlastingness of eternity.
During the past three days, Stephen has suffered terribly as he emotionally conjured up the burning torments of Hell. He has undergone physical anguish, as well as spiritual and imaginative Hell; his has been a journey that parallels the period of testing common to most mythical heroes. The mythical hero's descent into Hell is detailed in Dante's Inferno, and Daedalus, Stephen's mythical namesake, disobeyed orders from the powerful King Minos and was cast into the labyrinth of his own design, imprisoned with the monstrous Minotaur. Similarly, Stephen, through his disobedience to God's will, has been cast into a loathsome hell of his own imagination, where he suffers restriction and is threatened by beasts within his soul.
Stephen's repentance and humility are closely paralleled with the biblical story of the disobedient Jonah, who was confined in the belly of a whale. After three days and a humble repentance, Jonah was cast out of the whale. This duration of three days also carries the symbolic significance of the three days during which Christ descended into the depths of Hell and returned with the keys of Hell and Death; thus he atoned for man's sins and became his Redeemer. Stephen's three-day retreat enables him to imaginatively experience Hell, repent his sins, and fly free (like Daedalus) from damnation, through sincere and contrite confession.
It is worth noting that although the chapter concludes with Stephen's confession and rededication to a life without sin, the Capuchin priest was chosen by Stephen because he believed that the Capuchin would be more merciful in his directives than Stephen's own priest would have been at Belvedere College. Note, too, that Stephen shows his preference for the benignity of Mary, rather than confront the stern justice of an omnipotent male God. Even the act of confessing to a Capuchin priest ("capuchin" also means a hooded cloak worn by women), rather than a possibly "tough" priest at Belvedere College, indicates Stephen's growing tendency toward creating a softer, more beautiful world to exist in, rather than enduring the harsh, more realistic one.
Glossary
his scribbler his notebook.
Shelley's fragment the reference is to Shelley's unfinished poem "To the Moon."
sinned mortally To commit a mortal sin, one must be fully aware that a sin is being committed; knowingly and willingly acting against the laws of God.
grace the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God; the condition of being in God's favor.
surd an irrational number; the root of an integer.
Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary a religious association formed by the Jesuit order and based on Loyola's devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Stephen is the administrative leader (prefect) of this organization, which performs charitable works and meets on Saturday mornings for prayers in honor of the Virgin Mary.
Quasi cedrus exalta sum . . . odoris. I was exalted just as the cedars of Lebanon and the cypress trees of Mount Zion. I was exalted just as the palms in Cadiz (Spain) and as the roses in Jericho. I was exalted just as the beautiful olives on the plains and the plane trees that grow alongside the streams. Just as I gave forth the strong fragrance of cinnamon and the balsam tree, I also gave forth the sweet fragrance of the choicest myrrh.
sums and cuts The teacher has assigned the next problems to be done.
Ennis, who had gone to the yard Ennis had gone to the school urinal.
We can scut the whole hour. We have the next hour free.
catechism a series of questions and answers containing the summing up and the key principles of Catholicism.
the particular judgment This judgment occurs immediately following death; the Day of Final Judgment, the Last Judgment, occurs when Christ returns to earth and pronounces the final destiny for those who are still alive.
Emma The reference is to Emma Clery, the young girl to whom Stephen has written poems, much as Dante did to Beatrice.
hanged upon a gibbet a strange, seemingly vernacular description of the Crucifixion; perhaps Father Arnall is using the phrase to impress upon the boys the fact that Christ was executed "like a common criminal."
in a blue funk to be in a state of terror; in American slang, one could say that Father Arnall was trying to scare the boys out of their wits.
Saint Thomas Saint Thomas Aquinas; thirteenth-century monk, theologian, and philosopher. His works summarize all that is known about God by evidence of reasoning and faith and serve as the cornerstone of the Roman Catholic faith. Stephen develops his own aesthetic theory from the ideas of Aquinas and Aristotle.
venial sin a minor sin, committed without full understanding of its seriousness or without full consent of the will.
he repeated the act of contrition Stephen is repeating the traditional prayer of repentent sinners, vowing nevermore to sin.
his angel guardian Every baptized Roman Catholic has a personal guardian angel.
the ciborium the container for the consecrated wafers.
Corpus Domini nostri the Body of our Lord; the words spoken before serving the Host, or wafer, during communion.
In vitam eternam. Amen. Into eternal life. So be it.
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Summary and Analysis Chapter II
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Summary and Analysis Chapter IV
Chapter II
Summary
The chapter opens with Stephen at home; he is spending the summer with his family, who have moved from Bray to Blackrock, about five miles southeast of Dublin. Stephen enjoys being with his father and his great-uncle, Uncle Charles. He begins each day observing Uncle Charles as the old man in his tall hat, humming Irish tunes, leaves the house, smoking his foul-smelling "black twist" of tobacco and making ready to perform his morning defecation ritual in the "arbour" (the outhouse).
After the ritual, Uncle Charles and Stephen take their usual daily walk through the town marketplace; their next stop is the park, where they meet, as usual, Mike Flynn, an old friend of Stephen's father's; Mike is training Stephen to be a runner. Flynn, according to Stephen's father, has put "some of the best runners of modern times through his hands." Stephen has noticed Mike's "flabby stubblecovered face . . . and long stained fingers through which he roll[ed] his cigarette"; he doubts his father's exaggerated endorsement of Mike's qualifications.
Returning from his workout, Stephen accompanies Uncle Charles to the chapel, where the old man prays. Stephen doesn't understand his uncle's serious piety and wonders why his uncle is praying so fervently.
On weekends, Stephen takes long walks with his father and Uncle Charles, listening patiently to family stories and their conversations about Irish politics. Although Stephen fails to understand the meanings of some of their grown-up words, he has begun to find pleasure in the adventurous and romantic language of The Count of Monte Cristo. Reading the novel, he is transformed into the dark and dashing lover of the beautiful and modest Mercedes; with his friend Aubrey Mills, Stephen reenacts numerous battles and deeds of daring which help satisfy his boyhood appetite for a life of romance and adventure.
At the close of summer, Stephen learns that he will not be returning to Clongowes Wood College because of his father's mounting debts. Shortly thereafter, Stephen and his family move to a "cheerless house" in Dublin; there, Stephen realizes that his father is a financial failure. He becomes self-conscious and bitter, embarrassed by the squalid "change of fortune" which painfully affects his life.
In order to escape his unhappiness, Stephen immerses himself in fantasies of love and romance. Thoughts of the beautiful Mercedes merge with his loving memories of a certain girl; he attempts to calm his young storm of emotions by writing a poem to his beloved, "To E — C — ." In an artistic re-creation of a meeting with this girl, Stephen composes a poem to her in romantic, Byronesque language. Afterward, he yearns even more for the girl, puzzling over his undefined ache for satisfying physical love — which, of course, he has not yet experienced.
When Stephen learns that his father has arranged for him to attend Belvedere College, a prestigious Jesuit day school, he is humiliated to learn that his father discussed the Clongowes pandying incident with Father Conmee and with Father Dolan. To Stephen's shame and dismay, they all "had a hearty laugh together" over Stephen's anguished confrontation with Father Conmee.
The next scene opens about two and a half years later. Stephen is probably fourteen years old, a confident young man at Belvedere, preparing to go onstage in the school play. During his years at Belvedere, Stephen has distinguished himself as an accomplished essay writer, actor, and model student.
Listening for his cue, Stephen waits outside the theater and is confronted by two classmates, Heron and Wallis, who propose a schoolboy prank. They mock Stephen's seriousness as a "model youth" and tease him about a girl who has shown interest in Stephen's upcoming performance in the play. Stephen answers their taunts irreverently; he rotely recites the Confiteor (the Roman Catholic prayer said during Mass for the confession of sin), and he recalls an earlier incident when Heron taunted him and initiated a similar response.
Stephen remembers his first year at Belvedere; it was a time when he felt terribly insecure about his home life and his future. He had begun to take pride in the success of his essay writing when Mr. Tate, the English teacher, discussed one of Stephen's essays, saying that it contained heresy. Strangely, Stephen felt a "vague . . . malignant joy" at being singled out by Mr. Tate. Afterward, Heron and two other troublesome classmates, apparently jealous of Stephen, confronted him and instigated a fight; during the incident, Stephen was forced to identify Cardinal Newman as his favorite prose writer and Byron as his favorite poet. The bullies — Heron, Boland, and Nash — all preferred Tennyson to the "heretical and immoral" Byron, and they attempted to force Stephen to "admit that Byron was no good" by beating Stephen until he finally freed himself. In spite of everything, though, Stephen remembers following after them, half-blinded by tears.
The memory is still vivid, but Stephen no longer bears the boys any malice; Stephen's former anger has been erased by his adolescent love for the young girl who has come to see him in the play. Her admiration for him far outweighs the boys' taunts.
Stephen's role in the play is that of a "farcical pedagogue," and he is somewhat embarrassed when he thinks about the girl viewing his schoolboy performance; as a result, after he finishes his lines, he rushes off the stage, past the audience and his family. He is confused, floundering in a sea of "wounded pride . . . fallen hope . . . and baffled desire."
We next see Stephen traveling with his father on a train toward Cork, where Simon plans to sell the remainder of his property at auction. Bored and disinterested during the train ride, Stephen observes his father — drinking from a flask and crying, on occasion, as he reminisces; he broodingly tells Stephen about old times and lost friends. Arriving at Simon's alma mater, Queen's College, Stephen watches as a porter humors his father, who continues his tiresome, endless tales about times past.
When at last they arrive at the anatomy theater, where Simon once studied as a medical student, Simon and the porter search for Simon's desk. Stephen lingers behind momentarily and is stunned to look down and see the word Foetus carved deeply into a desktop. Simon is describing his college days, but Stephen hears only words. Phantoms stand around him, laughing bawdily. Suddenly, he realizes that those young men long ago shared the "brutish . . . malady" of dark thoughts about sex that trouble Stephen. Until now, Stephen has believed that his preoccupation with sex is unique; now, these young men who carved the word Foetus into a desk during an anatomy lesson are linked with Stephen. He is not alone in imagining all sorts of dark fantasies.
Meanwhile, Simon is unaware of his son's anguish; he continues talking about old friends and gives Stephen scrap ends of advice. For example, he tells Stephen to always behave like a gentleman and to associate with students who have gentlemanly ways — the ability to sing songs, tell stories, and excel in athletics. The shallowness of Simon's advice and his admission that he doesn't really know how to be a father leaves Stephen feeling isolated, angry, and unsympathetic to his father's melodramatic and sentimental murmurings.
Stephen tries to escape from his feelings of alienation, but he can recall only memories of childhood experiences when he felt alienated, lonely, and restless, as he does now. Meanwhile, Simon is still unaware of his son's sensitive turmoil, and he humiliates him when he and Stephen make a round of the local pubs.
Stephen's mind whirls, and his emotions intensify as he hears about his father's (and even his grandfather's) youthful flirtations and drunken revelries. Slowly, Stephen begins to emotionally detach himself from the pub crowd and resign himself to the fact that "his childhood was dead or lost and with it his soul."
The next scene finds Stephen and his family waiting to claim the prize money for Stephen's winning essay. Excited at having so much money so suddenly, Stephen embarks on a lavish spending spree which includes dinners, gifts, and some redecoration of the Dedalus home. His elation in spending the prize money is surpassed only by his later feelings of shame as he realizes his foolishness in trying to "build a breakwater of order and elegance against the sordid tide of life."
Frustrated and disillusioned, Stephen dissociates himself from his family each evening. No longer a boy, Stephen wanders through the "dark slimy streets" of Dublin, trying to "appease the fierce longings of his heart," and, one night, feeling like a "baffled prowling beast," he arrives at the heart of Dublin's brothel district. Standing in a darkened doorway is a young, pink-gowned prostitute who invites Stephen to her room. It is here that Stephen is seduced into his first sexual experience; he "surrender[s] himself to her, body and mind . . ."
Analysis
Chapter II focuses on the end of Stephen's childhood and the beginning of his development as a young man. After his victory with the rector at Clongowes, Stephen begins to enjoy a relatively carefree summer with his family and friends at Blackrock. His happiness is soon shattered, however, by his family's financial ruin and the emotional confusion of early adolescence. Early in the chapter, we see that he still enjoys childhood's physical activities — playing, running, and enacting "adventures"; by the end of the chapter, he will have grown increasingly sullen as he learns more about the problems of the adult world. And he will have experienced sex with a prostitute.
This chapter, recording Stephen's emotions and thoughts from approximately eleven through fourteen, captures in detail the oscillating mood swings of an adolescent. Although this stage of development is difficult for any young person, Stephen's problems seem more intense — at least to him — because of his exaggerated sense of isolation, his romantic idealism, and his instinctive curiosity about all aspects of life.
On the verge of maturity, Stephen seeks an answer to the matter of manhood: what defines a man? His only role model is his pathetic father, Simon Dedalus. Simon tries to appear capable of caring for his family, but Stephen realizes that his father is a careless wastrel, responsible only for his family's increasing poverty.
The family's move to a cheerless, foggy section of Dublin causes Stephen painful disappointment and humiliation. Joyce understands the misery which Stephen suffers. He graphically describes Stephen's first night in the Dedaluses' new home, where "the parlor fire would not draw" and the "half furnished uncarpeted room" was bathed in a "weak light over the boarded floor." Both the "gloomy foggy city" and the "bare cheerless house" make Stephen's "heart heavy" with the "intuition and foreknowledge" that it is his father who is responsible for the decline. To Stephen, the future seems hopeless. He knows that he is a bright young man and that he is possibly talented, but how does one rise above a future destined for the poor house?
Stephen's only escape from these harsh new surroundings is in wandering Dublin's streets and immersing himself in romantic reveries and fantasies. He is fascinated by his new freedom and the strange wildness of the city, but he is confused by his new and sudden arousals of sexual desire. The surging of sexual lust disturbs him because it seemingly conflicts with his chaste ideal of romantic love. He attempts to re-create a satisfactory solution in his verse-inspired daydream of the elusive E — C — , but fails. Stephen is a sexually maturing adolescent — confused, unhappy, and torn with strong feeling of restless alienation.
In addition to developing the theme of a young artist's feelings of alienation, Joyce also stresses the theme of betrayal — particularly in Stephen's relationship with his father. Simon Dedalus, although he fails to meet his family's financial needs, is extremely concerned with providing a quality education for his children. Stephen's father disappoints Stephen, however, because Simon and the other men laugh about Stephen's confrontation with Father Conmee — a triumphant moment in Stephen's young life, not something to have a "hearty laugh" about. Stephen feels dishonored and patronized by his elders. He particularly takes his father's betrayal to heart, and, years later, he will discover that he cannot forgive his father when Simon needs his son's sympathy and emotional support.
Although Joyce reveals only a few details about Stephen's first two years at Belvedere, we can assume that Stephen devoted much of his time to overcompensating academically in order to hide his embarrassment about his family's poverty. We know that at Belvedere, Stephen was praised for his writing ability and that he took secret pride in shocking his readers. We also know that he was a school leader and earned an important role in the school play. Nevertheless, in spite of all his accomplishments, Stephen remains tormented by his "soul's incurable loneliness," and he becomes increasingly desperate to find an outlet for his deeply troubling, restless emotions.
In the midst of his turmoil, Stephen accompanies his father when Simon must oversee the distasteful task of liquidating the remainder of the family estate. When Stephen and Simon visit Queen's College, Simon attempts to impress his son with old memories of his Alma Mater, but Stephen is unable to share any kind of emotional empathy. When he sees the word Foetus carved deeply on a desk top, he realizes, with shocked revulsion, that students of another generation experienced the same kind of dark thoughts that trouble him today.
Later, Stephen is repulsed by his father's behavior in one of the neighborhood bars. Simon is determined to make a vulgar display of his long-gone, swashbuckling virility. Stephen wonders if he himself will inherit his father's depravity; he fears that the only hope for any normalcy in his life lies in the possibility of foster parentage. This pathos of a father-son relationship during the visit to Cork initiates Stephen's comment that paternity is little more than a "legal fiction."
The visit to Cork also reveals the irony in Joyce's use of the Daedalus myth. The mythical Daedalus, unlike Simon, was a capable, devoted father to his son, Icarus, and was genuinely concerned about the boy's future. In contrast, Simon has always rebelled against most of his paternal responsibilities, and, as a result, he has remained superficial and ineffectual in his fatherly role. Daedalus ultimately attempted to impart valuable advice regarding the ways of the world to his son, but Simon has failed to do this. His selfish sentimentality has driven Stephen further into his own moral and emotional morass.
The chapter concludes as Stephen, having failed to form a bond with his father, succumbs to sex: he will find warmth and comfort by giving himself over to the sexual emotions which have been consuming him. Although he longs to escape the filth and poverty of Dublin and launch out into a pursuit of pure truth, beauty, and love, his quest takes a detour in a short-lived moment of physical gratification in the welcoming, seductive arms of a young Dublin prostitute.
This pink-clad young woman provides Stephen with his first sexual experience, and she also symbolically resolves several of Stephen's emotional conflicts in regard to women. Thus far, women have been either saints, martyrs, or sinners to Stephen. Repeatedly Stephen has had to "apologise . . . admit . . . [and] confess" that he is attracted to women; these words imply that there is something wrong with his being attracted to women. In his early relationships with women, he has always felt suffocated with unresolved guilt, and, as a result, he has developed an iron-like repression of his natural sexual impulses. This guilt about his feeling attracted to women has been compounded by his personal feelings about his mother, Dante, the Blessed Virgin, and Eileen. The Dublin prostitute embodies characteristics of all these women: she is youthful in appearance (she wears a pink dress and has a doll by the bed), yet she is confident and maternal (she nurtures him firmly and calms his fears by calling him a "little rascal"), and, as a result, Stephen, the young artist, worships her physically and spiritually during his immersion in sex, an act which is considered by some people to be the ultimate act of creation.
Glossary
black twist coarse, black tobacco leaves twisted together.
outhouse outdoor toilet.
did messages delivered messages.
grandnephew great-nephew; Uncle Charles is Stephen's great-uncle.
took their constitutional They regularly took a walk for health's sake.
Munster Simon Dedalus' family home is in Cork, county of Munster, which was traditionally a political hotbed of deep national pride.
The Count of Monte Cristo a nineteenth-century novel about a handsome hero, Edmond Dantes, who is about to be married to his beautiful and beloved Mercedes when he is falsely accused of treason and imprisoned for fourteen years. He arranges a highly unlikely but melodramatically thrilling escape; then he unearths a treasure which finances several ingenious schemes of revenge on the men responsible for his imprisonment. The multiple allusions to Mercedes, Marseilles, sunny trellises, and moonlit gardens all refer to this novel.
Madam, I never eat muscatel grapes. Dantes (the Count of Monte Cristo) makes this statement to Mercedes; her son remarks that Dantes seems to have an Oriental code of honor — that is, he cannot eat or drink whatever is offered to him in his enemy's house. Because Mercedes married Dantes' rival, Fernand Mondego (alias Count de Morcerf), her house is technically the house of an enemy.
seawrack seaweed that has been cast up on shore.
gingernuts gingerbread.
railway carriage railway car.
quays piers lying alongside or projecting into the water for loading or unloading ships.
in search of Mercedes The reference is to Edmond Dantes' beloved, the heroine of The Count of Monte Cristo.
his stone of coal Irish unit of weight; 14 lbs.
the last tram Trams were horse-drawn streetcars.
a new emerald exercise The reference is to unlined notebooks, similar to today's bluebooks.
A.M.D.G. Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God), the motto of the Jesuit order; Stephen and his fellow students were instructed to place the initials A.M.D.G. at the tops of all their school exercises and essays.
his father's second moiety notices second half of the notices sent out in bankruptcy proceedings.
L.D.S. Laus Deo Semper (Praise to God Always), another motto of the Jesuits; often placed at the top of the first page of a school exercise.
provincial of the order head of a religious order in a province.
the christian brothers The reference is to Dublin's Christian Brothers' School, an inexpensive day school for boys.
gamecocks birds bred and especially fed for cock fighting.
Maurice Stephen's brother.
the Whitsuntide play refers to a play that is part of a ceremony commemorating Pentecost (the seventh Sunday after Easter).
stewards ushers.
the Blessed Sacrament the consecrated bread, or wafer.
Indian clubs bottle-shaped clubs used in gymnastics.
singlets undershirts.
Heron salaamed Heron bent forward, in a low bow, his right palm on his forehead; this is an Arabic and Indian gesture of respect.
doesn't go to bazaars Stephen doesn't go to large shops or flea markets selling unusually colorful and cheap, exotic items.
She's ripping, isn't she? She's first-rate, splendid.
. . . that's one sure five That's for sure; a top mark in billiards, using only one stroke.
the Confiteor I confess; a formalized prayer said at the beginning of the Roman Catholic Mass.
had not forgotten a whit He hadn't forgotten the tiniest detail about the incident.
in a great bake another way of saying that someone is angry, or "hot under the collar."
his bally old play "bally" is a euphemism for "bloody," which has no equivalent in American English; a "bloody shame" could roughly be translated as a "damned shame."
They drove in a jingle. A jingle is a covered, two-wheeled Irish vehicle.
the boy who could sing a come-all-you The boy could sing popular pub songs.
drisheens a traditional Irish dish made of 1 pt. sheep's blood, 1 pt. milk, 1/2 pt. water, 1/2 pt. chopped mutton suet, 1 C. bread crumbs, salt, pepper, pinch of tansy, thyme leaves. The mixture is formed into a thick roll, tied tightly, and steamed for an hour. Good hot or chilled.
the anatomy theatre the room where anatomy was taught; usually a large room with seats in tiers.
legend Here, the word means a carved inscription or caption.
Ay bedad! Irish for "by God!"
some maneens like myself "maneens" is a Irish diminutive of men; Simon is being overly humble, a bit self-deprecating here in order to be well-liked.
slim jim long strips of candy.
the rector in a black and gold cope A "cope" is a form of "cloak"; it is long and is worn in processions.
beggars who importuned him for a lob beggars asking for only a small coin.
he was only a Dublin jakeen a snooty, lower-class Dubliner.
Tempora mutantur nos et mutamur in illis . . . Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. The times change us and we change in them . . . the times change and we change in them.
a fierce old fireeater A "fireeater" is a person who likes to argue and fight.
the quarter of the jews This is a misleading phrase. Stephen has actually wandered into the brothel district of Dublin.
Chapter I
Summary
When the novel opens, we are in the mind of a child; fragmented lines from a nursery story are intertwined with sensations and associations of feeling, touching, hearing, and smelling. Joyce takes us inside the mind of a child in order to show us how a child records and responds to the world around him. By carefully choosing language and syntax, Joyce enables us to share what is possibly the earliest childhood memory of the novel's hero — Stephen Dedalus.
Stephen is only three years old when he begins to identify himself with the physical world, with members of his family, and with the sensual world of language; he remembers his father's hairy face, his mother's sweet smell, the uncomfortable experience of wetting the bed, and certain special and fanciful words, such as "baby tuckoo" and "moocow." It was a good time, he says, meaning that he felt safe and secure from harm. Significantly, his favorite song is about wild roses — not tamed, cultivated roses, but wild roses. His taste for rebellion and freedom has already budded.
Stephen's next memory occurs about three years later, when he attempts to compete athletically with a group of rowdy schoolmates at Clongowes Wood College, the Jesuit boarding school which he attends. By comparison with the other boys, Stephen is small and weak, and suffers from poor vision and painful homesickness. During these miserable days, he comforts himself with thoughts of home. As he thinks about these things, it is clear that Stephen is a lonely, sensitive young boy, one who loves learning and relies on the strength he receives from saying his evening prayers.
Stephen's first crisis at Clongowes occurs when Wells, a bullying classmate, pushes Stephen into the square ditch (a cesspool), causing him to be taken to the school infirmary to recover from a fever. While there, Stephen meets Athy, the likeable son of a racehorse owner; Athy confides to Stephen that he too has an unusual name. While Stephen is in the infirmary, he also meets the somewhat sad but compassionate cleric Brother Michael, who cares for sick boys and makes them feel less isolated by reading them the news in the daily paper.
Although Stephen feels depressed by his illness, he comforts himself by melodramatically imagining the beauty of his own burial ceremony and Wells' great remorse for having caused Stephen's unfortunate death. Then Stephen falls into a fitful sleep; he is lulled by "waves" of light, the sounds of imaginary sea waves, and the words which Brother Michael is reading about the death of Charles Stewart Parnell, the young, romantic Irish hero.
Parnell's death becomes more significant in the following scene, when Stephen returns home to celebrate Christmas. At the Christmas dinner are Stephen's parents (Mary and Simon), John Casey (a friend of Simon's), Stephen's greatuncle Charles, and Stephen's old nurse, Dante Riordan. Stephen is particularly excited because for the first time in his life, he is sitting at the table with the adults.
The joy of the occasion is soon interrupted, however, by an argument about the Catholic Church's role in politics and its attitude toward the followers of the late Irish Nationalist, Charles Stewart Parnell.
Casey, a staunch supporter of Parnell's cause, defends Parnell against the injustices committed against him and his cause by the Irish people and by the Catholic Church. According to Casey, the Church hounded Parnell into his grave. The argument naturally includes mention of Parnell's highly publicized love affair with a married woman, Kitty O'Shea, and Dante Riordan vehemently defends the Church's censure of Parnell's involvement with Kitty. Casey says that because the Church interfered with secular matters, it thereby ended a political career which had seemed to promise Home Rule for Ireland.
The argument escalates with an exchange of insults and concludes with Dante's triumphantly shouting, "We crushed him [Parnell] to death!" She slams the door, leaving Simon and Casey weeping over the loss of their beloved hero.
The next scene opens with Stephen back at Clongowes, overhearing a conversation about the punishment awaiting some students who stole some altar wine from the sacristy. Thinking about the dark, silent sacristy and sacred things in general, Stephen suddenly envisions Eileen Vance, a young girl with hands like ivory, so smooth that they remind him of two worshipful phrases that he repeats during the Litany to the Blessed Virgin — "Tower of Ivory" and "House of Gold." Suddenly, Stephen's musings are interrupted by a call to class.
During Father Arnall's Latin lesson, Father Dolan, the prefect of studies, who wields the menacing pandybat in search of "lazy idle little loafers," appears. Dolan notices that Fleming and Stephen are not doing their lessons. After disciplining Fleming, Dolan approaches Stephen, who explains that he has been excused temporarily from his assignments because he broke his glasses.
Refusing to believe that Stephen broke them accidentally, the cynical, sadistic Dolan commands the boy to put out his hands for "pandying." This punishment, according to Dolan, is demanded for idleness and schoolboy tricks. Afterward, Stephen feels humiliated and angered by the unjust cruelty. His classmates are angered too; they believe that Stephen should report the prefect's injustice to the rector of the school.
Stephen briefly considers the consequences of such a bold action; then he sets out, following the winding corridors that lead to "the castle." He confronts the rector with the truth about the broken glasses, and, to Stephen's amazement, the rector, Father Conmee, is both sympathetic and kind; he promises to resolve the situation with Father Dolan on Stephen's behalf. Comforted and exhilarated by the results of the meeting, Stephen rushes from the gloomy corridors of the castle to be greeted by his classmates as a leader and a hero. They lock hands and lift him heavenward. Metaphorically, Stephen is flying, momentarily free of fear and constraint.
Analysis
At the beginning of the novel, we meet Stephen at the moment when he experiences his first essential awareness of the world around him. He is "baby tuckoo," the center of the universe, the one to whom stories are told and songs are sung. We perceive the world exactly as Stephen does — through sounds, smells, and sensations — all structured by a catalogue of comparisons which introduce the novel's good/bad, cold/hot, light/dark image motifs.
Clearly, even at an early age, Stephen prefers his mother to his father, and he is unconsciously aware of his nurse Dante's political and religious ideologies. He also learns, because of the "Pull out his eyes, Apologise" refrain, that any sudden, natural (spontaneous, artistic) expression of emotion — such as his declaration that he is going to marry Eileen (a little Protestant girl) — will result in swift moral retribution from the stern and practical members of his family. Later, of course, society's censures will parallel Stephen's family's early condemnation of his spontaneous outbursts of emotion and artistic expression.
Stephen's overly sensitive reactions to this censoring incident is proof to us that Stephen is "different." He feels keenly guilty without understanding why; later in life, he will suffer other moments of agonizing, confusing guilt.
The next scene, at Clongowes, focuses on Stephen's growing sense of isolation. Joyce's imagery in this passage — "swarming . . . strong cries . . . pale and chilly . . . thud . . . [and] greasy . . . " — indicates Stephen's general discomfort in his new surroundings. The use of the term "heavy bird," describing the low-flying, ponderous football, introduces bird imagery, imagery which will pervade the novel; here, it is used to identify the mythical escape theme which unifies the novel. Young Dedalus (like his Greek namesake, Daedalus) sees himself in a hostile environment from which, at least for the moment, he is unlikely to escape, although he would like to. Similarly, Stephen (the name of the first Christian martyr) suffers ridicule because of the uniqueness of his name; he is mercilessly questioned about his name by a bullying classmate, Nasty Roche.
Stephen's feelings of loneliness increase as he thinks of the day when his parents said good-bye to him, leaving him helpless in the threatening maze of his new life at Clongowes, where he felt "caught in the whirl of a scrimmage . . . fearful of the flashing eyes and muddy boots . . ." He soon realizes that he can momentarily escape the cruel realities of school life by contemplating things which he finds beautiful and, later, re-creating them with words.
For example, when reflecting on the lighted castle, Stephen remarks, "It was like something in a book." Here, Stephen reveals an early insight into the nature of creativity: he can translate something physical into artistic form. He not only begins to value words, but he also realizes that a particular arrangement of words makes the "nice sentences in Doctor Cornwell's Spelling Book" seem "like poetry." Stephen is already a young artist. This scene plays an important part in Joyce's revelation of Stephen's ultimate escape from a humdrum, priest-ridden life.
Suddenly, Stephen's artistic reverie is interrupted by real life, and we are reminded that although Stephen may be artistic, he is still a little boy. Stephen precisely describes the disgusting details of being pushed into the "square ditch" by a bullying classmate, and, here, in addition to our responding to Stephen's description of the sensations he felt, we should be aware that the sudden shock of the cold, slimy [cesspool] water is heavily symbolic; the submersion into the cesspool is Stephen's crude baptism into an offensive and cruel world, a world which differs greatly from the warm, secure world of home. The contrast between these two worlds, as well as the contrast between a series of hot/cold images (hot is natural and therefore good; cold is unfeeling and therefore bad), sets up another catalogue of comparisons and conflicts which Stephen must try to resolve as he attempts to find his place in the new world of Clongowes.
One of the conflicts which Stephen must face is the class competition between the scholastic teams of York and Lancaster, named after the British royal families involved in the War of the Roses (1445-85). Although the team badges, bearing either a red or white rose, represent two political factions, Stephen is not really concerned with winning the scholastic contest. He is concentrating on a world which might allow the limitless possibilities of "wild rose blossoms." Here, as he will do in future years, Stephen shuns the arbitrary restrictions governing religion and/or politics; he prefers, instead, to re-create (in his mind) a more tolerant world in which he can feel free to express his own wild, creative nature.
In addition to introducing us to Stephen's "differentness" and his feelings of alienation, Joyce is also introducing us to the matter of loyalty — in particular, the matter of Stephen's loyalty to his "mother country," Ireland. The character who most represents Ireland is Stephen's mother, Mary Dedalus, and Stephen's later anxieties about exile from Mother Ireland are foreshadowed here in his thoughts about being exiled from his loving mother while he is at boarding school. Feeling alien and alone, Stephen longs to be "at home [where he can] lay his head on his mother's lap." This longing troubles Stephen, and one night as he waits for sleep, he begins to imaginatively open and close the flaps of his ears, creating a Freudian-like sensation of a "train going into a tunnel." Freud's imagery, not unfamiliar to Joyce, is related not only to the experience of childbirth, but it also is related to the anxiety/release pattern which Stephen is experiencing because of his separation from home. These anxieties increase when Wells asks Stephen about kissing his mother. Once again, unable to understand his feelings of hot guilt, Stephen finds solace in the beauty and precision of words.
One day, while contemplating his loneliness, Stephen begins graphically to establish his own sense of identity by writing in his lesson book, "Stephen Dedalus / Class of Elements / Clongowes Wood College / Sallins / County Kildarel Ireland / Europe / The World / The Universe." This declaration of identity, illustrating his feelings of smallness in an immense world, marks the beginning of Stephen's attempt to consciously arrange the details of his life in his own manner, creatively to establish control, using the power of words in a pattern.
There exists, however, an area of conflict that Stephen cannot resolve by resorting to words. Religion is a problem for the young boy. He finds comfort in the repetition of memorized prayers; he is offered solace, but, at the same time, he is terrified by the notion of the eternal fires of eternal damnation. In the scene when Stephen recites his prayers before going to bed, Joyce conveys his own disdain for the rote memorizations encouraged by the Catholic Church. Such prayers, he believes, offer small hope for people who are deeply troubled; ultimately, such prayers are of little use in times of deep suffering. Stephen's own prayers seem to echo Joyce's observations; it is likely that the boy does not even understand the prayers that he is reciting. Note that his night tremblings seem to cease not after prayers, but after he reminds himself that he will not go to hell when he dies. However, Stephen is not truly comforted. He is still haunted by the terrible image of the prefect's descent down a dark, mythical corridor. Stephen's night fears dissolve only after he remembers that he will soon be going home for the holidays.
Feeling feverish after falling in the square ditch, Stephen realizes that a hand is on his forehead, and he begins to hallucinate that the cold, clammy hand and the beady little eyes that he sees are those of a rat. This preoccupation with rodents leads him to think about dead rats, dead things in general, and ultimately about his own death. In a vivid stream-of-consciousness passage, Stephen begins to contemplate the beauty of his own burial ceremony, fantasizing how greatly he will be missed.
Stephen's thoughts return to reality with the sudden appearance of Brother Michael, a kindly cleric charged with taking care of boys in the infirmary. The fact that Brother Michael is not a priest, like the other clerics in the school, makes Stephen wonder whether Brother Michael's kindness differentiates him from the others; Stephen wonders if Brother Michael is less holy because of his kindness.
While Stephen is in the infirmary, he meets Athy, the affable son of a racehorse owner; unlike Stephen, Athy seems to enjoy the uniqueness of having a "queer name." The infirmary can thus be considered a microcosm for those like Stephen. That is, Brother Michael, Athy, and Stephen are all isolated — either by duties, names, or physical illness — from the rest of the world of Clongowes.
Stephen contemplates his feelings of isolation as he falls asleep, lulled by pleasant memories of home and the sad sound of Brother Michael's voice as it reveals the news from the daily paper that Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish Nationalist leader, is dead. In his dream, Stephen's preoccupation with his illness and his fears of death merge with his thoughts about Parnell's death, and he begins to identify his own plight with that of the great, rejected Irish hero.
When the next scene opens, Stephen is well and happy; he is back home in Bray with his family, just as they are about to sit down for Christmas dinner. It is a momentous occasion; this meal will be Stephen's ceremonial initiation into the adult world. By being allowed to say grace before the meal, Stephen has joined the world of grownups, a world which he expects will be filled with the excitement, joy, and peace of the season. Ironically, this dinner, which is traditionally held to announce the joyous anniversary of the birth of the Savior of the World, becomes the scene of loud, vindictive, religious and political debate. Ultimately, its angry focus is not on a birth, but on the death of a man who seemingly was once Ireland's savior, Ireland's hope for independence from England, Ireland's best hope for Home Rule.
In a sense, this traumatic experience causes Stephen to confront some of the disappointing truths about the adult members of his household. Dante, his old nurse and governess, a woman whom he has loved as if she were an aunt, is rigid and cruel as she loudly defends her faith and the Church's interference with matters of the state. Interestingly, this scene is based on an actual occurrence in the Joyce household. Dante Conway (the Joyce children's governess) and a Mr. John Kelley (a friend of Joyce's father who had been imprisoned for giving public speeches in defense of Parnell) actually did have a loud, angry argument during a Christmas dinner when Joyce was a boy. The vicious screaming ingrained itself so deeply in Joyce's memory that he was able to re-create its strong, minute details here. As a result of the argument, Stephen realizes that the pursuit of freedom usually includes martyrdom — a situation enunciated by Joyce himself, a belief that Ireland would always destroy her heroes.
This emotionally traumatic Christmas dinner, the climax of Chapter I, marks the beginning of Stephen's loss of innocence. Increasingly, Stephen will begin to view the world with more cynicism and apathy, and before long, he will begin to expect disillusionment in areas of life which he once held sacred. Such is the case when he returns to school and the other children seem to be "smaller and farther away" than they did before. He listens to the fears of his classmates as they discuss the fate of the boys accused of stealing wine from the sacristy, but the details of the sacrilege no longer seem to shock him. Instead, Stephen tries to make sense of his new perspective by relying on the familiar rhythms of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. For the first time, he begins to examine the actual meaning of the words which he has routinely, unthinkingly, repeated for years. He begins to understand the words not so much for their piety, but for their beauty as art.
In contrast to Stephen's discovering the beauty of the words in the Litany, Joyce juxtaposes the unfair, cruel reality of the Catholic Church, represented by Father Dolan. In careful detail, Joyce re-creates the sound and the motion of Father Dolan's pandybat, as well as the feelings associated with being smacked with the pandybat. Joyce is foreshadowing here what will eventually happen to Stephen, and, as a result, we will more deeply share Stephen's painful, unjust punishment.
Initially, of course, Stephen never suspects the potential cruelty of Father Dolan. Stephen has suffered from the cruelty of his classmates — specifically, he was pushed in the filthy ditch of water and, later, a classmate caused him to break his glasses on the cinderpath — but Stephen has yet to experience injustice from a cleric, a man who is supposed to represent the kindness and mercy of the Catholic faith. Ironically, the sadistic Father Dolan not only fails to hear the boy's "confession" of innocence, but he also oversteps his station by taking pleasure in paddling Stephen mercilessly in front of the class.
Momentarily, Stephen's faith seems to fail him, but he finds a solution to the injustice he has suffered in the chorus of classmates as they cry out in classical echoes of Roman crowds demanding democratic justice. Stephen's solution seems clear: he knows that he must visit the school's rector in order to clear his good name and report Father Dolan's injustice.
Stephen's surname, Dedalus, now becomes important in its relationship to his mythical counterpart, Daedalus. Like Daedalus, Stephen decides that the only means of escape from the tyranny of the school is to challenge the dark, labyrinthine corridors of the castle that lead toward the rector's office. Setting out, Stephen is anxious and selfconscious, convinced that the portraits of the saints on the walls of the corridor are looking down in judgment on him as he defies established tradition. They continue to stare as Stephen opens the refectory door.
What Stephen senses in the rector's office are strong life-and-death impressions, symbolic of Stephen's life-and-death anxiety about overstepping the authority of Father Dolan. As he confronts Father Conmee, the rector, the "solemn smell in the room" hints at the reverence of the occasion, and the skull on the desk portends Stephen's possible fate. But the rector's "kindlooking face" and pleasant manner encourage Stephen to state his problem boldly and with heroic simplicity: "I broke my glasses, sir."
Ultimately, the meeting proves successful, and Stephen feels comforted as he rushes down the gloomy corridors to the encouragement of his classmates. Realizing that he has fulfilled his quest, he feels like a celebrated hero returning from victorious battle. Democracy has prevailed. Carried aloft, airborne in his schoolmates' locked hands, Stephen views his world in a more amiable light: "The air was soft and grey and mild and evening was coming." This balance between light/dark, hot/cold imagery (not light, not dark, but grey; not hot, not cold, but mild) underscores Stephen's feelings of momentary contentment. Note, however, that Joyce says that "evening was coming." This is a hint that with wisdom, darkness will surely follow.
Glossary
Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes. And he sent forth his spirit among the unknown arts. — Ovid, Metamorphoses.
looked at him through a glass looked at him through a monocle, an eyeglass for one eye.
put on the oilsheet put on an oilcloth, a cotton fabric made waterproof with oil and pigment; often used for tablecloths.
the sailor's hornpipe a lively dance, usually done by one person; popular with sailors.
Dante not Dante Alighieri. This is the nickname of the woman who is Stephen's nanny, or governess.
had two brushes in her press had two brushes in her closet — in this case, an upright piece of furniture used to hold clothes.
Michael Davitt Organizer of the land reform league. Much more of a political agitator than Parnell, Davitt served seven years in prison for attempting to send firearms into Ireland. He advocated nationalization of Irish lands and believed that Parnell was too moderate in his opposition to English rule.
Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-91); Irish Nationalist leader. Fought for Home Rule; urged Irish Catholics to pay no rents to their Protestant landlords. His political career was brought to an end when his adultery with a married woman was made public.
gave him a cachou gave him a cashew mint; often used for disguising bad breath.
the prefects teacher-supervisors; often senior pupils, as well, who are given authority to maintain discipline.
Kickham had greaves in his number Kickham had padded, protective shinguards in his locker, which was numbered for identification.
a hamper in the refectory a box, or basket of food in the dining hall that belongs to him; probably sent from home.
a magistrate a judge; to brag that one's father was a magistrate is to suggest that one is well-off, well-bred, and better than most.
never to peach on a fellow never to tattle or inform on someone else.
shortbread crisp, dry, buttery bars.
seventyseven to seventysix Stephen has 76 days until classes are dismissed for Christmas holidays.
the haha a sunken wall or barrier in a ditch, constructed to divide land without obstructing the landscape.
lights in the castle The "castle" refers to the complex that houses, among other things, the rector's quarters. The original castle, built in the medieval era, was destroyed in the seventeenth century and rebuilt. The Jesuits purchased it in 1814 and founded the prestigious Clongowes Wood College for boys.
shoulder him into the square ditch shove him into the cesspool.
Wells's seasoned hacking chestnut Wells's chestnut (used in a game); it has cracked (conquered) 40 others.
with her feet on the fender with her feet on a low metal guard before an open fireplace; a fender is used to deflect popping, or falling coals.
You are McGlade's suck. You are McGlade's bootlicker, brown-noser, apple-polisher.
there were two cocks There were two faucets — one marked "hot," the other "cold."
the hour for sums the hour for arithmetic, or mathematics.
Go ahead, York! Go ahead, Lancaster! The class is divided into two teams, each representing one of the two families (Lancaster, red rose; York, white rose) that battled for the English throne during the 40-year War of the Roses (1445-85). Shakespeare's Henry VI, Parts 1,2,3 is set in this turbulent era and concerns its dynastic struggle for power.
he was not in a wax He was not yet seethingly, passionately angry.
first place in elements first place in the various required classes — Latin, mathematics, literature, and so forth.
two prints of butter two pats of butter with patterned marks, or "prints" on top.
the clumsy scullion the clumsy kitchen servant.
sick in your breadbasket sick at the stomach.
knotting his false sleeves Moonan is knotting two cloth streamers that are attached to the shoulders of the prefect's gown, or soutane.
he was in the third of grammar He was an older student.
turned to the flyleaf turned to the blank page in the front of the book.
do something for a cod do something for a joke.
the seawall a strong embankment to prevent the sea from coming up; a breakwater.
the kettle would be on the hob The kettle would be on the shelf around the fireplace where families kept saucepans, teapots, matches, and so forth.
the fire of the smoking turf Turf is the name of blocks of peat which are cut from Irish bogs and burned for fuel.
getting up on the cars Competing with the railroads, these cars were long vehicles used for transport and were pulled by horses.
don't spy on us another way of saying don't "peach" (or inform) on us.
not foxing not pretending.
like the long back of a tramhorse A tram was a horse-drawn passenger vehicle, much like a streetcar.
a dead mass a mass said for someone who has died.
the catafalque a raised structure on which a corpse is laid out for viewing.
a bowl of beeftea a bowl of rich bouillon, or beef broth.
the liberator usually the "l" is capitalized. The term refers to Daniel O'Connell, who was, in 1775, Ireland's leading Catholic politician, advocating the right of Catholics to hold public office.
a green velvet mantle A mantle is a loose, sleeveless cloak.
his feet resting on the toasted boss His feet are resting by the fireplace on a very low, warm stool which has ornamental "ears," or bosses.
looked at himself in the pierglass A pierglass is a tall mirror which fills the space between two windows.
a good breath of ozone round the Head John and Simon have walked to Bray Head, a hill outside Bray, close to the sea.
went over to the sideboard a piece of dining room furniture with shelves, doors, and drawers, used for holding tablecloths, linens, and silverware.
moisty and watery about the dewlaps Dewlaps refer to the loose, wrinkled skin under the throat.
that's the real Ally Daly That's a first-class turkey, the best!
an answer to the canon an answer to the clergy's condemnation of Parnell.
the pope's nose the triangular-shaped "tail" of a chicken or a turkey, where the tail fathers are attached.
Billy with the lip William J. Walsh, archbishop of Dublin; he worked in league with Parnell for land reform but refused to give Parnell vocal or political support when the O'Shea scandal broke.
the tub of guts up in Armagh Michael Logue, another archbishop who didn't, but probably could have, used his influence to dispel the general condemnation of Parnell. Reference is taken from Hamlet.
Lord Leitrim's coachman The reference here is to an Irish coachman who was more loyal to his English landlord than he was to his Irish compatriots who attempted to kill Lord Leitrim. A person who is labeled as "Lord Leitrim's coachman" would be a lackey, subservient to England and having no patriotism for Ireland.
renegade catholics those Catholics who desert their faith.
a spoiled nun a woman who, for whatever reason, has turned away from her calling to be a nun.
the trinkets and the chainies geegaws, cheap jewelry, and china dishes.
not long before the chief died not long before Parnell died.
a drunken old harridan a drunken old hag.
Mr. Fox the pseudonym used by Parnell when he wrote letters to Kitty O'Shea.
condemned to death as a whiteboy Whiteboys were somewhat like eighteenth-century KKK members; they wore white garbs at night and threatened Protestant landlords who were raising rents inordinately.
the fenian movement Inspired by the American Civil War, these Irish-Americans returned to Ireland to stage a revolt of their own. They were quickly and successfully put down.
Terence Bellew MacManus When the body of the exiled MacManus was returned to Ireland for burial, church officials protested his burial in hallowed ground.
old Paul Cullen another Irish archbishop who was anti-nationalist.
upsetting her napkinring A napkin ring is a ring of china, metal, or wood that holds a folded napkin.
They were caught near the Hill of Lyons. "They" refers to five students.
they had fecked cash They had stolen cash.
I know why they scut I know why they tried to escape. "Scut" is defined in the dictionary as the tail of a rabbit, held high while running. In America, the verb form "high-tail it" is similar in meaning to the verb "scut."
the press in the sacristy a closet (a large piece of furniture) in the room where the sacred vessels and vestments are kept.
the crimped surplices stiffly folded, white linen gowns worn over priests' cassocks.
boatbearer he who carries the container with the dry incense during mass.
censer the vessel in which the incense is burned.
in the square in the school bathroom.
smugging perhaps a combination of "smuggling" (suggesting something done clandestinely) and "smug" (meaning, to "make pretty"); here, the term refers to the secret homosexual horseplay that five students were caught at, including Simon Moonan and "Lady" Boyle ("Tusker" Boyle).
a trail of bunting a trail of festive streamers.
The Calico Belly a satiric play on words. Julius Caesar wrote De Bello Gallico (The Gallic War), a work that is often taught in Latin classes.
how many ferulae you are to get A ferule is a metal-tipped cane or rod used to punish children. Here, it refers to how many times the students will be struck.
they are going to be flogged In this context, flogged refers to being whipped by a cane on the buttocks.
out with your bum expose your buttocks.
they had stolen a monstrance In the Roman Catholic Church, a monstrance is a receptacle in which the consecrated host is exposed for adoration.
the noun mare mare is Latin for sea or ocean.
ablative singular the case that contains the ending of the object of the preposition.
the mark of the spade The potato has an incision where the shovel sliced into it.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam To the Greater Glory of God. This is the motto of the Jesuit order; students are usually instructed to place the initials A.M.D.G. at the tops of all their papers.
Hamilton Rowan an Irish Nationalist who escaped from his English captors and hid in Clongowes. He tossed his hat out to make the English believe that he had left the castle; the ruse was successful.
the green baize door The inner door is covered with soft, green woolen fabric.
gallnuts nutlike galls, or abnormal growths on trees.
When the novel opens, we are in the mind of a child; fragmented lines from a nursery story are intertwined with sensations and associations of feeling, touching, hearing, and smelling. Joyce takes us inside the mind of a child in order to show us how a child records and responds to the world around him. By carefully choosing language and syntax, Joyce enables us to share what is possibly the earliest childhood memory of the novel's hero — Stephen Dedalus.
Stephen is only three years old when he begins to identify himself with the physical world, with members of his family, and with the sensual world of language; he remembers his father's hairy face, his mother's sweet smell, the uncomfortable experience of wetting the bed, and certain special and fanciful words, such as "baby tuckoo" and "moocow." It was a good time, he says, meaning that he felt safe and secure from harm. Significantly, his favorite song is about wild roses — not tamed, cultivated roses, but wild roses. His taste for rebellion and freedom has already budded.
Stephen's next memory occurs about three years later, when he attempts to compete athletically with a group of rowdy schoolmates at Clongowes Wood College, the Jesuit boarding school which he attends. By comparison with the other boys, Stephen is small and weak, and suffers from poor vision and painful homesickness. During these miserable days, he comforts himself with thoughts of home. As he thinks about these things, it is clear that Stephen is a lonely, sensitive young boy, one who loves learning and relies on the strength he receives from saying his evening prayers.
Stephen's first crisis at Clongowes occurs when Wells, a bullying classmate, pushes Stephen into the square ditch (a cesspool), causing him to be taken to the school infirmary to recover from a fever. While there, Stephen meets Athy, the likeable son of a racehorse owner; Athy confides to Stephen that he too has an unusual name. While Stephen is in the infirmary, he also meets the somewhat sad but compassionate cleric Brother Michael, who cares for sick boys and makes them feel less isolated by reading them the news in the daily paper.
Although Stephen feels depressed by his illness, he comforts himself by melodramatically imagining the beauty of his own burial ceremony and Wells' great remorse for having caused Stephen's unfortunate death. Then Stephen falls into a fitful sleep; he is lulled by "waves" of light, the sounds of imaginary sea waves, and the words which Brother Michael is reading about the death of Charles Stewart Parnell, the young, romantic Irish hero.
Parnell's death becomes more significant in the following scene, when Stephen returns home to celebrate Christmas. At the Christmas dinner are Stephen's parents (Mary and Simon), John Casey (a friend of Simon's), Stephen's greatuncle Charles, and Stephen's old nurse, Dante Riordan. Stephen is particularly excited because for the first time in his life, he is sitting at the table with the adults.
The joy of the occasion is soon interrupted, however, by an argument about the Catholic Church's role in politics and its attitude toward the followers of the late Irish Nationalist, Charles Stewart Parnell.
Casey, a staunch supporter of Parnell's cause, defends Parnell against the injustices committed against him and his cause by the Irish people and by the Catholic Church. According to Casey, the Church hounded Parnell into his grave. The argument naturally includes mention of Parnell's highly publicized love affair with a married woman, Kitty O'Shea, and Dante Riordan vehemently defends the Church's censure of Parnell's involvement with Kitty. Casey says that because the Church interfered with secular matters, it thereby ended a political career which had seemed to promise Home Rule for Ireland.
The argument escalates with an exchange of insults and concludes with Dante's triumphantly shouting, "We crushed him [Parnell] to death!" She slams the door, leaving Simon and Casey weeping over the loss of their beloved hero.
The next scene opens with Stephen back at Clongowes, overhearing a conversation about the punishment awaiting some students who stole some altar wine from the sacristy. Thinking about the dark, silent sacristy and sacred things in general, Stephen suddenly envisions Eileen Vance, a young girl with hands like ivory, so smooth that they remind him of two worshipful phrases that he repeats during the Litany to the Blessed Virgin — "Tower of Ivory" and "House of Gold." Suddenly, Stephen's musings are interrupted by a call to class.
During Father Arnall's Latin lesson, Father Dolan, the prefect of studies, who wields the menacing pandybat in search of "lazy idle little loafers," appears. Dolan notices that Fleming and Stephen are not doing their lessons. After disciplining Fleming, Dolan approaches Stephen, who explains that he has been excused temporarily from his assignments because he broke his glasses.
Refusing to believe that Stephen broke them accidentally, the cynical, sadistic Dolan commands the boy to put out his hands for "pandying." This punishment, according to Dolan, is demanded for idleness and schoolboy tricks. Afterward, Stephen feels humiliated and angered by the unjust cruelty. His classmates are angered too; they believe that Stephen should report the prefect's injustice to the rector of the school.
Stephen briefly considers the consequences of such a bold action; then he sets out, following the winding corridors that lead to "the castle." He confronts the rector with the truth about the broken glasses, and, to Stephen's amazement, the rector, Father Conmee, is both sympathetic and kind; he promises to resolve the situation with Father Dolan on Stephen's behalf. Comforted and exhilarated by the results of the meeting, Stephen rushes from the gloomy corridors of the castle to be greeted by his classmates as a leader and a hero. They lock hands and lift him heavenward. Metaphorically, Stephen is flying, momentarily free of fear and constraint.
Analysis
At the beginning of the novel, we meet Stephen at the moment when he experiences his first essential awareness of the world around him. He is "baby tuckoo," the center of the universe, the one to whom stories are told and songs are sung. We perceive the world exactly as Stephen does — through sounds, smells, and sensations — all structured by a catalogue of comparisons which introduce the novel's good/bad, cold/hot, light/dark image motifs.
Clearly, even at an early age, Stephen prefers his mother to his father, and he is unconsciously aware of his nurse Dante's political and religious ideologies. He also learns, because of the "Pull out his eyes, Apologise" refrain, that any sudden, natural (spontaneous, artistic) expression of emotion — such as his declaration that he is going to marry Eileen (a little Protestant girl) — will result in swift moral retribution from the stern and practical members of his family. Later, of course, society's censures will parallel Stephen's family's early condemnation of his spontaneous outbursts of emotion and artistic expression.
Stephen's overly sensitive reactions to this censoring incident is proof to us that Stephen is "different." He feels keenly guilty without understanding why; later in life, he will suffer other moments of agonizing, confusing guilt.
The next scene, at Clongowes, focuses on Stephen's growing sense of isolation. Joyce's imagery in this passage — "swarming . . . strong cries . . . pale and chilly . . . thud . . . [and] greasy . . . " — indicates Stephen's general discomfort in his new surroundings. The use of the term "heavy bird," describing the low-flying, ponderous football, introduces bird imagery, imagery which will pervade the novel; here, it is used to identify the mythical escape theme which unifies the novel. Young Dedalus (like his Greek namesake, Daedalus) sees himself in a hostile environment from which, at least for the moment, he is unlikely to escape, although he would like to. Similarly, Stephen (the name of the first Christian martyr) suffers ridicule because of the uniqueness of his name; he is mercilessly questioned about his name by a bullying classmate, Nasty Roche.
Stephen's feelings of loneliness increase as he thinks of the day when his parents said good-bye to him, leaving him helpless in the threatening maze of his new life at Clongowes, where he felt "caught in the whirl of a scrimmage . . . fearful of the flashing eyes and muddy boots . . ." He soon realizes that he can momentarily escape the cruel realities of school life by contemplating things which he finds beautiful and, later, re-creating them with words.
For example, when reflecting on the lighted castle, Stephen remarks, "It was like something in a book." Here, Stephen reveals an early insight into the nature of creativity: he can translate something physical into artistic form. He not only begins to value words, but he also realizes that a particular arrangement of words makes the "nice sentences in Doctor Cornwell's Spelling Book" seem "like poetry." Stephen is already a young artist. This scene plays an important part in Joyce's revelation of Stephen's ultimate escape from a humdrum, priest-ridden life.
Suddenly, Stephen's artistic reverie is interrupted by real life, and we are reminded that although Stephen may be artistic, he is still a little boy. Stephen precisely describes the disgusting details of being pushed into the "square ditch" by a bullying classmate, and, here, in addition to our responding to Stephen's description of the sensations he felt, we should be aware that the sudden shock of the cold, slimy [cesspool] water is heavily symbolic; the submersion into the cesspool is Stephen's crude baptism into an offensive and cruel world, a world which differs greatly from the warm, secure world of home. The contrast between these two worlds, as well as the contrast between a series of hot/cold images (hot is natural and therefore good; cold is unfeeling and therefore bad), sets up another catalogue of comparisons and conflicts which Stephen must try to resolve as he attempts to find his place in the new world of Clongowes.
One of the conflicts which Stephen must face is the class competition between the scholastic teams of York and Lancaster, named after the British royal families involved in the War of the Roses (1445-85). Although the team badges, bearing either a red or white rose, represent two political factions, Stephen is not really concerned with winning the scholastic contest. He is concentrating on a world which might allow the limitless possibilities of "wild rose blossoms." Here, as he will do in future years, Stephen shuns the arbitrary restrictions governing religion and/or politics; he prefers, instead, to re-create (in his mind) a more tolerant world in which he can feel free to express his own wild, creative nature.
In addition to introducing us to Stephen's "differentness" and his feelings of alienation, Joyce is also introducing us to the matter of loyalty — in particular, the matter of Stephen's loyalty to his "mother country," Ireland. The character who most represents Ireland is Stephen's mother, Mary Dedalus, and Stephen's later anxieties about exile from Mother Ireland are foreshadowed here in his thoughts about being exiled from his loving mother while he is at boarding school. Feeling alien and alone, Stephen longs to be "at home [where he can] lay his head on his mother's lap." This longing troubles Stephen, and one night as he waits for sleep, he begins to imaginatively open and close the flaps of his ears, creating a Freudian-like sensation of a "train going into a tunnel." Freud's imagery, not unfamiliar to Joyce, is related not only to the experience of childbirth, but it also is related to the anxiety/release pattern which Stephen is experiencing because of his separation from home. These anxieties increase when Wells asks Stephen about kissing his mother. Once again, unable to understand his feelings of hot guilt, Stephen finds solace in the beauty and precision of words.
One day, while contemplating his loneliness, Stephen begins graphically to establish his own sense of identity by writing in his lesson book, "Stephen Dedalus / Class of Elements / Clongowes Wood College / Sallins / County Kildarel Ireland / Europe / The World / The Universe." This declaration of identity, illustrating his feelings of smallness in an immense world, marks the beginning of Stephen's attempt to consciously arrange the details of his life in his own manner, creatively to establish control, using the power of words in a pattern.
There exists, however, an area of conflict that Stephen cannot resolve by resorting to words. Religion is a problem for the young boy. He finds comfort in the repetition of memorized prayers; he is offered solace, but, at the same time, he is terrified by the notion of the eternal fires of eternal damnation. In the scene when Stephen recites his prayers before going to bed, Joyce conveys his own disdain for the rote memorizations encouraged by the Catholic Church. Such prayers, he believes, offer small hope for people who are deeply troubled; ultimately, such prayers are of little use in times of deep suffering. Stephen's own prayers seem to echo Joyce's observations; it is likely that the boy does not even understand the prayers that he is reciting. Note that his night tremblings seem to cease not after prayers, but after he reminds himself that he will not go to hell when he dies. However, Stephen is not truly comforted. He is still haunted by the terrible image of the prefect's descent down a dark, mythical corridor. Stephen's night fears dissolve only after he remembers that he will soon be going home for the holidays.
Feeling feverish after falling in the square ditch, Stephen realizes that a hand is on his forehead, and he begins to hallucinate that the cold, clammy hand and the beady little eyes that he sees are those of a rat. This preoccupation with rodents leads him to think about dead rats, dead things in general, and ultimately about his own death. In a vivid stream-of-consciousness passage, Stephen begins to contemplate the beauty of his own burial ceremony, fantasizing how greatly he will be missed.
Stephen's thoughts return to reality with the sudden appearance of Brother Michael, a kindly cleric charged with taking care of boys in the infirmary. The fact that Brother Michael is not a priest, like the other clerics in the school, makes Stephen wonder whether Brother Michael's kindness differentiates him from the others; Stephen wonders if Brother Michael is less holy because of his kindness.
While Stephen is in the infirmary, he meets Athy, the affable son of a racehorse owner; unlike Stephen, Athy seems to enjoy the uniqueness of having a "queer name." The infirmary can thus be considered a microcosm for those like Stephen. That is, Brother Michael, Athy, and Stephen are all isolated — either by duties, names, or physical illness — from the rest of the world of Clongowes.
Stephen contemplates his feelings of isolation as he falls asleep, lulled by pleasant memories of home and the sad sound of Brother Michael's voice as it reveals the news from the daily paper that Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish Nationalist leader, is dead. In his dream, Stephen's preoccupation with his illness and his fears of death merge with his thoughts about Parnell's death, and he begins to identify his own plight with that of the great, rejected Irish hero.
When the next scene opens, Stephen is well and happy; he is back home in Bray with his family, just as they are about to sit down for Christmas dinner. It is a momentous occasion; this meal will be Stephen's ceremonial initiation into the adult world. By being allowed to say grace before the meal, Stephen has joined the world of grownups, a world which he expects will be filled with the excitement, joy, and peace of the season. Ironically, this dinner, which is traditionally held to announce the joyous anniversary of the birth of the Savior of the World, becomes the scene of loud, vindictive, religious and political debate. Ultimately, its angry focus is not on a birth, but on the death of a man who seemingly was once Ireland's savior, Ireland's hope for independence from England, Ireland's best hope for Home Rule.
In a sense, this traumatic experience causes Stephen to confront some of the disappointing truths about the adult members of his household. Dante, his old nurse and governess, a woman whom he has loved as if she were an aunt, is rigid and cruel as she loudly defends her faith and the Church's interference with matters of the state. Interestingly, this scene is based on an actual occurrence in the Joyce household. Dante Conway (the Joyce children's governess) and a Mr. John Kelley (a friend of Joyce's father who had been imprisoned for giving public speeches in defense of Parnell) actually did have a loud, angry argument during a Christmas dinner when Joyce was a boy. The vicious screaming ingrained itself so deeply in Joyce's memory that he was able to re-create its strong, minute details here. As a result of the argument, Stephen realizes that the pursuit of freedom usually includes martyrdom — a situation enunciated by Joyce himself, a belief that Ireland would always destroy her heroes.
This emotionally traumatic Christmas dinner, the climax of Chapter I, marks the beginning of Stephen's loss of innocence. Increasingly, Stephen will begin to view the world with more cynicism and apathy, and before long, he will begin to expect disillusionment in areas of life which he once held sacred. Such is the case when he returns to school and the other children seem to be "smaller and farther away" than they did before. He listens to the fears of his classmates as they discuss the fate of the boys accused of stealing wine from the sacristy, but the details of the sacrilege no longer seem to shock him. Instead, Stephen tries to make sense of his new perspective by relying on the familiar rhythms of the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. For the first time, he begins to examine the actual meaning of the words which he has routinely, unthinkingly, repeated for years. He begins to understand the words not so much for their piety, but for their beauty as art.
In contrast to Stephen's discovering the beauty of the words in the Litany, Joyce juxtaposes the unfair, cruel reality of the Catholic Church, represented by Father Dolan. In careful detail, Joyce re-creates the sound and the motion of Father Dolan's pandybat, as well as the feelings associated with being smacked with the pandybat. Joyce is foreshadowing here what will eventually happen to Stephen, and, as a result, we will more deeply share Stephen's painful, unjust punishment.
Initially, of course, Stephen never suspects the potential cruelty of Father Dolan. Stephen has suffered from the cruelty of his classmates — specifically, he was pushed in the filthy ditch of water and, later, a classmate caused him to break his glasses on the cinderpath — but Stephen has yet to experience injustice from a cleric, a man who is supposed to represent the kindness and mercy of the Catholic faith. Ironically, the sadistic Father Dolan not only fails to hear the boy's "confession" of innocence, but he also oversteps his station by taking pleasure in paddling Stephen mercilessly in front of the class.
Momentarily, Stephen's faith seems to fail him, but he finds a solution to the injustice he has suffered in the chorus of classmates as they cry out in classical echoes of Roman crowds demanding democratic justice. Stephen's solution seems clear: he knows that he must visit the school's rector in order to clear his good name and report Father Dolan's injustice.
Stephen's surname, Dedalus, now becomes important in its relationship to his mythical counterpart, Daedalus. Like Daedalus, Stephen decides that the only means of escape from the tyranny of the school is to challenge the dark, labyrinthine corridors of the castle that lead toward the rector's office. Setting out, Stephen is anxious and selfconscious, convinced that the portraits of the saints on the walls of the corridor are looking down in judgment on him as he defies established tradition. They continue to stare as Stephen opens the refectory door.
What Stephen senses in the rector's office are strong life-and-death impressions, symbolic of Stephen's life-and-death anxiety about overstepping the authority of Father Dolan. As he confronts Father Conmee, the rector, the "solemn smell in the room" hints at the reverence of the occasion, and the skull on the desk portends Stephen's possible fate. But the rector's "kindlooking face" and pleasant manner encourage Stephen to state his problem boldly and with heroic simplicity: "I broke my glasses, sir."
Ultimately, the meeting proves successful, and Stephen feels comforted as he rushes down the gloomy corridors to the encouragement of his classmates. Realizing that he has fulfilled his quest, he feels like a celebrated hero returning from victorious battle. Democracy has prevailed. Carried aloft, airborne in his schoolmates' locked hands, Stephen views his world in a more amiable light: "The air was soft and grey and mild and evening was coming." This balance between light/dark, hot/cold imagery (not light, not dark, but grey; not hot, not cold, but mild) underscores Stephen's feelings of momentary contentment. Note, however, that Joyce says that "evening was coming." This is a hint that with wisdom, darkness will surely follow.
Glossary
Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes. And he sent forth his spirit among the unknown arts. — Ovid, Metamorphoses.
looked at him through a glass looked at him through a monocle, an eyeglass for one eye.
put on the oilsheet put on an oilcloth, a cotton fabric made waterproof with oil and pigment; often used for tablecloths.
the sailor's hornpipe a lively dance, usually done by one person; popular with sailors.
Dante not Dante Alighieri. This is the nickname of the woman who is Stephen's nanny, or governess.
had two brushes in her press had two brushes in her closet — in this case, an upright piece of furniture used to hold clothes.
Michael Davitt Organizer of the land reform league. Much more of a political agitator than Parnell, Davitt served seven years in prison for attempting to send firearms into Ireland. He advocated nationalization of Irish lands and believed that Parnell was too moderate in his opposition to English rule.
Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-91); Irish Nationalist leader. Fought for Home Rule; urged Irish Catholics to pay no rents to their Protestant landlords. His political career was brought to an end when his adultery with a married woman was made public.
gave him a cachou gave him a cashew mint; often used for disguising bad breath.
the prefects teacher-supervisors; often senior pupils, as well, who are given authority to maintain discipline.
Kickham had greaves in his number Kickham had padded, protective shinguards in his locker, which was numbered for identification.
a hamper in the refectory a box, or basket of food in the dining hall that belongs to him; probably sent from home.
a magistrate a judge; to brag that one's father was a magistrate is to suggest that one is well-off, well-bred, and better than most.
never to peach on a fellow never to tattle or inform on someone else.
shortbread crisp, dry, buttery bars.
seventyseven to seventysix Stephen has 76 days until classes are dismissed for Christmas holidays.
the haha a sunken wall or barrier in a ditch, constructed to divide land without obstructing the landscape.
lights in the castle The "castle" refers to the complex that houses, among other things, the rector's quarters. The original castle, built in the medieval era, was destroyed in the seventeenth century and rebuilt. The Jesuits purchased it in 1814 and founded the prestigious Clongowes Wood College for boys.
shoulder him into the square ditch shove him into the cesspool.
Wells's seasoned hacking chestnut Wells's chestnut (used in a game); it has cracked (conquered) 40 others.
with her feet on the fender with her feet on a low metal guard before an open fireplace; a fender is used to deflect popping, or falling coals.
You are McGlade's suck. You are McGlade's bootlicker, brown-noser, apple-polisher.
there were two cocks There were two faucets — one marked "hot," the other "cold."
the hour for sums the hour for arithmetic, or mathematics.
Go ahead, York! Go ahead, Lancaster! The class is divided into two teams, each representing one of the two families (Lancaster, red rose; York, white rose) that battled for the English throne during the 40-year War of the Roses (1445-85). Shakespeare's Henry VI, Parts 1,2,3 is set in this turbulent era and concerns its dynastic struggle for power.
he was not in a wax He was not yet seethingly, passionately angry.
first place in elements first place in the various required classes — Latin, mathematics, literature, and so forth.
two prints of butter two pats of butter with patterned marks, or "prints" on top.
the clumsy scullion the clumsy kitchen servant.
sick in your breadbasket sick at the stomach.
knotting his false sleeves Moonan is knotting two cloth streamers that are attached to the shoulders of the prefect's gown, or soutane.
he was in the third of grammar He was an older student.
turned to the flyleaf turned to the blank page in the front of the book.
do something for a cod do something for a joke.
the seawall a strong embankment to prevent the sea from coming up; a breakwater.
the kettle would be on the hob The kettle would be on the shelf around the fireplace where families kept saucepans, teapots, matches, and so forth.
the fire of the smoking turf Turf is the name of blocks of peat which are cut from Irish bogs and burned for fuel.
getting up on the cars Competing with the railroads, these cars were long vehicles used for transport and were pulled by horses.
don't spy on us another way of saying don't "peach" (or inform) on us.
not foxing not pretending.
like the long back of a tramhorse A tram was a horse-drawn passenger vehicle, much like a streetcar.
a dead mass a mass said for someone who has died.
the catafalque a raised structure on which a corpse is laid out for viewing.
a bowl of beeftea a bowl of rich bouillon, or beef broth.
the liberator usually the "l" is capitalized. The term refers to Daniel O'Connell, who was, in 1775, Ireland's leading Catholic politician, advocating the right of Catholics to hold public office.
a green velvet mantle A mantle is a loose, sleeveless cloak.
his feet resting on the toasted boss His feet are resting by the fireplace on a very low, warm stool which has ornamental "ears," or bosses.
looked at himself in the pierglass A pierglass is a tall mirror which fills the space between two windows.
a good breath of ozone round the Head John and Simon have walked to Bray Head, a hill outside Bray, close to the sea.
went over to the sideboard a piece of dining room furniture with shelves, doors, and drawers, used for holding tablecloths, linens, and silverware.
moisty and watery about the dewlaps Dewlaps refer to the loose, wrinkled skin under the throat.
that's the real Ally Daly That's a first-class turkey, the best!
an answer to the canon an answer to the clergy's condemnation of Parnell.
the pope's nose the triangular-shaped "tail" of a chicken or a turkey, where the tail fathers are attached.
Billy with the lip William J. Walsh, archbishop of Dublin; he worked in league with Parnell for land reform but refused to give Parnell vocal or political support when the O'Shea scandal broke.
the tub of guts up in Armagh Michael Logue, another archbishop who didn't, but probably could have, used his influence to dispel the general condemnation of Parnell. Reference is taken from Hamlet.
Lord Leitrim's coachman The reference here is to an Irish coachman who was more loyal to his English landlord than he was to his Irish compatriots who attempted to kill Lord Leitrim. A person who is labeled as "Lord Leitrim's coachman" would be a lackey, subservient to England and having no patriotism for Ireland.
renegade catholics those Catholics who desert their faith.
a spoiled nun a woman who, for whatever reason, has turned away from her calling to be a nun.
the trinkets and the chainies geegaws, cheap jewelry, and china dishes.
not long before the chief died not long before Parnell died.
a drunken old harridan a drunken old hag.
Mr. Fox the pseudonym used by Parnell when he wrote letters to Kitty O'Shea.
condemned to death as a whiteboy Whiteboys were somewhat like eighteenth-century KKK members; they wore white garbs at night and threatened Protestant landlords who were raising rents inordinately.
the fenian movement Inspired by the American Civil War, these Irish-Americans returned to Ireland to stage a revolt of their own. They were quickly and successfully put down.
Terence Bellew MacManus When the body of the exiled MacManus was returned to Ireland for burial, church officials protested his burial in hallowed ground.
old Paul Cullen another Irish archbishop who was anti-nationalist.
upsetting her napkinring A napkin ring is a ring of china, metal, or wood that holds a folded napkin.
They were caught near the Hill of Lyons. "They" refers to five students.
they had fecked cash They had stolen cash.
I know why they scut I know why they tried to escape. "Scut" is defined in the dictionary as the tail of a rabbit, held high while running. In America, the verb form "high-tail it" is similar in meaning to the verb "scut."
the press in the sacristy a closet (a large piece of furniture) in the room where the sacred vessels and vestments are kept.
the crimped surplices stiffly folded, white linen gowns worn over priests' cassocks.
boatbearer he who carries the container with the dry incense during mass.
censer the vessel in which the incense is burned.
in the square in the school bathroom.
smugging perhaps a combination of "smuggling" (suggesting something done clandestinely) and "smug" (meaning, to "make pretty"); here, the term refers to the secret homosexual horseplay that five students were caught at, including Simon Moonan and "Lady" Boyle ("Tusker" Boyle).
a trail of bunting a trail of festive streamers.
The Calico Belly a satiric play on words. Julius Caesar wrote De Bello Gallico (The Gallic War), a work that is often taught in Latin classes.
how many ferulae you are to get A ferule is a metal-tipped cane or rod used to punish children. Here, it refers to how many times the students will be struck.
they are going to be flogged In this context, flogged refers to being whipped by a cane on the buttocks.
out with your bum expose your buttocks.
they had stolen a monstrance In the Roman Catholic Church, a monstrance is a receptacle in which the consecrated host is exposed for adoration.
the noun mare mare is Latin for sea or ocean.
ablative singular the case that contains the ending of the object of the preposition.
the mark of the spade The potato has an incision where the shovel sliced into it.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam To the Greater Glory of God. This is the motto of the Jesuit order; students are usually instructed to place the initials A.M.D.G. at the tops of all their papers.
Hamilton Rowan an Irish Nationalist who escaped from his English captors and hid in Clongowes. He tossed his hat out to make the English believe that he had left the castle; the ruse was successful.
the green baize door The inner door is covered with soft, green woolen fabric.
gallnuts nutlike galls, or abnormal growths on trees.
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