What I mean by the title is that throughout this section Bloom is repeatedly likened to Parnell. This connects to the thematic Odysseus story line in that when Odysseus returns to Ithaca he is disguised as a stranger and over time he reveals himself to Telemachus as the heroic leader figure of his father. This allows us to see the paternal connection that Bloom feels for Stephen, in that until able to talk alone with Stephen and hear about his feeling towards the state of Ireland and family, Bloom is ever the foreigner/ stranger in Ireland. However, when Stephen and he agree on their feelings about pacifism and overblown nationalism, then Bloom is revealed to the reader as truly Irish, and similar to Ireland's national hero of Parnell.
some explicit similarities, even if not historically correct:
pg. 651 "Can real love, supposing there happens to be another chap in the case, exist between married folk?"
pg.649- rumors of Parnell as still alive and returning is like Odysseus, which is the figure of Bloom in this section.
pg. 652- Parnell's mistress is Spanish, Molly is half.
pg. 644 - Bloom's view on Jews and equality, slightly Marxist and hearkening back to his transformation into social leader during the Circe episode.
pg. 660 - Rumor that Parnell was not in his coffin or that he was killed by people that used to be his followers connects to resurrection and crucifixion, that Jesus was a Jew which is persistently in Bloom's thoughts, making his mental processes the connecting bridge between these events, making him into two of Ireland's national heroes at the same time.
Stephen embodies Telemachus in this section more strongly then I felt he did in any of the previous. His dilemma at not being to return home because of the trap of the usurpers at the tower aids in this connection as Telemachus meets his disguised father because he cannot enter the house due to the suitors.
One thing that came as a surprise at the end of this section was that Bloom's thoughts turn to how he can exploit the talents and friendship he hopes to make with Stephen. Suddenly he becomes similar to Buck Mulligan in a sense. And he and Buck Mulligan are repeatedly insulting each other to Stephen, discouraging him to associate with the other. This strikes me as odd since Mulligan has been, from the very first events of the morning, painted as the villain in regards to our protagonists. Now for Joyce to connect them feels very off putting and portrays Bloom as the Jewish figure in the typically prejudiced way that Jews are derided throughout the book. Did anyone else feel this way? Or are you all going to call me an anti-Semite in class tomorrow?
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Anthropomorphism
In the Circe's episode of Ulysses we see inanimate objects personify Bloom's and Stephen's thoughts as they relive their pasts, deal with the guilt they both feel for their actions and identities. Rather than talking about what Bloom or Stephen is thinking abuot, or just writing their thoughts, as Joyce has been doing throughout. Here the people places and concepts become embodied and speak with them. So when Bloom thinks of Dignam and Molly he thinks of Metem[sychosis and Paddy appears at first we are thinking as a ghost, to carry along the Hamlet referrences, but actually as dog, which ties into the reincarnation issues that Bloom grapples with in the lines between life and death. It also ties Stephen into Bloom's unconscious as we know the Stephen thinks of himself as dog's body. More than having Bloom think of Stephen, Jouce here sort of mind melds Stephen and Bloom so that their thoughts are of the same thing.
In terms of Hamlet referrences, we get the most explicit usage of this when Bloom's father come to him and ask him if he has forsaken them. We see more and more guilt on Bloom's mind as he is in trial and then a masochist being dressed up in womens clothing and dominated. He becomes a woman and is still one when Blazes Boylan invites him to watch as he makes love to Molly. What was really great about this part was that we got a concrete hint at Bloom's self denial. He thinks of himself as Othello, as if his suspicions, his own head is his Iago, and that it is possible that Molly is not having an affair. However, using a dramatic format for this section makes all the things that happen seem much mroe real. It blurs the line between thought and occurence.
In terms of Hamlet referrences, we get the most explicit usage of this when Bloom's father come to him and ask him if he has forsaken them. We see more and more guilt on Bloom's mind as he is in trial and then a masochist being dressed up in womens clothing and dominated. He becomes a woman and is still one when Blazes Boylan invites him to watch as he makes love to Molly. What was really great about this part was that we got a concrete hint at Bloom's self denial. He thinks of himself as Othello, as if his suspicions, his own head is his Iago, and that it is possible that Molly is not having an affair. However, using a dramatic format for this section makes all the things that happen seem much mroe real. It blurs the line between thought and occurence.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Paper Topics
I am thinking about writing about Joyce's deconstruction of nationalism as shown in the cyclops chapter. However, I think that there is ample evidence of this theme and many different techniques he employes to show it and so I am wondering if I will really be able to stop myself from bringing in fundamental things behind nationalism such as religion, which is so closely tied to Irish identity, the role of child birth and physicality in love. I am afraid that if I begin to talk about these things that this paper will get bigger than me.
I was thinking that I can tie these other things into this reading of the book, but I am wondering if it would be more worthwhile to focus on one of them, such as physicality and then use nationalism to support how that is shown. As of right now, my intention is to use the ideas, political, national, religious, that are brought up either as directly reflected upon by Stephen, or as shown as a negative image by the use of Bloom's character. What do you think?
I was thinking that I can tie these other things into this reading of the book, but I am wondering if it would be more worthwhile to focus on one of them, such as physicality and then use nationalism to support how that is shown. As of right now, my intention is to use the ideas, political, national, religious, that are brought up either as directly reflected upon by Stephen, or as shown as a negative image by the use of Bloom's character. What do you think?
Monday, April 14, 2008
WTF
Okay, I admire the craft and the use of different forms, dialects, styles, but I felt that in the Oxen of the sun episode the speaker and point of view was constantly misplaced within the general drunkenness of the characters, the changing tone of the sections and the settings. For one thing, why were Stephen and his friends drinking at the maternity ward with Bloom? And secondly why does Bloom feel the need to go check on Purefoy but then only get drunk with a bunch of young men that continuously unwittingly and, perhaps sometimes intentionally, slap him in the face with his predicament and troubles?
But besides my general frustration with this section, there are many lovely and insightful sections that explicitly state Bloom's heroic qualities, plight, and outline the sort of morality, debased, religious and otherwise, that he is surrounded by. The conversation on whether a woman who will die by childbirth should be saved and the child given up or vise versa, is somewhat settled by Stephen who argues that woman is naught but a vessel for the eternal or holy mothers gift of life and it is the female duty to bring babies into the world and that women are meant to suffer for this because of the first mothers (Eve's) sin. Then they get into a discussion based on a question by Bloom about who is more important for the birth of male children. This however, is somewhat overlooked by the company and there begins a discussion of the soul. That is reared by the church and in the course of their discussion it is feminized and we hear undertones of the idea of how long it takes for a baby to begin having a soul.
On the tail end of this Buck Mulligan enters and announces that he is going to impregnate women who are married to people like Bloom. People who cannot give them healthy children or who do not have sex with them. I found it interesting that at this point the prostate is compared to the uterus and we see that in subtle ways the conversation is growing towards who is responsible for birth and birth complications. In a way all this ties into the idea of the Oxen of the sun in that Oxen are known for virility and yet in Ireland at the time the cattle is dying and uneatable due to disease. In a very explicit way this makes Ireland into the island where Odysseus' men meet their downfall by trying to eat the cattle to satisfy their hunger, what for these characters would be thirst (for alcohol and sex). Which it seems on page 396 are afraid of- the result of their lust, namely children, and they seem to find themselves each a figure of Adam, someone who has or could be brought low by woman. In a way Bloom's son becomes a symbol for the mistake made by being foreign and satisfying your hunger for the meat of the soil you are on. On page 409, Bloom is dismissed as not being to preach to the young men since he is not Irish and it is stated that he was wrong for marrying and having children with Molly, and that this is why his son died, and it's ghost like the ghosts of the cattle will haunt him forever.
Then again Bloom becomes the father of all these men on page 413 and perhaps the one who will win in the end ("But in the straight on the run home when all were in close order the dark horse Throwaway drew level, reached, outstripped her." 415), and then once again is shot down by Stephen when he claims that Bloom's son is dead because of survival of the fittest 419.
A lot of other subtle and complicating things are written here enhancing the plethora of themes running throughout the book. However I would like to say how the different styles employed by Joyce here are enhancing the book. Well, I would like to say I don't really know how, but the line that stuck out to me was in the praise of Theodore Purefoy after his son is born by his wife how has given birth to a lot of children: "Thou art, I vow, the remarkablest progenitor barring none in this chaffering allincluding most farraginous chronicle." 423. Here I felt, Joyce described himself and this novel. He has combines and formed a whole out of various materials/ styles in his chronicle which is pretty inclusive, if not all.
But besides my general frustration with this section, there are many lovely and insightful sections that explicitly state Bloom's heroic qualities, plight, and outline the sort of morality, debased, religious and otherwise, that he is surrounded by. The conversation on whether a woman who will die by childbirth should be saved and the child given up or vise versa, is somewhat settled by Stephen who argues that woman is naught but a vessel for the eternal or holy mothers gift of life and it is the female duty to bring babies into the world and that women are meant to suffer for this because of the first mothers (Eve's) sin. Then they get into a discussion based on a question by Bloom about who is more important for the birth of male children. This however, is somewhat overlooked by the company and there begins a discussion of the soul. That is reared by the church and in the course of their discussion it is feminized and we hear undertones of the idea of how long it takes for a baby to begin having a soul.
On the tail end of this Buck Mulligan enters and announces that he is going to impregnate women who are married to people like Bloom. People who cannot give them healthy children or who do not have sex with them. I found it interesting that at this point the prostate is compared to the uterus and we see that in subtle ways the conversation is growing towards who is responsible for birth and birth complications. In a way all this ties into the idea of the Oxen of the sun in that Oxen are known for virility and yet in Ireland at the time the cattle is dying and uneatable due to disease. In a very explicit way this makes Ireland into the island where Odysseus' men meet their downfall by trying to eat the cattle to satisfy their hunger, what for these characters would be thirst (for alcohol and sex). Which it seems on page 396 are afraid of- the result of their lust, namely children, and they seem to find themselves each a figure of Adam, someone who has or could be brought low by woman. In a way Bloom's son becomes a symbol for the mistake made by being foreign and satisfying your hunger for the meat of the soil you are on. On page 409, Bloom is dismissed as not being to preach to the young men since he is not Irish and it is stated that he was wrong for marrying and having children with Molly, and that this is why his son died, and it's ghost like the ghosts of the cattle will haunt him forever.
Then again Bloom becomes the father of all these men on page 413 and perhaps the one who will win in the end ("But in the straight on the run home when all were in close order the dark horse Throwaway drew level, reached, outstripped her." 415), and then once again is shot down by Stephen when he claims that Bloom's son is dead because of survival of the fittest 419.
A lot of other subtle and complicating things are written here enhancing the plethora of themes running throughout the book. However I would like to say how the different styles employed by Joyce here are enhancing the book. Well, I would like to say I don't really know how, but the line that stuck out to me was in the praise of Theodore Purefoy after his son is born by his wife how has given birth to a lot of children: "Thou art, I vow, the remarkablest progenitor barring none in this chaffering allincluding most farraginous chronicle." 423. Here I felt, Joyce described himself and this novel. He has combines and formed a whole out of various materials/ styles in his chronicle which is pretty inclusive, if not all.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Fireworks?
Part of me feels as if it is possible that James Joyce was one of the first people ever to synchronize the explosion of fireworks with male ejaculation so maybe it was a new concept. However reading this now when anyone writing or putting into a film, the explosions of fireworks to describe the climax of sex for a man would be called unimaginative, it seems sort of funny to me.
But onto something not so funny: public masturbation. What is not so funny about this is how we begin the section from a distance until we zoom into Gerty's head where we aware of Bloom, but she only slowly and without knowing him, begins to feel important in his eyes. Oddly enough I think that Gery is the granddaughter of the citizen from the cyclops episode. This sort of importance, the fact the they do not touch and barely look into each other's eyes makes this interaction, a physical one for Bloom, a completely non-physical process. It poses the question of where passion, desire, and arousal lay in the realm of human experience.
Gery is aroused by the idea of being something in this man's eyes that neither of her girlfriends are. More so she is turned on by the thought of him having been sinned against, or even having sinned, and her having the opportunity to play the virgin Mary as we see on 358 where she "just yearned to know all, to forgive all if she could make him fall in love with her, make him forget the memory the past." This right before the overheard mass asks the virgin mary "Ora Pro nobis. Well it has been said that whosoever prays to her with faith and constancy can never be lost or cast away: and fitly she is too a haven of refuge for the afflicted..." Here Gerty makes Bloom's base act into one of pray, as if in his alienation from the culture around him his way of praying to a figure that portrays themselves and is portrayed as the virgin Mary is to masturbate.
Perhaps in someway this is in a way divine conception. The roman candle scene, right before Bloom is done, we hear the imagined taking of virginity, "to feel his lips laid on her white brow the cry of a young girl's love, a little strangled cry, wrung from her, that cry that has rung through the ages. And then a rocket sprang and bang shot blind and O! then the Roman candle burst and it was like a sigh of O!" (366-367) From here it is as if Gerty is showered in the seed of the candle or Bloom.
Directly after this we see Bloom's guilt at being a brute, and yet some of his most machismo thoughts. However, it all ties back into his thoughts on the stars and then animals and we see again the split between physicality and ideals which is exemplified in the action of the section and then elucidated upon by Bloom's extended inner monolgoue.
But onto something not so funny: public masturbation. What is not so funny about this is how we begin the section from a distance until we zoom into Gerty's head where we aware of Bloom, but she only slowly and without knowing him, begins to feel important in his eyes. Oddly enough I think that Gery is the granddaughter of the citizen from the cyclops episode. This sort of importance, the fact the they do not touch and barely look into each other's eyes makes this interaction, a physical one for Bloom, a completely non-physical process. It poses the question of where passion, desire, and arousal lay in the realm of human experience.
Gery is aroused by the idea of being something in this man's eyes that neither of her girlfriends are. More so she is turned on by the thought of him having been sinned against, or even having sinned, and her having the opportunity to play the virgin Mary as we see on 358 where she "just yearned to know all, to forgive all if she could make him fall in love with her, make him forget the memory the past." This right before the overheard mass asks the virgin mary "Ora Pro nobis. Well it has been said that whosoever prays to her with faith and constancy can never be lost or cast away: and fitly she is too a haven of refuge for the afflicted..." Here Gerty makes Bloom's base act into one of pray, as if in his alienation from the culture around him his way of praying to a figure that portrays themselves and is portrayed as the virgin Mary is to masturbate.
Perhaps in someway this is in a way divine conception. The roman candle scene, right before Bloom is done, we hear the imagined taking of virginity, "to feel his lips laid on her white brow the cry of a young girl's love, a little strangled cry, wrung from her, that cry that has rung through the ages. And then a rocket sprang and bang shot blind and O! then the Roman candle burst and it was like a sigh of O!" (366-367) From here it is as if Gerty is showered in the seed of the candle or Bloom.
Directly after this we see Bloom's guilt at being a brute, and yet some of his most machismo thoughts. However, it all ties back into his thoughts on the stars and then animals and we see again the split between physicality and ideals which is exemplified in the action of the section and then elucidated upon by Bloom's extended inner monolgoue.
Monday, April 7, 2008
The Christ-like hero
When first reading this section I felt like asking Joyce if he intended for this book to be readable for an audience not living and aware of early nineteenth century, Irish current events. However, as the discussion between the evening drunks gets further into themes of nationalism and as the idea of strangers and what a nation is comes to the fore, things cease being so time specific and we can see larger themes that are brought forth by Bloom.
In his attempt to widen the perspectives of the Irish men around him he states the his nation is Ireland, and that as a jew he also knows what it is like to be oppressed and persecuted as the Irish are by the English. He then states that there is no sense in violent reactions to this because it is everywhere. It is not just the Jews and the Irish. He spouts some sentimental talk of universla love.
All of this, rather than putting him on equal footing with the men around him, makes into a suspicious character whose sexuality is questionable, whose money situation is enviable, and who cannot be trusted. In this chapter Bloom goes from the "prudent member" to having tin cans thrown at him. The use of different newspaper writing styles makes us think of Bloom's job. Some of the over the top nineteenth century romantic/ sentimental exposition made me think of the novels Molly likes to read, and the use of biblical or myth/legend language connected to Homer and the Bible which bring to mind Bloom as a hero, but not just any hero, but the christ-like hero. That the citizen wants to crucify him and that at the ned of the chapter he ascends to heaven are explicit examples of how Bloom is shaping up as the hero we felt he would show himself to be in this novel. Or has it become a montage of writing genres? Journalism, parody, hyperbole, heretical? Maybe so.
In his attempt to widen the perspectives of the Irish men around him he states the his nation is Ireland, and that as a jew he also knows what it is like to be oppressed and persecuted as the Irish are by the English. He then states that there is no sense in violent reactions to this because it is everywhere. It is not just the Jews and the Irish. He spouts some sentimental talk of universla love.
All of this, rather than putting him on equal footing with the men around him, makes into a suspicious character whose sexuality is questionable, whose money situation is enviable, and who cannot be trusted. In this chapter Bloom goes from the "prudent member" to having tin cans thrown at him. The use of different newspaper writing styles makes us think of Bloom's job. Some of the over the top nineteenth century romantic/ sentimental exposition made me think of the novels Molly likes to read, and the use of biblical or myth/legend language connected to Homer and the Bible which bring to mind Bloom as a hero, but not just any hero, but the christ-like hero. That the citizen wants to crucify him and that at the ned of the chapter he ascends to heaven are explicit examples of how Bloom is shaping up as the hero we felt he would show himself to be in this novel. Or has it become a montage of writing genres? Journalism, parody, hyperbole, heretical? Maybe so.
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
The sweets of song
This section is packed. I was constantly flipping between the pages and trying to find where within the time signature, that Joyce establishes at the beginning of the chapter, we were. I know that Joyce does emply some anachronisms within the novel, yet I feel that he is obsessed with the timing of the day and the characters within this book. This is also a large focus for Stephen. Not just for the one day that we see him, but in general, Stephen feels time as an immanent force in his life. But what to say? I could go on about my admiration at Joyce's craft in this section, but that much is clearer here than it has been in other previous sections. I could also state how Joyce makes the thoughts of all of the characters in one room blend together through sound fragments and overheard conversations as well as past occurences.
But, I think that Bloom is really what is at stake in this section. He follows Boylan to the Ormond hotel. He writes off his third encounter with him as coincidence and yet chooses to see where he is headed. He also sits unnoticed in the hotel as people he was consorting with earlier do not even know he is present. He writes to Martha to arrange a meeting and before sending the letter regrets it. He thinks of first mmeeting Molly, he thinks of the community around him that he is not a part of and he hears himself and his wife being spoken about. It is beginning to break my heart.
The words exchanged between Henry Flower and Martha in writing are actually spoken by Simon Dedalus, "that was exceedingly naughty of you..."(261). This is one way that Joyce accomplishes creating a collective consciousness of what is happening between all the characters. I am left wondering though, if this is the same place where the concert of Molly is to take place and if the time siganture established by Joyce at the beginning of the chapter is supposed to fit with the piece Molly will be singing. Or if it is reflective of the pieces being sung by the other people at the hotel. Also is Bloom writing to Martha as Boylan is having sex with Molly? The onomatopoeia being used at times indicates a sort of flesh on flesh feeling, as well as some of images brought up are very sexual and involve wet caverns. Like around 284. I'm just not sure.
But, I think that Bloom is really what is at stake in this section. He follows Boylan to the Ormond hotel. He writes off his third encounter with him as coincidence and yet chooses to see where he is headed. He also sits unnoticed in the hotel as people he was consorting with earlier do not even know he is present. He writes to Martha to arrange a meeting and before sending the letter regrets it. He thinks of first mmeeting Molly, he thinks of the community around him that he is not a part of and he hears himself and his wife being spoken about. It is beginning to break my heart.
The words exchanged between Henry Flower and Martha in writing are actually spoken by Simon Dedalus, "that was exceedingly naughty of you..."(261). This is one way that Joyce accomplishes creating a collective consciousness of what is happening between all the characters. I am left wondering though, if this is the same place where the concert of Molly is to take place and if the time siganture established by Joyce at the beginning of the chapter is supposed to fit with the piece Molly will be singing. Or if it is reflective of the pieces being sung by the other people at the hotel. Also is Bloom writing to Martha as Boylan is having sex with Molly? The onomatopoeia being used at times indicates a sort of flesh on flesh feeling, as well as some of images brought up are very sexual and involve wet caverns. Like around 284. I'm just not sure.
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