Molly’s mind flows seamlessly with few pauses, reminiscent of rushing water. Bloom is back in his wife’s bed and apparently asked Molly to bring him breakfast in the morning. The roles have reversed in this instance; Later Molly thinks of Bloom “sitting up like the king of the country” (764) just as Molly was queen counting her cards earlier in the day. Although with this act, it does seem that Bloom has retrieved power lost, his impotence is still not fully conquered. Molly thinks of dressing for Bloom in her newest undergarments, arousing within him a desire that will provoke action ten years lost; however, that hope is squashed when Molly remembers that she is currently menstruating. Speaking of which, Molly passes both water and blood, the foundations of life (and also what Christ spilled from his side after crucifixion). Also, unlike Bloom, who squanders his seed on infertile ground, she is willing to physically consume it. It is obvious that Molly embodies life.
Actually, it seems that Molly is pure body. I don’t know if this is a mere product of the all too traditional misogynistic objectification of women, or if it works in the thematic framework. Molly’s only bread winning skills rely purely on her body. Bloom proposes that she should pose nude and also work as a wet nurse.
When she remembers nursing Milly she mentions that she had enough milk for two, witch also demonstrates Molly’s ample fertility. Bloom also asks to be fed on her milk, suggesting she squeeze it in his tea: this seems to be another example of Molly’s ability to nourish and give life to all.
Molly’s consciousness is centered around her body: her feet are idolized by both Boylan and Bloom, she has fond memories of her newly budded breasts bouncing up and down like Milly’s do now, most of her memories are based on different sexual acts. Unfortunately, there are times where it seems apparent that a man is mimicking the consciousness of a woman, instead of full inhabiting it. Molly says, “Whats the idea of making us like that with a big hole in the middle of us” (742). I could see how a man might deduce that a woman would have such a thought, but as a woman, I think this is really a miss on Joyce’s part. Also, when Molly is talking about eating chicken she says, “I could have easily have slipped a couple into my muff… put down your throat…(750)” I understand Joyce loves puns, but for Molly to use those words to describe eating in her own private thoughts seems disingenuous. I would understand if it was said out loud, as more of a ‘naïve’ performance to evoke sexual arousal. I understand that Molly is an incredibly sexual person, but as far as having Molly think that privately, well, I just have a hard time buying it, as well as the reference to the time that Molly masturbated with a banana. This seems more of a male sexual fantasy then something a young woman would do for her own pleasure.
Conversely, Joyce might be using Molly to finally bring a unity between the corporeal and the ideal. This chapter does provide somewhat of a resolution, although not perfect, and perhaps Molly’s consciousness being centered around her body works to unite that dichotomy.
Strongly associated with life and fecundity, Molly is a believer in God. Perhaps the fact that time almost doesn’t exist for her, (the watch, she foibles her own age, forgets which day it is) also associates her with the eternal. The theme of consubstantiality recurs when Molly remembers confession. “No father, I always think of the real father” (741) which is ambiguous. Perhaps, again, this expresses her unity of the psychical with the eternal, or ideal. She then remembers the priest crying when his father died, again ambiguous, but fitting for the wasteland motif that has pervaded the entirety of the novel with the exception of this chapter, reminiscent of the Nietzche quote we all know so well. When considering all of the earthly beauties that exist in the world, especially in Gibraltar, Molly takes that as proof of God’s existence:
For them saying theres no god, I wouldn’t give a snap of my two fingers for all their learning why don’t they go and create something I often asked him atheists or whatever they call themselves go and wash the cobbles off themselves first then they go howling for the priest and they dying and why why because theyre afraid of hell on account of their bad conscience ah yes I know them well who was the first person in the universe before there was anybody that made it all who ah that they don’t know neither do I (782)
She goes on to remember the day that Bloom proposed; he said, “the sun shines for you”. Which seems like it could be just a sweet romantic nothing, but also very subtly implying the old idea, that God lives for those who create him by believing in him.
She is naïve, passionate, emotional, and one who mentions death, many times in this episode (hung woman, says I’d rather die frequently, murdered old woman, Gardener dead now….), in fact, Molly seems rather lonely and given to depression far below the surface. She still buys meat for three, but Milly is gone. She is aware of her age, and mentions how as soon as a woman gets old she might as well be thrown to the bottom of the ash pit. No one writes to her anymore. That lovely Lieutenant that she had an impassioned affair with is probably dead now. She says her father ‘might have planted me too” meaning planted her body into the ground. She mentions drowning herself, and also says that when she’s dead she’ll have peace. Perhaps it is her belief in God that makes speaking of death so easy.
Also, Bloom does not return to his bed the perfect hero. Although she does mention a few positive characteristics, it was Boylan who brought the potted meat to his house. Molly counts the days when Boylan and his large member will return to the house. She thinks of when he burnt the kidney, bit her nipple too hard, and how he is financially inadequate. He sleeps in a queer position on the bed, and she wishes he and his cold feet would have just gone to the couch. She didn’t even bother to wipe up Boylan’s semen, and entertains the idea of leaving Bloom altogether and becoming Mrs. Boylan. However, Molly is the only person who can understand Bloom’s strange ways about him, and it is his heroic quality of empathy that wins Molly in the end: “I saw he understood and felt what a woman is”. However, although the book ends with Bloom winning Molly over, this is but a mere memory of the past. Who knows what will happen to their relationship in the future. Molly could run away, she might stay. Maybe they will make love, maybe not; what a true work of realism.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Ithaca
This concise, mathematical, question/ answer approach of narration seems fitting to expand Joyce’s commentary on language, taking the opposite path to degradation of language in oxen of the sun (ending in slang gibberish). This sort of technical language was created and seems to be used for the sake of a succinct, clear expression but Joyce’s use of it elucidates the absurdity. It seems the more concise the word the less understandable the definition (and also, less people are familiar with these definitions.) In an attempt to bring the signified and the signifier closer, this sort of language pushes them farther apart.
And like the feigned attempt of the language to bring together the signified / signifier (which could also be looked at as metaphoric for Stephen and Bloom’s representation of the ideal / corporeal) Stephen and Bloom’s attempt at connection seems more superimposed then organic. Here we really see the two drastically different minds: one, of Stephen the artist, and the other, of Bloom the “scientist.” They even hear the sound of the bells differently (is Joyce inferring here that pre-reflectivity does not exist (if our sound is even shaped by memory/ ego?)
But all of that aside, given Joyce’s view of the absurdity of language, it seems that he would want Stephen and Bloom to connect in a space the transcends language . And they do. “Was this affirmation apprehended by Bloom? / Not verbally. Substantially” (697). This corresponds with their exchanged look in the previous chapter.
Which brings me to the repeated use of opposites, or antinomies in this chapter. The neverchanging / everychanging water, the scientific / artistic, the real / imaginary, the move from the known to the unknown. In Bloom, Stephen hears a profound accumulation of the past. In Stephen, Boom sees predestination of a future. In order for completion, the opposite must be with in its own opposite. This is brought to light with the mention of St. Johns of Damascus. According to the Bloomsday book, St. John’s Trinitarian theology, “develops the conception of circumincession in order to express the InnerTrinitarian relations. And circumincession means the reciprocal existence of the persons of the Trinity in one another.” So the relationship is reciprocal.
And like the feigned attempt of the language to bring together the signified / signifier (which could also be looked at as metaphoric for Stephen and Bloom’s representation of the ideal / corporeal) Stephen and Bloom’s attempt at connection seems more superimposed then organic. Here we really see the two drastically different minds: one, of Stephen the artist, and the other, of Bloom the “scientist.” They even hear the sound of the bells differently (is Joyce inferring here that pre-reflectivity does not exist (if our sound is even shaped by memory/ ego?)
But all of that aside, given Joyce’s view of the absurdity of language, it seems that he would want Stephen and Bloom to connect in a space the transcends language . And they do. “Was this affirmation apprehended by Bloom? / Not verbally. Substantially” (697). This corresponds with their exchanged look in the previous chapter.
Which brings me to the repeated use of opposites, or antinomies in this chapter. The neverchanging / everychanging water, the scientific / artistic, the real / imaginary, the move from the known to the unknown. In Bloom, Stephen hears a profound accumulation of the past. In Stephen, Boom sees predestination of a future. In order for completion, the opposite must be with in its own opposite. This is brought to light with the mention of St. Johns of Damascus. According to the Bloomsday book, St. John’s Trinitarian theology, “develops the conception of circumincession in order to express the InnerTrinitarian relations. And circumincession means the reciprocal existence of the persons of the Trinity in one another.” So the relationship is reciprocal.
Monday, April 14, 2008
oxen (d)evolution ideal real
‘Deshil Holles Eamus’ seems to be mimicked in the writing style of the long paragraph that follows. The language pushes me forward but the logic feels circular. I feel the perhaps, downward, spiral of the perpetuation of the human species. According to Christians, we were made in God’s image, starting out perfect, but then after the fall, where Eve took the apple of sin and thus was cursed with pain during childbirth, we evolve or devolve; we are moving away from God. As everyone knows, Darwin, and modern science, sees it the other way. This episode doesn’t seem to take a standpoint. The two ideas just battle themselves out.
This seems to be somewhat evoked in the ‘somewhat indecipherable’ paragraph on the first page (383).
“matters most profitable…to be studied…in doctrine erudite…high mind’s ornament…other circumstances being equal by no exterior splendor…prosperity of a nation..the original..might not be in the future not wit h similar excellence…procreating function…”
From these little clips, I get evolution, devolution, and the ideal / real dichotomy, which is represented in birth, the virgin birth, and also, the birth of Mrs. Purefoy, which harkens back to the evolution. Mary was impregnated by God, as a virgin. It seems the evolutionary cycle is starting over. People evolved away from God; they need a redeemer, born out of purity and not of the flesh, to bring them closer to God, or the ideal. Mrs. Purefoy has obviously copulated with either her husband or another man in order to conceive and birth this child; a child born of the flesh. Also, this is interesting:
“In a woman’s womb word is made flesh but in the spirit of the maker all flesh that passes becomes the word that shall not pass away. This is post-creation. That all flesh shall come to thee.”
This harkens to John 1: 1-5: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So, before, essence and object were attached, inseparable. The signified and the signifier were one. Joyce’s use of ridiculous language seems to emphasize the (d)evolution (movement away from God). The word and that which the word tries to encapsulate, have grown very far apart. So, in a way, the ideal and the body or real or corporeal, were once joined. This is in the beginning, in Eden. Then Eve, that evil woman, broke this unity apart. The earth now needs a messiah to redeem us from this world that exists “in the flesh” and bring us closer to the ideal: God. So he sends his son to unite the two. But, in the above passage from Ulysses (not the biblical passage), I get the feeling that the ideal takes precedence over the physical (becomes the word that shall not pass away).
Similarly, when Stephen is mimicking the last supper, he will drink the wine but not partake of the body of Christ (the bread). But, perhaps this shows just Stephen’s link with the ideal.
Also, the storm that is brewing through out the entire chapter, at certain times, seems to be reminiscent of the great flood, where God spared only Noah and the creatures two by two, one male, one female. This washing of the evils of the word obviously goes with the messiah, and seems fitting when placed in the context of these ribald men completely apathetic to Mrs. Purefoy’s pain; well, all except Bloom. His heroic quality (like Noah and Christ who save us from the evils of the word) of empathy is truly put to use in Oxen of the sun.
Bloom, however, is a hypocrite. He spread his seed but onto the sand (which seems linked to the biblical passage Mathew 7: 15-29
“Every one therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock.
And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof.”)
Bloom has wasted the life force. “”Has he not nearer home a see field that lies fallow for the want of a ploughshare?” (409). References to Rudy’s death are abundant. What makes a perfectly healthy child just die after a few days? Bloom, aware of his lack of a son, gazes at Stephen, the obvious surrogate.
And the episode ends with a mockery of the Almighty God.
This seems to be somewhat evoked in the ‘somewhat indecipherable’ paragraph on the first page (383).
“matters most profitable…to be studied…in doctrine erudite…high mind’s ornament…other circumstances being equal by no exterior splendor…prosperity of a nation..the original..might not be in the future not wit h similar excellence…procreating function…”
From these little clips, I get evolution, devolution, and the ideal / real dichotomy, which is represented in birth, the virgin birth, and also, the birth of Mrs. Purefoy, which harkens back to the evolution. Mary was impregnated by God, as a virgin. It seems the evolutionary cycle is starting over. People evolved away from God; they need a redeemer, born out of purity and not of the flesh, to bring them closer to God, or the ideal. Mrs. Purefoy has obviously copulated with either her husband or another man in order to conceive and birth this child; a child born of the flesh. Also, this is interesting:
“In a woman’s womb word is made flesh but in the spirit of the maker all flesh that passes becomes the word that shall not pass away. This is post-creation. That all flesh shall come to thee.”
This harkens to John 1: 1-5: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” So, before, essence and object were attached, inseparable. The signified and the signifier were one. Joyce’s use of ridiculous language seems to emphasize the (d)evolution (movement away from God). The word and that which the word tries to encapsulate, have grown very far apart. So, in a way, the ideal and the body or real or corporeal, were once joined. This is in the beginning, in Eden. Then Eve, that evil woman, broke this unity apart. The earth now needs a messiah to redeem us from this world that exists “in the flesh” and bring us closer to the ideal: God. So he sends his son to unite the two. But, in the above passage from Ulysses (not the biblical passage), I get the feeling that the ideal takes precedence over the physical (becomes the word that shall not pass away).
Similarly, when Stephen is mimicking the last supper, he will drink the wine but not partake of the body of Christ (the bread). But, perhaps this shows just Stephen’s link with the ideal.
Also, the storm that is brewing through out the entire chapter, at certain times, seems to be reminiscent of the great flood, where God spared only Noah and the creatures two by two, one male, one female. This washing of the evils of the word obviously goes with the messiah, and seems fitting when placed in the context of these ribald men completely apathetic to Mrs. Purefoy’s pain; well, all except Bloom. His heroic quality (like Noah and Christ who save us from the evils of the word) of empathy is truly put to use in Oxen of the sun.
Bloom, however, is a hypocrite. He spread his seed but onto the sand (which seems linked to the biblical passage Mathew 7: 15-29
“Every one therefore that heareth these my words, and doth them, shall be likened to a wise man that built his house upon a rock, And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock.
And every one that heareth these my words, and doth them not, shall be like a foolish man that built his house upon the sand, And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof.”)
Bloom has wasted the life force. “”Has he not nearer home a see field that lies fallow for the want of a ploughshare?” (409). References to Rudy’s death are abundant. What makes a perfectly healthy child just die after a few days? Bloom, aware of his lack of a son, gazes at Stephen, the obvious surrogate.
And the episode ends with a mockery of the Almighty God.
Nausicaa
Gerty, sports a straw hat, and a dress of blue and white; indeed, as Kevin mentioned, she is likened to the virgin Mary, but the straw hat also links her to Blazes Boylan, the object of Blooms infidelity, if one could call it that.
After reading the Cyclops, I got the feeling that Bloom’s impotence might cease up a bit, (he is resurrected in a way) and his impotence is somewhat lifted here. After all, he does reach climax, and feels oh so much better. The torture of sexual desire loosens its grip upon Bloom and we see his mind return to its normal route of thought, wondering about love, fate, Molly, and a lot about sight and smell, which reminded me of Stephen in Proteus, contemplating sound versus sight.
It is obvious that Bloom’s mind is still with Molly. He contemplates her lingering scent and remembers how she sprays her perfume on their pillows: “I leave this to you to think of me when I’m far away on the pillow (374). Scent is established as intoxicating in the Lotus-eaters and elsewhere, but here it seems as if Molly’s powerful “ether” like scent has waned. Her scent is “sweet and chap: soon sour.” But soon after Bloom says that he likens Molly, or women’s scent to a spider spinning gossamer that clings to everything (374).
Although Bloom’s impotence is superficially overcome, he casts his seed into sand: “nothing grows in it. All fades” (381). Besides, we never really doubted Bloom’s ability to achieve an erection. His real impotence comes out of not being able to make love to his wife. Still, “he gets the plumb and I get the plum stones” (377).
I am also interested in this strange synchronicity of minds that Robin has mentioned in class. Bloom’s watch stops at the time that Molly and Boylan have sex. However, I am unsure of what further significance this might have. In the end, Bloom, the priest, and Gerty are all linked with the Cuckoo, which is reminiscent of Bloom being the cuckold, in Gerty’s eyes.
After reading the Cyclops, I got the feeling that Bloom’s impotence might cease up a bit, (he is resurrected in a way) and his impotence is somewhat lifted here. After all, he does reach climax, and feels oh so much better. The torture of sexual desire loosens its grip upon Bloom and we see his mind return to its normal route of thought, wondering about love, fate, Molly, and a lot about sight and smell, which reminded me of Stephen in Proteus, contemplating sound versus sight.
It is obvious that Bloom’s mind is still with Molly. He contemplates her lingering scent and remembers how she sprays her perfume on their pillows: “I leave this to you to think of me when I’m far away on the pillow (374). Scent is established as intoxicating in the Lotus-eaters and elsewhere, but here it seems as if Molly’s powerful “ether” like scent has waned. Her scent is “sweet and chap: soon sour.” But soon after Bloom says that he likens Molly, or women’s scent to a spider spinning gossamer that clings to everything (374).
Although Bloom’s impotence is superficially overcome, he casts his seed into sand: “nothing grows in it. All fades” (381). Besides, we never really doubted Bloom’s ability to achieve an erection. His real impotence comes out of not being able to make love to his wife. Still, “he gets the plumb and I get the plum stones” (377).
I am also interested in this strange synchronicity of minds that Robin has mentioned in class. Bloom’s watch stops at the time that Molly and Boylan have sex. However, I am unsure of what further significance this might have. In the end, Bloom, the priest, and Gerty are all linked with the Cuckoo, which is reminiscent of Bloom being the cuckold, in Gerty’s eyes.
Monday, April 7, 2008
Cyclops. Crucifixion.
In the Cyclops, I think there is a danger for the reader to fall in to looking at this episode with ‘one eye’. Here, we see Joyce make a mockery out of Irish nationalists, the hero, religion, journalism, etc, creating what the Bloomsday book calls, an “inflated caricature,” of all the aforementioned. The unnamed one-eyed narrator is put in juxtaposition to Bloom’s cod’s eye, who can see things both ways: (But don’t you see, on the other hand. (306). Therefore, beneath Joyce’s outward mockery, the wasteland / fisher king theme expands dramatically.
Bloom stands outside the tavern where the citizen, our narrator, and a few other men drink. Bob Doran, the drunk, swears that he has just seen Dignam, whom we all know is dead. The tone shifts from somewhat playful to macabre, when Alf says, “Dead! He is no more dead then you are” (31), which evokes the feeling that these men are actually somewhere between heaven and hell, such as purgatory. This is brought home in the hilarious mockery of different religion’s take on the afterlife, however, as I said before, despite the overwhelming humor of the episode, it cannot be simplified to humor alone. It is a parody, yet evocation of the afterlife.
Bloom lurks on the other side of the veil of the underworld (metaphorically speaking). “There he is again, says the citizen, staring out” (302). Finally, “Bloom slopes in with his cod’s eye (God’s eye) on the dog…” (There is an obvious connection with Stephen’s dogsbody, the Proteus episode where Stephen sees one live dog fondling the dead one, etc..) Our hero seems to finally have stepped into the underworld.
Themes of surplus (parody of Irish revival of Irish poetry etc in beginning) / barren land (313,314) / usurpation, (thievery, Bloom’s Freudian slip, England of Ireland) and martyrdom recur in the Cyclops. Soon after Bloom enters, we are told of a hanging. Then, Christ’s crucifixion is alluded to, as well as the necessity of Christ to then, descend into hell before he can ascend to heaven: “Here, says he, take them to hell out of my sight.”
The conversation takes a turn to express the idea that when a man is hanged, he achieves an erection, which further correlates the metaphoric necessity for Bloom to be crucified in order to rid himself of impotence.
We also see Bloom, for what I assume is the first time, directly speaking of Blazes Boylan. Also, in the end, when the drunken man cries out, “Three cheers for Israel” Bloom actually retorts: “Mendelssohn was a Jew and Karl Marx and Mercadante and Spinoza. And the Savior was a Jew and his father was a Jew. Your God” (342).
Finally, the moment that I have been waiting for has happened: Bloom is crucified. I know this isn’t literally, but it undoubtedly happens. We see the religious procession, where a silver casket is being carried though the streets. Then, in Hungarian, we hear shouts of “See you again my dear friend. See you again!” which alludes to Bloom being the one in the coffin, and also the resurrection. “And there came a voice out of heaven, calling: Elijah! Elijah! And he answered with a main cry: Abba Adonai! And they beheld Him even Him, ben Bloom Elijah…” (345). (Earlier in the chapter Bloom is likened to the messiah numerous times).
Does this mean that Bloom’s impotence is lifted? How will this impact the wasteland? Does this bring God back into it? Will the body be recovered from the waters? Will Mrs. Purefoy finally birth that baby? Please join us next time on Days of Our Lives.
P.S If anyone has a better understanding of the wasteland / fisher king please speak up and help me try to work this out.
Bloom stands outside the tavern where the citizen, our narrator, and a few other men drink. Bob Doran, the drunk, swears that he has just seen Dignam, whom we all know is dead. The tone shifts from somewhat playful to macabre, when Alf says, “Dead! He is no more dead then you are” (31), which evokes the feeling that these men are actually somewhere between heaven and hell, such as purgatory. This is brought home in the hilarious mockery of different religion’s take on the afterlife, however, as I said before, despite the overwhelming humor of the episode, it cannot be simplified to humor alone. It is a parody, yet evocation of the afterlife.
Bloom lurks on the other side of the veil of the underworld (metaphorically speaking). “There he is again, says the citizen, staring out” (302). Finally, “Bloom slopes in with his cod’s eye (God’s eye) on the dog…” (There is an obvious connection with Stephen’s dogsbody, the Proteus episode where Stephen sees one live dog fondling the dead one, etc..) Our hero seems to finally have stepped into the underworld.
Themes of surplus (parody of Irish revival of Irish poetry etc in beginning) / barren land (313,314) / usurpation, (thievery, Bloom’s Freudian slip, England of Ireland) and martyrdom recur in the Cyclops. Soon after Bloom enters, we are told of a hanging. Then, Christ’s crucifixion is alluded to, as well as the necessity of Christ to then, descend into hell before he can ascend to heaven: “Here, says he, take them to hell out of my sight.”
The conversation takes a turn to express the idea that when a man is hanged, he achieves an erection, which further correlates the metaphoric necessity for Bloom to be crucified in order to rid himself of impotence.
We also see Bloom, for what I assume is the first time, directly speaking of Blazes Boylan. Also, in the end, when the drunken man cries out, “Three cheers for Israel” Bloom actually retorts: “Mendelssohn was a Jew and Karl Marx and Mercadante and Spinoza. And the Savior was a Jew and his father was a Jew. Your God” (342).
Finally, the moment that I have been waiting for has happened: Bloom is crucified. I know this isn’t literally, but it undoubtedly happens. We see the religious procession, where a silver casket is being carried though the streets. Then, in Hungarian, we hear shouts of “See you again my dear friend. See you again!” which alludes to Bloom being the one in the coffin, and also the resurrection. “And there came a voice out of heaven, calling: Elijah! Elijah! And he answered with a main cry: Abba Adonai! And they beheld Him even Him, ben Bloom Elijah…” (345). (Earlier in the chapter Bloom is likened to the messiah numerous times).
Does this mean that Bloom’s impotence is lifted? How will this impact the wasteland? Does this bring God back into it? Will the body be recovered from the waters? Will Mrs. Purefoy finally birth that baby? Please join us next time on Days of Our Lives.
P.S If anyone has a better understanding of the wasteland / fisher king please speak up and help me try to work this out.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Wondering Rocks
What does one take from synchronistic events? In life, I take little; in literature, I assume that it is a devise used by the author in order to create parallels between certain characters or events, which points to the reader to read-into these parallels, and take significance from this process. However, Joyce is more playful then the average author, and to use the word synchronicity to describe this episode might be an overstatement. We see what is happening in relation to most of the characters of the book, around the same time of day.
The throwaway recurs. Elijah is mentioned. Both Bloom and Stephen reject the idea of a messiah, nothing new. We see Stephen and Bloom’s roles reversed. Haines and Buck agree that Stephen is not an artist, and that his mind is imbalanced. He will never produce a work of literature. Bloom, however, is described as having “a touch of the artist about (him).” Bloom is also mentioned for putting down a mentionable sum for Dignam family, and is actually shown respect. In addition, a story is retold, about a time Molly, Bloom, Lenehan, and another man went to a play, and on the way back, Molly was stealthily being felt up by Lenehan, while Bloom was focused on the starts, which evokes the idea that Bloom is more forces on the ideal, which is normally Stephen’s realm.
The Dedalus family is pitiful in this episode, and one of the most touching scenes happens between Stephen and his poor, hungry little sister. “She is drowning. Agenbite. Save her. Agenbite. All against us. She will drown me with her, eyes and hair. Lank coils of seaweed hair around me, my heart, my soul. Salt green death. / We. / Agenbite of inwit. Inwit’s agenbite. / Misery! Misery!” Stephen’s impotence to save his family is comparable to Bloom’s impotence. He is unable or unwilling to provide for his family; his father does a poor job of it, callously reprimanding Dilly for slouching, when she barely has the strength to stand up straight; he drinks their money away. “Our father who not in heaven,” could relate to the throwaway.
Blazes Bolyan is mentioned among ripe fruits, with a red carnation in his mouth. As he prepares a basket for Molly, Bloom searches for a saucy book for her, and decides upon one, which tells a tale of adultery. We see, again, that Bloom will do anything to please Molly.
This episode seems a little more distant to me, and little less meaningful then the others, perhaps because it tends to be focused around the clergymen, and the cavalcade of the officials. This one event brings most of the townspeople to one central focus, and gives us a glimpse of all of the characters, from maybe, a more objective view.
The throwaway recurs. Elijah is mentioned. Both Bloom and Stephen reject the idea of a messiah, nothing new. We see Stephen and Bloom’s roles reversed. Haines and Buck agree that Stephen is not an artist, and that his mind is imbalanced. He will never produce a work of literature. Bloom, however, is described as having “a touch of the artist about (him).” Bloom is also mentioned for putting down a mentionable sum for Dignam family, and is actually shown respect. In addition, a story is retold, about a time Molly, Bloom, Lenehan, and another man went to a play, and on the way back, Molly was stealthily being felt up by Lenehan, while Bloom was focused on the starts, which evokes the idea that Bloom is more forces on the ideal, which is normally Stephen’s realm.
The Dedalus family is pitiful in this episode, and one of the most touching scenes happens between Stephen and his poor, hungry little sister. “She is drowning. Agenbite. Save her. Agenbite. All against us. She will drown me with her, eyes and hair. Lank coils of seaweed hair around me, my heart, my soul. Salt green death. / We. / Agenbite of inwit. Inwit’s agenbite. / Misery! Misery!” Stephen’s impotence to save his family is comparable to Bloom’s impotence. He is unable or unwilling to provide for his family; his father does a poor job of it, callously reprimanding Dilly for slouching, when she barely has the strength to stand up straight; he drinks their money away. “Our father who not in heaven,” could relate to the throwaway.
Blazes Bolyan is mentioned among ripe fruits, with a red carnation in his mouth. As he prepares a basket for Molly, Bloom searches for a saucy book for her, and decides upon one, which tells a tale of adultery. We see, again, that Bloom will do anything to please Molly.
This episode seems a little more distant to me, and little less meaningful then the others, perhaps because it tends to be focused around the clergymen, and the cavalcade of the officials. This one event brings most of the townspeople to one central focus, and gives us a glimpse of all of the characters, from maybe, a more objective view.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Scylla and Charybdis
This is a difficult episode to talk about; it is not known what of Stephen’s words are meaningful, and what is mere sophistry, like the pomp let out of the windbag in a previous chapter.
Nonetheless, it seems that the thematic dichotomy of the ideal and form seem at play, especially during the discourses that reference Plato and Aristotle. This might tie in with the theme of consubstantiality, which seems to be the most important of the chapter, but already, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Through the narration, we become aware of many of the character’s physicality, the fact that they have a body; this lays in contrast to architecture of thought that this episode inhabits. “A tall figure in bearded homespun rose from shadow and unveiled its cooperative watch” (191). Here it seems as if the shadow represents the essence, or being, of the person being described, and that his body is what clothes the shadow. Also, someone else is described as “sitting in his form” (191) and the librarian was found “blushing his mask” (193). This might presuppose what I believe to be the platonic idea that essence comes before form. Stephen seems to reject this. Instead of dissecting art like Russell, who believes art is the guise humans use to convey ‘formless spiritual essences (185),’ Stephen insists on theorizing Shakespeare’s work through biography, a more tangible reality; still, this seems strange, since Stephen, in a previous chapter with Deasy, surmises that the past is mutable; however, Stephen is indecisive on his view points, and seems to hold intellectual debates within himself, never really believing anything. This is apparent in this episode. He goes off on a long diatribe about Shakespeare, using polemical, sophistic, arguments against men he should be sucking up to, and in the end we find that Stephen doesn’t even believe in his own argument. It would be quite a task to find, at this point, anything that Stephen empirically believes.
There is also a tension between the art or the life of the commoner, and that of the intellectuals that speaks in this chapter. The common man/ woman seems to be able to Live life; to put things into action, where the intellectual sits around theorizing about it with out action. (Maybe the physical impotence of both Bloom and Stephen is noteworthy.) Russell notes, “People do not know how dangerous loves songs can be. The movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant’s heart on the hillside (186).” Also, this seems to bring Russell’s viewpoint out even more, thought before form. Later, Russell says, “As for the living, our servants can do that for us (189).” Although Stephen opposes Russell’s beliefs on the argument of the chicken and the egg, Stephen, he is within this group of intellectuals, and as stated in proteus, he seems to be at odds with the fact that he has a body. Therefore, I think the slave comment is applicable to Stephen in some ways.
I find Stephen’s opposition to Plato well stated on page 193: “Coffined thoughts around me, in mummycases, embalmed in spice of words.” Thought is language, language is form, form before content. From is essence. But, the words are coffined. This express the fact that we are in a wasteland, and God is dead, therefore meaning is dead. I’m not saying that Stephen does not believe in God. I think he’s undecided, and at this moment, is leaning towards a dead god.
Which brings me to the talk of consubstantiality and incest. Lets start on page 194:
So through the ghost of the unquiet father the image of the unloving son looks forth. In the intense instant of imagination, when the mind, Shelley says, is a fading coal, that which I was is that which I am and that which in possibility I may come to be. So in the future, the sister of the past, I may see myself as I sit here now but by reflection from that which then I shall be.”
Here, Joyce skillfully blends two thematic concerns of the book, consubstantiality and the dichotomy of the ideal/ corporeal. Really, they seem to be the same theme. The mind, a fading coal, which “with some invisible influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens to transitory brightness; this power arises from within, like the color of a flower which fades and changes as it is developed, and the conscious portions of our natures are unprophetic either of its approach or its departure”(A defense of Poetry, Shelly). This harkens back to in ineluctable modality of the audio- visual, which can also be explained, as on page 194, “weave and unweave our bodies.” So, we are stuck in time, caught up in the modality, which is inescapable, and physical reality leaves impressions upon our minds, which hold on to them and then casually, unconsciously or consciously, let go. Stephen’s quip with Plato seems futile, more of a chicken and the egg question, when really; maybe we are swimming in ideas and forms. They play with each other. This is what poetry is made of.
And really, God is an idea who came into form through his son Jesus Christ, representing the corporeal, and the Holy Spirit is the medium in which the ideal and corporeal communicate. Still, this dialectic is all apart of the same whole. “Formless spiritual. Father, word and holy breath. Allfather, the heavenly man. Hiesos Kristos, magician of the beautiful, the Logos who suffers in us at every moment (185).” Therefore, Shakespeare’s son is Shakespeare, “the son of his soul, the prince, young Hamlet and to the son of his body, Hamnet…”(188).
Additionally, this talk of the father son relationship seems to hearken back to Bloom as a father figure for Stephen, as we have mentioned before in class. Stephen is the world of the ideal. Perhaps Bloom in the corporeal. “Where there is a reconciliation, there must have been first a sundering” (193). These characters are tied in an interesting, significant way, which I would bet will be brought out even more as the story continues.
Nonetheless, it seems that the thematic dichotomy of the ideal and form seem at play, especially during the discourses that reference Plato and Aristotle. This might tie in with the theme of consubstantiality, which seems to be the most important of the chapter, but already, I’m getting ahead of myself.
Through the narration, we become aware of many of the character’s physicality, the fact that they have a body; this lays in contrast to architecture of thought that this episode inhabits. “A tall figure in bearded homespun rose from shadow and unveiled its cooperative watch” (191). Here it seems as if the shadow represents the essence, or being, of the person being described, and that his body is what clothes the shadow. Also, someone else is described as “sitting in his form” (191) and the librarian was found “blushing his mask” (193). This might presuppose what I believe to be the platonic idea that essence comes before form. Stephen seems to reject this. Instead of dissecting art like Russell, who believes art is the guise humans use to convey ‘formless spiritual essences (185),’ Stephen insists on theorizing Shakespeare’s work through biography, a more tangible reality; still, this seems strange, since Stephen, in a previous chapter with Deasy, surmises that the past is mutable; however, Stephen is indecisive on his view points, and seems to hold intellectual debates within himself, never really believing anything. This is apparent in this episode. He goes off on a long diatribe about Shakespeare, using polemical, sophistic, arguments against men he should be sucking up to, and in the end we find that Stephen doesn’t even believe in his own argument. It would be quite a task to find, at this point, anything that Stephen empirically believes.
There is also a tension between the art or the life of the commoner, and that of the intellectuals that speaks in this chapter. The common man/ woman seems to be able to Live life; to put things into action, where the intellectual sits around theorizing about it with out action. (Maybe the physical impotence of both Bloom and Stephen is noteworthy.) Russell notes, “People do not know how dangerous loves songs can be. The movements which work revolutions in the world are born out of the dreams and visions in a peasant’s heart on the hillside (186).” Also, this seems to bring Russell’s viewpoint out even more, thought before form. Later, Russell says, “As for the living, our servants can do that for us (189).” Although Stephen opposes Russell’s beliefs on the argument of the chicken and the egg, Stephen, he is within this group of intellectuals, and as stated in proteus, he seems to be at odds with the fact that he has a body. Therefore, I think the slave comment is applicable to Stephen in some ways.
I find Stephen’s opposition to Plato well stated on page 193: “Coffined thoughts around me, in mummycases, embalmed in spice of words.” Thought is language, language is form, form before content. From is essence. But, the words are coffined. This express the fact that we are in a wasteland, and God is dead, therefore meaning is dead. I’m not saying that Stephen does not believe in God. I think he’s undecided, and at this moment, is leaning towards a dead god.
Which brings me to the talk of consubstantiality and incest. Lets start on page 194:
So through the ghost of the unquiet father the image of the unloving son looks forth. In the intense instant of imagination, when the mind, Shelley says, is a fading coal, that which I was is that which I am and that which in possibility I may come to be. So in the future, the sister of the past, I may see myself as I sit here now but by reflection from that which then I shall be.”
Here, Joyce skillfully blends two thematic concerns of the book, consubstantiality and the dichotomy of the ideal/ corporeal. Really, they seem to be the same theme. The mind, a fading coal, which “with some invisible influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens to transitory brightness; this power arises from within, like the color of a flower which fades and changes as it is developed, and the conscious portions of our natures are unprophetic either of its approach or its departure”(A defense of Poetry, Shelly). This harkens back to in ineluctable modality of the audio- visual, which can also be explained, as on page 194, “weave and unweave our bodies.” So, we are stuck in time, caught up in the modality, which is inescapable, and physical reality leaves impressions upon our minds, which hold on to them and then casually, unconsciously or consciously, let go. Stephen’s quip with Plato seems futile, more of a chicken and the egg question, when really; maybe we are swimming in ideas and forms. They play with each other. This is what poetry is made of.
And really, God is an idea who came into form through his son Jesus Christ, representing the corporeal, and the Holy Spirit is the medium in which the ideal and corporeal communicate. Still, this dialectic is all apart of the same whole. “Formless spiritual. Father, word and holy breath. Allfather, the heavenly man. Hiesos Kristos, magician of the beautiful, the Logos who suffers in us at every moment (185).” Therefore, Shakespeare’s son is Shakespeare, “the son of his soul, the prince, young Hamlet and to the son of his body, Hamnet…”(188).
Additionally, this talk of the father son relationship seems to hearken back to Bloom as a father figure for Stephen, as we have mentioned before in class. Stephen is the world of the ideal. Perhaps Bloom in the corporeal. “Where there is a reconciliation, there must have been first a sundering” (193). These characters are tied in an interesting, significant way, which I would bet will be brought out even more as the story continues.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)