James Joyce's Ulysses - Balancing Information in Ithaca
"I hold this book [Ulysses] to be the most important expression which the present age has found; it is a book to which we are all indebted, and from which none of us can escape. " T.S. Elliot
In the midst of 'Ithaca,' the climactic second to last episode of Ulysses, James Joyce provides the necessary information for calculating how much excrement, in pounds, is produced annually by the entire population of Ireland (p. 718). The type of information offered is not, however, the most shocking quality of the narrative. Instead, it is the amount of information Joyce presents to the reader that comes as a shock. 'Ithaca' is the only episode in Ulysses which offers too much information. Other episodes offer a distinct lack of information for understanding the text's meaning. In 'Lestrygonians,' for example, recognizing Bloom's sighting of Blazes Boylan is key to understanding Bloom's feelings. Boylan, however, is identified only by his "straw hat in sunlight," a reference to description presented 100 pages earlier in the novel (p.p. 92, 183). The shocking wealth of information offered in 'Ithaca' acts as compensation for the rest of the novel's ambiguity and difficulty. The information allows the reader to draw thematic conclusions that would not have been possible without an increase in the amount of information offered. Not all the information in 'Ithaca' is helpful, however. While some of the information allows important conclusions to be drawn, much of it seems trivial and out-of-place. Information like that offered regarding human excrement serves two purposes. It adds immense enjoyment to what could otherwise be a grave a serious episode. Perhaps more importantly, tri...
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...hat the reader can easily be drawn too far into the light of meaning. When too much information is presented nothing is asked of the reader. This in turn diminishes the intensity of reader experience. In 'Ithaca,' Joyce provides a glimpse of the perfectly balanced narrative: one which offers enough information for a comfortable understanding while leaving the space for an intense, individually-based, reading. It is only when this balance is struck, between information and the lack there of, that the reader can benefit from the softest, most revealing light.
Works Cited and Consulted
Arnold, Armin. James Joyce, Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., Inc, 1971.
Gifford and Seidman. Notes for Joyce. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1974.
Joyce, James. Ulysses. New York: Modern Library, 1992.
Loehrich, Rolf. The Secret of Ulysses. Folcroft, PA: Folcroft Press, 1969.
James Joyce uses sexuality throughout his works to establish an intimate and relatable bond between the reader and the characters in his works. All of Joyce’s works address issues in sexuality, which presents the idea that sexuality was of upmost importance to him. Given that sex is a large part of human existence, it is a good way to get the attention of the reader. A substantial amount of characters throughout Ulysses and A Portrait of the Artist as A Young Man are driven by sexual desire. In fact, there is so much sex throughout in Ulysses that “early publishers and critics refused to publish it because of its vulgarity; the sexuality featured in Ulysses was part of the claims that the novel was obscene” (Ivie). Sex is a wonderful way to connect the reader to the character, and Joyce is talented in being able to bring the reader right into the sexually suggestive minds of the characters. Each character in all of Joyce’s works are defined by their sexuality and are in search of some type of self-identity, and through that idea is how Joyce best portrays that sexuality itself may be defined by adultery, prostitution, and masturbation and other bodily functions.
In Dubliners, written by James Joyce, the characters are faced with critical decisions, which lead to their escaping society. In Ireland at the time, society was going through many problems such as alcoholism, poverty and depression. Joyce wrote this book to explain what types of problems people were going through in Ireland. It seemed as if he also wanted to imply, that change was a good thing. The characters in each of these stories are caught up in the moment, they need to leave their problems behind and look into the future. In result in them not doing so led to loneliness and misery.
James Joyce wrote the book Dubliners; Joyce expresses many different types of emotions throughout the book. The emotions portray individuals in society, and light and dark. The emotions of individuals are examined throughout the stories by other members in society. The stories that express the ideas are: “The Encounter,” “Eveline”, and “The Dead.” The symbolism of individuals in society expresses many different situations that are happening in the characters lives. The symbolism of light goes along with the idea of feeling happy and enjoying life. The theme of dark shows the individuals fighting, and having a negative outlook on life.
Clinical depression goes beyond sadness or having a bad day. It is a form of mental illness that affects the way one feels, thinks, and acts. Depression in children can lead to failure in school, alcohol or other drug abuse and even suicide. The warning signs of depression fall into four different categories: emotional signs, cognitive signs (those involving thinking), physical complaints, and behavioral changes. Depending upon the degree of depression, a child may experience a few symptoms or many. Also, the severity of each symptom may vary. According to the CQ Researcher, "School
James Joyce created a collection of short stories in Dubliners describing the time and place he grew up in. At the time it was written, Joyce intends to portray to the people of Dublin the problems with the Irish lifestyles. Many of these stories share a reoccurring theme of a character’s desire to escape his or her responsibilities in regards to his relationship with his, job, money situation, and social status; this theme is most prevalent in After the Race, Counterparts, and The Dead.
Santos, Marlisa. "To Kill A Mockingbird." Bloom, Harold. The Hero's Journey. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 2009. 207-213.
In the story Dubliners by James Joyce, he writes about a few different themes, some of these being autonomy, responsibility, light, and dark. The most important of the themes though must be the individual character in the story against the community and the way they see it. I have chosen to take a closer look at “Araby,” “Eveline,” and “The Dead” because the great display of these themes I feel is fascinating. Many things affect the way the individual characters see the community, for example their family, friends, fellow citizens, or even new places. In Dubliners, the way the characters see the community affects them and other people around them.
Studies show that up to nine percent of teenagers meet criteria for depression at any one time, with as many as one in five teens having a history of depression at some point during adolescence (Cheung et al., 2007). Symptoms in adolescents can manifest differently than in adults due to the physical and social challenges that teenagers encounter. Some of the challenges that teenagers encounter that might lead to depression are peer pressure, changes due to developing bodies, changing hormone levels, peer pressure and sports among others. These challenges present in a teenager’s life can cause high levels of stress and anxiety that affect the teenager’s life in different areas such as school, work, family and their personal, social and family lives. Due to the challenges confronted when living with depression, it is completely necessary to seek professional help once symptoms
Most adults and many children and adolescents have a few bad days here and there, sometimes three or four in a row. When this happens, your mood is bad, you feel like jumping on people for nothing. You sleep, but you do not rest. You eat, but you are not hungry. Your life is one big chore. Everything that was fun is work and what usually is work is like walking with lead boots. Often you have stomach aches, headaches, aching, dizziness and other symptoms, but the doctors can not find anything wrong. When family and friends want to talk, you do not listen. If you can, you stay alone and wish they would all just go away. And you think about what you have got to do, and you wish you could put it off for ever. And about what you have done, and about what could go wrong, and how you could never live like this for 30 more years.
Throughout Dubliners James Joyce deliberately effaces the traditional markers of the short story: causality, closure, etc. In doing so, "the novel continually offers up texts which mark their own complexity by highlighting the very thing which traditional realism seeks to conceal: the artifice and insufficiency inherent in a writer's attempt to represent reality.(Seidel 31)" By refusing to take a reductive approach towards the world(s) he presents on the page - to offer up "meaning" or "ending" - Joyce moves the reader into complex and unsettling epistemological and ontological realms. Meaning is no longer unitary and prescriptive, the author will not reveal (read impose) what the story "means" at its close and therefore we can't definitively "know" anything about it. Instead, meaning, like modernism, engenders its own multiplicity in Joyce's works, diffuses into something necessarily plural: meanings. An ontological crisis is inextricable from this crisis of meaning and representation. In Joyce's stories the reader is displaced from her/his traditionally passive role as receptor of the knowledge an author seeks to impart, and "positioned as both reader and writer of text, in some ways playing as integral a part in constructing the work as the author does.(Benstock 17)"
Major mood disorders are characterized by emotional extremes. The person who only goes “down” emotionally suffers from a major depressive disorder. During major depressive episodes, everything looks bleak and hopeless. The person has feelings of failure, worthlessness, and total despair (Coon, 2013). Essentially it causes a constant sense of hopelessness and despair, and may be difficult to work, study, sleep, eat, and enjoy friends and activities. Depression indeed can be deadly.
In writing about the experience of reading Ulysses, one critic has commented that "it's rather like wearing earphones plugged into someone's brain, and monitoring an endless tape-recording of the subject's impressions, reflections, questions, memories and fantasies, as they are triggered either by physical sensations or the association of ideas" (Lodge 47). Indeed, the aural sense plays a crucial role throughout much of the novel. But in the "Wandering Rocks" section especially, one experiences a sort of sensory overload as one is presented with nineteen vignettes of one hour in the life of Dublin's denizens which, while seemingly disparate, are skillfully connected events.
Childhood depression has only been recognized as a real clinical problem for about twenty-two years. Before that time, children that exhibited signs that are now recognized as depression were thought to be behavioral problems that the child would grow out of. Psychiatrists believed that children were too emotionally and cognitively immature to suffer from true depression. Childhood was thought to be a carefree, happy time, void of worry and concerns and therefore it was thought that their problems were not serious enough to merit depression. Traumas such as divorce, incest and abuse were not clearly understood how they could effect children in the long range. Childhood depression differs in many aspects from adult depression and widely went unrecognized academic performance, withdrawal and rejection of friends and favorite activities. Some exhibit hyperactivity, while others complain of fatigue and illness often. Many times these symptoms are thought to ‘be just a phase’ in their children, and overlooked as signs of depression.
...verything you and your child need to know about sports, Physical activity, and good health - a doctor’s guide for parents an coaches. New York: Newmarket Press.
It may even come abruptly, happening in just a few weeks or days. Nervous breakdowns are commonly associated with depression and are often identified due to the confusion and fear that depression brings. Depression heavily influences emotions and one’s outlook on life and more than often ends up changing a person’s life in a major way. People experiencing depression often feel sad every day and cry very often, making that too another daily routine. Even when participating in activities that used to bring joy, people begin to lose interest and begin secluding themselves from people and things they love. Depression still exists in the teen population and recently has begun increasing in numbers. Reports of depression in teenagers have shown different signs from those of adults. Physical complaints are very common in the younger crowd, including stomachaches and headaches. It also leads to or is in correlation with eating disorders or abnormality, social withdrawal, and of course, depressed mood. They may feel unenthusiastic about school and other activities. Their sleeping patterns become irregular and unhealthy, they may sleep more, but still feel an extreme lack of energy or enthusiasm. Elderly people with depression usually complain of physical rather than emotional