POLITICAL ELEMENTS IN JAMES JOYCE’S NOVEL ULYSSES

INTRODUCTION

Standing at the confluence of so many literary traditions and genres, James Joyce’s novel has
become the supreme challenge for the theoretical critic of fiction. At one time or another Ulysses
has been presented as a naturalistic drama, a symbolist poem, a comic epic in prose, even a
conventional novel of character and situation.

The problem I shall consider in this paper is, as its title indicates what the importance of politics
in the narration and in the life of the characters of this novel is, and how these political elements
are being reflected in Ulysses. Politics are usually identified with the political discourse and
political parties, but the term has a wider range of meaning. It is neither just ‘political talk’, nor
is it the persuasive discourse of attracting people to one side or another or the belonging to a
certain political party. The political discourse usually has a certain type of language and pre-
established target. It expresses in a quite direct speech the problems that exist and the suggestion
of a politician how to solve them. It is subjective, has only one purpose and the language used
follows the accomplishment of this purpose. But political beliefs or opinions can also be
expressed through literature, in a more subtle and even aesthetical way, using proper contexts
and characters with different points of view which brought together, contrast with one another
and point out a predominant idea or a couple of major ideas.

James Joyce’s Ulysses repels this conventional political discourse, it rejects institutionalized
politics, the form in which they exist, the way people use it, and the means by which one tries to
achieve something of a national interest. In his novel, using characters like the Citizen, Joyce
reveals his own negative opinion toward the relation between Ireland and England and the
economical decline of the first caused by the latter. But he also brings nationalism to an extent to
which it loses its initial purpose and becomes national hatred and anti-Semitism.

Instead Joyce is interested in the political imaginary, and maybe in an ideal representation and
existence of politics. His novels contain numerous references to Ireland’s history, but also to the
one of England colonizing Ireland, to events on the political scene, to the tensed relation between
Protestants and Catholics, to Jew’s image in Ireland and not only, to the Irish Literary Revival
and to nationalists’ acts of violence.
My methods of research have been the analysis of the most relevant situations, or conversations
between characters where politics or religion were the topics discussed, and of some of the major
characters’ perspectives on these matters. This research has an interdisciplinary dimension as it
brings together a literary text and a domain of the society, of the civilization, namely politics.

In the first chapter entitled Historical and Political Background in Ulysses, the focus of my study
is on the historical background of the narration of Ulysses and of the issues raised here, on the
events on the political scene in Ireland and England and on the importance of the literary
Movements which wanted to make the Irish rediscover their identity. The English occupation
was the beginning of all Ireland’s economical, religious and identity problems. The colonization
of Protestants in Ulster, the north part of the country, caused tensions between them, who were
English and so favored by the occupier, and the Catholics. The repeated attempts of Irish
politicians toward Home Rule and the rise of the Protestant leader Charles Stewart Parnell are
facts often mentioned or hinted at, in the novel. Joyce shows his own admiration for the
‘Uncrowned King of Ireland’, as Parnell was dubbed, through his own characters’ favorable
view on him. The chapter also presents the Celtic Revival in all its aspects, from its purposes to
its actual effect on the people. Joyce, although considered one of the most important writers of
this literary movement, was against it and criticized its means of promoting the Irish culture.

The second chapter focuses more on Joyce’s own opinion about politics in general and the
reasons and consequences of his self-imposed exile. In the sub-chapter The Irish Identity-
Nationalism in Ulysses and in Joyce’s life I have made the distinction between the terms
‘nation’, ‘nationalism’ and ‘’nationality’, the first one representing a group sharing a common
culture-political self-definition, the second, racial and ideological desire, and the last one, a
notion of differentiation from other, exterior nationalities, determining itself through a number of
marked criteria. The distinction may help one to interpret the narrative representation of national
memory and national visions in Ulysses. Joyce’s life long self-imposed exile did not make him
forget or love less his own country. He was always interested in what was happening in Ireland,
and made himself a preoccupation from describing Dublin and its people. He das always denied
any interest in politics, but he was never indifferent to it. An actual implication in this field
would have ruined his career as a writer. In Ulysses he expresses more or less directly his
political convictions using the voice of his characters.

In the chapter entitled Religion and Language, I have presented as the title indicates, the role and
importance of religion in the lives of the Irish and the way language helped Joyce express
himself in the novel, but also the type of language the Irish people used. Because the Irish were
Catholics, religion was a moral force which guided and encouraged them to release themselves
from the English tyranny. Yet, Joyce condemns Papacy for narrowing the mind of the people, for
controlling them, and for not having helped them when they needed most. As Joyce decided to
leave his Catholic beliefs and take another way, a more creative and liberal one, he criticized the
Church and the clergy for encouraging nationalism, but for following their own interest and for
accusing the great Irish leader of adultery and so, for causing his fall. Still, Catholicism was
something which motivated the Irish, and had such a great importance that it was not abandoned
for the religion of the oppressor which could have also brought them some material advantages.

Language was also an issue for the Irish, as many had forgotten their national language and had
been obliged to borrow the language of the colonizer. In Ulysses, Joyce presents this fact by
introducing an English character, Haines, who is the only one that still knows Irish and has
Stephen Dedalus take part at some discussions about language at the National Library. Joyce
created a new type of language by mixing English words with Irish phrases. He was fascinated
with it and stated that he could do with it whatever he wanted. So the way he expresses his
thoughts in a concrete form, and the way in which the reader understands the meaning is
mediated by this specific kind of language.

Having presented the background and the author’s own points of view on some issues I have left
the last of the chapters for a concrete analysis on the text. I have chosen some of the most
important moments in the novel, such as Mr. Deasy’s and Stephen’s conversation, Dedalus’
performance at the National Library, Leopold Blooms’s encounter with the Citizen at Barney
Kiernans’ and Molly’s monologue and I have pointed out the political references, issues about
nationalism , literary Revival, Jews, Catholics and Protestants. I have divided the chapter in five
smaller parts, which follow exacly these conversations or personal views but I have also
considered a more complex structure of Ulysses, namely the three major points of view on
politics and life in general of three major charaters which make up a triangle.