Beastly Dead (8 of 783)
I so enjoy a good story that I get caught up in the tale and often take the author's words literally, missing even the obvious symbolism. This sucked some 0f the joy out of literature classes, either the stories were such horrid reads that they existed only for their symbolism (think Hawthorne), or I was so busy looking for the "deeper" meaning I missed the story.
I'm going to miss a lot of symbolism in Ulysses, even with close reading. Joyce has layered it to the margins. Of course, one man's symbol is another's straightforward sentence. Words can be holographic, with multiple meanings intertwined along different wavelengths. The meaning can depend on the reader's phase, which can change depending on mood, circumstance, memory, and sanity. Some wavelengths are easily tuned, and others defy easy acquisition and are rarely revealed.
And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
The previous page had Kinch on the edge of revealing why he was upset with Buck. The mystery is revealed here. He is upset with Buck because is not showing the proper reverence for his state of mourning, in particular because Buck had introduced Kinch to his own mother with "O, it's only Dedalus whose mother is beastly dead." Buck flushes and takes the offensive to defend this comment, trivializing Kinch's sole experience with death by comparing it to his own daily encounters and trivializing death itself as "a beastly thing and nothing else." He attacks Kinch for not honoring his dying mother's last wish to pray for her, and finally less than quarter-heartedly apologizes "I didn't mean to offend the memory of your mother."
Kinch even more incensed states "I am not thinking of the offence to my mother."
Conflict: the basis of all interesting literature. Buck comes across as shallow and cynical at best, even if emotional detachment and the denial of death are necessary tools for a medicine man. Kinch is more sympathetic because his mother has recently died, but is refusal to pray for her tempers this feeling.
Now, is Kinch's dead mother a symbol with a deeper meaning? a way to make the reader feel for Kinch? or is it simply a source of conflict bewteen our two characters?
If it is a symbol, what is it a symbol of? the Catholic church? Ireland? the world? The last makes some sense. The feminine is more closely associated with the earth than the masculine, with its more heavenly aspirations. Does this mean the world is dead?
Does any of this tie into the "Greekness" of Kinch? Too early to tell, but the way Joyce has carried on about it, I'm sure we'll be discussing this again, and again, and again...
I'm going to miss a lot of symbolism in Ulysses, even with close reading. Joyce has layered it to the margins. Of course, one man's symbol is another's straightforward sentence. Words can be holographic, with multiple meanings intertwined along different wavelengths. The meaning can depend on the reader's phase, which can change depending on mood, circumstance, memory, and sanity. Some wavelengths are easily tuned, and others defy easy acquisition and are rarely revealed.
And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
The previous page had Kinch on the edge of revealing why he was upset with Buck. The mystery is revealed here. He is upset with Buck because is not showing the proper reverence for his state of mourning, in particular because Buck had introduced Kinch to his own mother with "O, it's only Dedalus whose mother is beastly dead." Buck flushes and takes the offensive to defend this comment, trivializing Kinch's sole experience with death by comparing it to his own daily encounters and trivializing death itself as "a beastly thing and nothing else." He attacks Kinch for not honoring his dying mother's last wish to pray for her, and finally less than quarter-heartedly apologizes "I didn't mean to offend the memory of your mother."
Kinch even more incensed states "I am not thinking of the offence to my mother."
Conflict: the basis of all interesting literature. Buck comes across as shallow and cynical at best, even if emotional detachment and the denial of death are necessary tools for a medicine man. Kinch is more sympathetic because his mother has recently died, but is refusal to pray for her tempers this feeling.
Now, is Kinch's dead mother a symbol with a deeper meaning? a way to make the reader feel for Kinch? or is it simply a source of conflict bewteen our two characters?
If it is a symbol, what is it a symbol of? the Catholic church? Ireland? the world? The last makes some sense. The feminine is more closely associated with the earth than the masculine, with its more heavenly aspirations. Does this mean the world is dead?
Does any of this tie into the "Greekness" of Kinch? Too early to tell, but the way Joyce has carried on about it, I'm sure we'll be discussing this again, and again, and again...
posted by DBugger32 | 11:52 PM
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