Themes, Motifs & Symbols---- James Joyce: Ulysses Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal

ideas explored in a literary work. The Quest for Paternity At its most basic level, Ulysses is a book about Stephen s search for a symbolic father and !loom s search for a son. "n this respect, the plot of Ulysses parallels Telemachus s search for #dysseus, and vice versa, in The #dyssey. !loom s search for a son stems at least in part from his need to reinforce his identity and herita$e throu$h pro$eny. Stephen already has a biolo$ical father, Simon %edalus, but considers him a father only in &flesh.' Stephen feels that his own ability to mature and become a father himself (of art or children) is restricted by Simon s criticism and lack of understandin$. Thus Stephen s search involves findin$ a symbolic father who will, in turn, allow Stephen himself to be a father. !oth men, in truth, are searchin$ for paternity as a way to reinforce their own identities. Stephen is more conscious of his *uest for paternity than !loom, and he mentally recurs to several important motifs with which to understand paternity. Stephen s thinkin$ about the +oly Trinity involves, on the one hand, ,hurch doctrines that uphold the unity of the -ather and the Son and, on the other hand, the writin$s of heretics that challen$e this doctrine by ar$uin$ that .od created the rest of the Trinity, concludin$ that each subse*uent creation is inherently different. Stephen s second motif involves his +amlet theory, which seeks to prove that Shakespeare represented himself throu$h the $host/father in +amlet, but also0throu$h his translation of his life into art0became the father of his own father, of his life, and &of all his race.' The +oly Trinity and +amlet motifs reinforce our sense of Stephen s and !loom s parallel *uests for paternity. These *uests seem to end in !loom s kitchen, with !loom reco$ni1in$ &the future' in Stephen and Stephen reco$ni1in$ &the past' in !loom. Thou$h united as father and son in this moment, the men will soon part ways, and their paternity *uests will undoubtedly continue, for Ulysses demonstrates that the *uest for paternity is a search for a lastin$ manifestation of self. The Remorse of Conscience The phrase a$enbite of inwit, a reli$ious term meanin$ &remorse of conscience,' comes to Stephen s mind a$ain and a$ain in Ulysses. Stephen associates the phrase with his $uilt over his mother s death0he suspects that he may have killed her by refusin$ to kneel and pray at her sickbed when she asked. The theme of remorse runs throu$h Ulysses to address the feelin$s associated with modern breaks with family and tradition. !loom, too, has $uilty feelin$s about his father because he no lon$er observes certain traditions his father observed, such as keepin$ kosher. 2pisode -ifteen, &,irce,' dramati1es this remorse as !loom s &Sins of the 3ast' rise up and confront him one by one. Ulysses 4uxtaposes characters who experience remorse with characters who do not, such as !uck 5ulli$an, who shamelessly refers to Stephen s mother as &beastly dead,' and Simon %edalus, who mourns his late wife but does not re$ret his treatment of her. Thou$h remorse of conscience can have a repressive, paraly1in$ effect, as in Stephen s case, it is also va$uely positive. A self/conscious awareness of the past, even the sins of the past, helps constitute an individual as an ethical bein$ in the present.

Compassion as Heroic "n nearly all senses, the notion of 6eopold !loom as an epic hero is lau$hable0 his 4ob, talents, family relations, public relations, and private actions all su$$est his utter ordinariness. "t is only !loom s extraordinary capacity for sympathy and compassion that allows him an unironic heroism in the course of the novel. !loom s fluid ability to empathi1e with such a wide variety of bein$s0cats, birds, do$s, dead men, vicious men, blind men, old ladies, a woman in labor, the poor, and so on0is the modern/day e*uivalent to #dysseus s capacity to adapt to a wide variety of challen$es. !loom s compassion often dictates the course of his day and the novel, as when he stops at the river 6iffey to feed the $ulls or at the hospital to check on 5rs. 3urefoy. There is a network of symbols in Ulysses that present !loom as "reland s savior, and his messa$e is, at a basic level, to &love.' +e is 4uxtaposed with Stephen, who would also be "reland s savior but is lackin$ in compassion. !loom returns home, faces evidence of his cuckold status, and slays his competition0not with arrows, but with a refocused perspective that is available only throu$h his fluid capacity for empathy. Parallax, or the Nee for Multiple Perspecti!es 3arallax is an astronomical term that !loom encounters in his readin$ and that arises repeatedly throu$h the course of the novel. "t refers to the difference of position of one ob4ect when seen from two different vanta$e points. These differin$ viewpoints can be collated to better approximate the position of the ob4ect. As a novel, Ulysses uses a similar tactic. Three main characters0Stephen, !loom, and 5olly0and a subset of narrative techni*ues that affect our perception of events and characters combine to demonstrate the fallibility of one sin$le perspective. #ur understandin$ of particular characters and events must be continually revised as we consider further perspectives. The most obvious example is 5olly s past love life. Thou$h we can construct a 4ud$ment of 5olly as a loose woman from the testimonies of various characters in the novel0 !loom, 6enehan, %ixon, and so on0this 4ud$ment must be revised with the inte$ration of 5olly s own final testimony. Motifs 5otifs are recurrin$ structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text s ma4or themes. "i#htness an $ar%ness The traditional associations of li$ht with $ood and dark with bad are upended in Ulysses, in which the two prota$onists are dressed in mournin$ black, and the more menacin$ characters are associated with li$ht and bri$htness. This reversal arises in part as a reaction to 5r. %easy s anti/Semitic 4ud$ment that Jews have &sinned a$ainst the li$ht.' %easy himself is associated with the bri$htness of coins, representin$ wealth without spirituality. &!la1es' !oylan, !loom s nemesis, is associated with bri$htness throu$h his name and his flashy behavior, a$ain su$$estin$ surface without substance. !loom s and Stephen s dark colors su$$est a variety of associations: Jewishness, anarchy, outsider7wanderer status. -urthermore, Throwaway, the &dark horse,' wins the .old ,up +orserace. The Home &surpe 8hile #dysseus is away from "thaca in The #dyssey, his household is usurped by would/be suitors of his wife, 3enelope. This motif translates directly to Ulysses and provides a connection between Stephen and !loom. Stephen pays the rent for the

5artello tower, where he, !uck, and +aines are stayin$. !uck s demand of the house key is thus a usurpation of Stephen s household ri$hts, and Stephen reco$ni1es this and refuses to return to the tower. Stephen mentally dramati1es this usurpation as a replay of ,laudius s usurpation of .ertrude and the throne in +amlet. 5eanwhile, !loom s home has been usurped by !la1es !oylan, who comes and $oes at will and has sex with 5olly in !loom s absence. Stephen s and !loom s lack of house keys throu$hout Ulysses symboli1es these usurpations. The 'ast The motif of the 2ast appears mainly in !loom s thou$hts. -or !loom, the 2ast is a place of exoticism, representin$ the promise of a paradisiacal existence. !loom s ha1y conception of this faraway land arises from a network of connections: the planter s companies (such as A$endeth 9etaim), which su$$est newly fertile and potentially profitable homes: ;ionist movements for a homeland: 5olly and her childhood in .ibraltar: narcotics: and erotics. -or !loom and the reader, the 2ast becomes the ima$inative space where hopes can be reali1ed. The only place where 5olly, Stephen, and !loom all meet is in their parallel dreams of each other the ni$ht before, dreams that seem to be set in an 2astern locale. Symbols Symbols are ob4ects, characters, fi$ures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts. Plumtree(s Potte Meat "n 2pisode -ive, !loom reads an ad in his newspaper: &8hat is home without 7 3lumtree s 3otted 5eat< 7 "ncomplete. 7 8ith it an abode of bliss.' !loom s conscious reaction is his belief that the ad is poorly placed0directly below the obituaries, su$$estin$ an infelicitous relation between dead bodies and &potted meat.' #n a subconscious level, however, the fi$ure of 3lumtree s 3otted 5eat comes to stand for !loom s anxieties about !oylan s usurpation of his wife and home. The ima$e of meat inside a pot crudely su$$ests the sexual relation between !oylan and 5olly. The wordin$ of the ad further su$$ests, less concretely, !loom s masculine anxieties0he worries that he is not the head of an &abode of bliss' but rather a servant in a home &incomplete.' The connection between 3lumtree s meat and !loom s anxieties about 5olly s unhappiness and infidelity is driven home when !loom finds crumbs of the potted meat that !oylan and 5olly shared earlier in his own bed. The )ol Cup Horserace The afternoon s .old ,up +orserace and the bets placed on it provide much of the public drama in Ulysses, thou$h it happens offsta$e. "n 2pisode -ive, !antam 6yons mistakenly thinks that !loom has tipped him off to the horse &Throwaway,' the dark horse with a lon$/shot chance. &Throwaway' does end up winnin$ the race, notably oustin$ &Sceptre,' the horse with the phallic name, on which 6enehan and !oylan have bet. This underdo$ victory represents !loom s eventual unshowy triumph over !oylan, to win the &.old ,up' of 5olly s heart. Stephen(s "atin Quarter Hat Stephen deliberately conceives of his 6atin =uarter hat as a symbol. The 6atin =uarter is a student district in 3aris, and Stephen hopes to su$$est his exiled, anti/ establishment status while back in "reland. +e also refers to the hat as his &+amlet hat,' tippin$ us off to the intentional broodin$ and artistic connotations of the head $ear. >et

Stephen cannot always control his own hat as a symbol, especially in the eyes of others. Throu$h the eyes of others, it comes to si$nify Stephen s mock priest/liness and provinciality. *loom(s Potato Talisman "n 2pisode -ifteen, !loom s potato functions like #dysseus s use of &moly' in ,irce s den0it serves to protect him from enchantment, enchantments to which !loom succumbs when he briefly $ives it over to ;oe +i$$ins. The potato, old and shriveled now, is an heirloom from !loom s mother, 2llen. As an or$anic product that is both fruit and root but is now shriveled, it $estures toward !loom s anxieties about fertility and his family line. 5ost important, however, is the potato s connection to "reland0!loom s potato talisman stands for his fre*uently overlooked maternal "rish herita$e.