Joyce 65-135 (10.11.2005)

While in the first section of the reading Stephen commonly identified with literary figures, this section is characterized by an evident shift in Stephen’s perception of life. Stephen’s childhood is characterized by memories of his father and Clongowes, but Stephen now becomes confused about the pressures he faced in his early years. As his conscious streams, he realizes that “the constant voices of his father and of his masters, urging him to be a gentleman above all things and urging him to be a good catholic above all things…had now come to be hollowsounding in his ears” (83). Essentially, Stephen portrays the past as unfilled, vacant and artificial. He sees no life in his childhood, constantly reflecting that “his childhood was dead or lost and with it is soul capable of simple joys, and he was drifting amid life like the barren shell of the moon” (96). Stephen apparently feels disconnected with the real world. He is unable to relate to those around him, even his father, becoming lost in a sea of confusion and developing a desperate need to ground himself. Stephen fulfills this need by repeating “I am Stephen Dedalus. I am walking beside my father whose name is Simon Dedlaus. We are in Cork, in Ireland. Cork is a city. Our room is in the Victoria Hotel. Victoria and Stephen and Simon. Simon and Stephen and Victoria. Names” (92). Stephen isn’t able to connect with the emotions of the world or life, only with the simple surface issues, such as names.

The reader soon finds out that it is in the play that Stephen finds life. While practicing the play did not bring a connection to Stephen’s life, “it surprised him to see that the play which he had known at rehearsals for a disjointed lifeless thing had suddenly assumed a life of its own. It seemed now to play itself, he and his fellow actors aiding it with their parts” (85). The play, the once artificial aspect of Stephen’s life, has no taken on a life of itself. Stephen begins to realize the way that acting can mirror life, the drama of life.

I think this shift is interesting in light of the title of the novel. In this section, we clearly see the relationship between the art of the artist and the life of the young man. Will this pattern continue with the life and vivacity of art continuing to be formed? Or will the real world triumph? I think it’s also interesting how Stephen only finds life in one of the two worlds, never in both. Will he continue living on the extremes of the concepts or will he find a fulfilling balance between art and the real world? Will Stephen find a connection with others or will he continue in a world of solitude and names?