For a different course of study, an ancient one, a legend

Charles A. Watson
EDUC327
Journal 3
February 28, 2014

JOURNAL 3: on JAMES JOYCE’S ULYSSES

Chapter 11 of Ulysses begins with the tune-up of a symphony and the various noises of accompaniment before the grand overture.  The sounds ebb and flow like the tide against the rocks, like a mirror of what’s happening and a foreshadowing of what is to follow.

The chapter is a parallel of ‘The Sirens’ from Homer’s Odyssey and reflects this tale through barmaids in an Irish pub, the brass and the bronze of Miss Kennedy and Miss Douce.  A few lines from this rich text capture the essence of the tail of human nature and our desire to be recognized and cash in using physical beauties and eloquence.

Author Joyce describes this connection:  “She looked fine.  Clove her breath was always in theatre when she bent to ask a question.  Told her what Spinoza says in that book of poor papa’s.  Hypnotised, listening.  Eyes like that.  She bent.  Chap in dresscircle staring down into her with his operaglass for all he was worth.  Beauty of music you must hear twice.  Nature woman half a look.  God made the country man the tune.  Met him pike hoses. Philosophy.  O rocks!” (11:1056)

This event is one tiny piece of a giant puzzle of what happens during the afternoon of a friend’s funeral and the cacophony of voices and tavern sounds; a din of human interaction and need for a slice of affection.  Attention.  That’s what we humans need.  Accompanied with a chalice or snifter of an Irish potable, and we can either remember our friend in bliss or forget about the pain of the loss.

Part of my study is to uncover and analyze religious references for their symbolism (and irony).  Of course, in a chapter equated with the Sirens of the Greek myth, one would find little religion.  More than the others, this chapter also contains a political subtext, much like the Odyssey, as witnessed in the songs and thoughts of patrons that afternoon in the pub.  Except, as the author of this tome so expertly weaves, Joyce’s religious, historical, and literary studies allowed him to develop his characters based on deep Irish legend.  “Pray for him, prayed the bass of Dollard.  You who hear in peace.  Breathe a prayer, drop a tear good men, good people.  He was the croppy boy.”  (11:1139)  This passage caught my attention as part of this social scene on a day of sorrow and some joy.

But who was the croppy boy?  As I spoke with my professor for this independent study, he reminded me of the history behind Ireland and the persecution preceding the turn of the 19^th Century.  The croppy boy wore a short haircut in protest to the long hair and wigs of British aristocracy during the 1798 uprising and rebelling, inspired by the French and American Revolution.  The united Irishmen of the British Empire, wanted separate and religious liberty, and an end to its superstition, old ways, and bad blood.  The character ballad follows the croppy boy on his way to Wexford to join battle.  The last of his family, he gave a confession to a priest, promising to “bare no hatred, love my country, and love my king.”  But the priest was actually a British soldier in disguise and the soldier was hung.  The Irish had been fooled by the English.

Our main character, Leopold Bloom, carries much of the point of view throughout the novel.  In this grieving, the reader is reminded of the connection between Irish history, the persecution, the Odyssey, and what we lose with the passing of a friend.

Bloom heard a jing, a little sound.  He’s off.  Light sob of breath Bloom sighed on the silent bluehued flowers.  Jingling.  He’s gone.  Jingle.  Hear.

—Love and War, Ben, Mr. Dedalus said.  God be with old times. (11:457)

Verbs: It’s what’s for breakfast

After the early stages of learning to babble and form subjects and objects based on sight, a child gradually gains confidence in describing action.  This likely has something to do with learning to walk, climb, count, go potty, take a bath, eat properly, and generally become more self-sufficient.  In this way a child recognizes that he or she is learning and takes pride in new accomplishments.  Perhaps it is not until the act of learning to read that the child finds meaning in the tasks performed over the course of any given day.  Or, after a routine is developed, what a child does on specific days of the week or in season.  Teachers (and parents) see these results when a child writes about significant topics and events that are important to his or her grand scheme.  The assignments for this discussion demonstrate this progression:  He sees a cow; The doggy will bite; Kathryn no like celery; Pig say oink; Where does Daddy go?

After a child forms self-identity (is) and discovers cause and effect through reading and writing, he or she begins to form complete sentences.  But, like entering the swimming pool with a wade through the shallow end, the child lacks confidence to take the plunge.  He might feel that a proper dive is appropriate before he can go in the deep end, but only if he has learned this technique.  Some kids will just go for it and plunge!  After this act of getting her face wet in the deep end, she can utilize the transitive action verbs in sentences containing direct and indirect objects.

With appropriate support, kids are very creative thinkers in all levels of grade school.  They want to tell a story.  The first instinct is not to say is or have.  A cow moos; Daddy goes bowling; Mommy looks at nail polish.  Present tense.  Yet, is becomes the easy way out, the route to self-confidence in writing.

As a perennial child and student of language, I recognize the need for action verbs and how complex this can be, especially when communicating in past and future tense.  Our conversations contain both.  Our essays should be confined to one or the other, perhaps.  Transitive verbs bestow the act of movement.  We are in transition.

Dinner preparations start at 5:45 p.m.  Don’t be late!  I ate two helpings of spaghetti before I even got to my salad.  And that was after the mushroom appetizer.  Stuffed!  I needed a walk.  We walked for two miles before the long July sunset.  Crash.

As a teacher, a writer, and always an editor, my gift that I acquired in early childhood education will serve my students and children forever.  There is no end.

Vernacular, what we know is how we speak

What books did you read as a kid?  What kind?  How did your family speak to you?  How did your friends communicate with you?  Did you ever enjoy reading and writing?  Was there a significant body of water near your home—a mountain, a forest, a timber?  For how many years did you live in your childhood home?  Where did you move to?  Who were your new friends?  What was the educational level of the parents of these new friends?  Did you drive a car?  What kind was it?  What was the water like where you lived—did it taste good?  Where did it come from?  Who were your mentors when you were young?  Where did they come from?  What was their educational level?  Did they have college degrees?  Did they speak in complete sentences? Did you move again?  Was this place Anglo-Saxon, Creole, Cajun, Algonquin, Espagñol. Viking?  Irish, Jewish, Polish, Franco, Sicilian, Greek, Czech or Hmong?  The India Café is the best restaurant in town. Weekday buffet, too.

What types of foods did you eat when you were young?  Bsghetti, skwarsh, mostakeeolee, or a ‘burger with catchup, deezhon, and bread and butter dills on a Kaiser bun?  Who was your girlfriend? Boyfriend? Best friend?  Yo BFF?  What kind of dog or cat did you have—a Scottie, a beagle, a French poodle, or an Afghan?  A Doberman pincer, German shepherd, Shetland, a collied bitch?  A tabby, an Abysinian, a Siamese?  Tom, calico, alley, green-eyed, yellow-eyed, went away one summer and never come home.

Who was your favorite author? What did that person call home?  Where’s he from? That novel I saw you reading—what’s that? Quelle heure est-il?  Gotta go.

Remember that trip to the Palisades? The Hamptons? The promenade at Muskogee?

How are you today?  Did you sleep well?  What would you like for breakfast?  I’m sorry, I forget you’re a big kid now.  Scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon. Overeasy, sunny-side up, poached, soft-boiled, hard-boiled, runny.  Hash browns!  A-fries, diced, sliced, burnt toast, overdone.  Whole grain, gluten free, farm fresh, the way to be.  Toaster Streüdel, stroodel, strudoll, strew dull.  Stomach ache, tummy hurts, ’guts gonna explode, bloated, passed. Over now. Over. Over easy.

Are you ready for school?  Git goin!  C’mon, you’ll be late!  Where’s that stupid bus?

Hello! Hey. How are you?  Git in here.  Where you been?  Why are you late?  Do you know what fuckin’ time it is?  Watson, come here I want you.

G’night, bon soir, sweet dreams, don’t let the bedbugs bite, silence.  Please close the closet door. Silence…

Listen to the radio, ear buds, headphones, snooze, NPR, today’s hits, smooth jazz… silence

Radiohead, The Presidents of the United States of America, Weezer, Miles Davis, Maroon 5, One Direction, Cheap Trick, Hotel California.

Christian Science Monitor, Ebony, WIRED, a playboy for the articles, The Constitution, Th’New Yoikah, LA Times, Herald, Sentinel, Press-Citizen, this Huffington post.

What’d your daddy do?  Do you know who the father is?  That’s what momma said.

We watched The Simpsons after supper, Bart told no lies and Maggie lost her stopper.
We watched Blue Velvet by David Lynch, with that crazy Dennis Hopper.

Who’s to say, whad’ya mean?  What r u kray kray? [cray-cray] Ok?  KK.  Mmkay

What I’m really trying to say is, it happened like this, like that.  I wasn’t even looking.  Not watching, just observing.

It was on the news, in my feed.  Cape Canaveral. Houston.  Just pause…. Blink! Let it sink. Think about it.  What do you drink?  Where did it come from?  Tell me ’bout it.  Fohgettaboutit.  Whereabouts?

You didn’t answer me.  Tell me.  I wanna know.

Love you.  Luv ya.  You.  Yeah.  Yah!  ’Nite now.  G’night.  Good night.

Let the voyage begin, a floating boat of newsprint

Charles A. Watson
Independent Study
Ulysses: Journal 2
Thursday, February 6, 2014

Reflections on Gifford’s Annotations, Time,
and More Thoughts of Leopold Bloom

Don Gifford’s annotated notes provide significant historical background for the novel, Ulysses, particularly since I had a different version of the novel to start and little point of reference upon reading the first chapter, Telemachus.  In the introduction, Gifford notes the confluence of two orders of literary time: the dramatic, a single revolution of the sun, and the Aristotle epic with no limits of time. (Gifford, 2)  The Odyssey began less than three weeks before Odysseus landed at Ithaca, but years after his departure from Troy, before moving forward into the events at Ithaca—a flashback.   In this instance, we must also note the significance of three to the trinity and all religious symbolism whether or not coincidental to Homer and Joyce.

As a literary pioneer in this model of storytelling, James Joyce uses the clock passively, more like Aristotle, and not for dramatic purpose.  There is no significant time deadline—yet.  During the timeframe thus far, Stephen and Leopold’s interactions seldom intersect.  This is not necessarily stream-of-consciousness writing as every chapter has a logical purpose and reflective connection to the Odyssey.  The incomplete sentences, surreal thoughts, and occurring memories reinforce human nature during this time at the turn of the 20^th Century in Dublin, a port on the island nation of Ireland.

This background knowledge establishes the twist of religious ambiguity throughout the early chapters, in particular the role of Catholic men and women in this time and how the worlds of Jews and Catholics can never directly intersect.  Joyce clings to this philosophical difference and this will become a significant part of this study.  We get a sense that if Leopold Bloom were to restore his faith—any faith at all—perhaps he would spend less time walking by himself and more of it in his partner’s company.  But this is a true epic tale and with the conveyance of truth.

Gifford’s annotations of Telemachus remind us that Joyce introduces keys to connecting The Odyssey and the rites of Catholicism, a reminder that the truth lie in the Latin, and to consider these when digesting the narrative: Epi oinopa ponton means “Upon the wine dark sea”. (1.78)

He describes Buck Mulligan’s glance and “His grey searching eyes,” also indicative of the Grey-eyed goddess Athena (1.86) setting the tone of many oyster shell eye references to come.  Gifford also indicates the significance of Dublin vernacular and its importance to a storyline, and a nod to the economy of its people.  Terms like bowsy, “an unemployed layabout who loves nothing better than to shout abusive remarks, usually of sexual nature, after passing girls,” remind the reader that the gentlemen we will read about are ordinary and also hungry for success in a new century. (1.117)

Trying to bring Stephen out of his melancholy and black-wearing, Catholic mourning almost one year after his mother’s death as was custom, his friend Buck Mulligan reminds him “Don’t mope over it all day.  I’m inconsequent.  Give up the moody brooding.” (1.235–36) Gifford’s research connects this to Antinous’s blustering speech to Telemachus after the suitors refuse Telemachus’ appeal in the Ithacan assembly, that they end the state of siege in Odysseus’ house:  High-handed Telemachus, control your temper! / Come on, get over it, no more grim thoughts, / but feast and drink with me, the way you used to”. (2:303–5; Fitzgerald, p. 40) This is in effect what Gertrude says to Hamlet on her and Claudius’ behalf (I.ii. 68–73.)

Through this one passage, the connection of religious symbolism, the Odyssey, and Hamlet are all laid out.  Gifford’s translation and reference indicate what will come in this reading and how this reference and imagery are important to healing for Stephen Dedalus.  Unsure of the true character of Buck Mulligan, at least we know that his intentions as a friend are suitable for a young man in Dublin.

As I read ahead and keep in mind that this is a day in the life, an hour of church service, an hour in the carriage or at the cemetery, this novel is a reflection on all of time and humanity, a communion that connects the living and the dead: saints, gods, goddesses, intellects, and copywriters.

Chapter 8, Lestrygonians (a tribe of cannibals from Homer’s Odyssey), is once again rich in references of cuisine after another walk by Leopold Bloom.  After the funeral and conversation at the newspaper, Leopold Bloom stops for an early afternoon lunch at the Burton restaurant.  He is mourning the loss of a friend, but also his loss of faith in his domestic partnership with Molly.  Will this come back to him later in the novel?  He walks and observes.  The walk of another couple, June flies copulating on a restaurant windowpane, a dog eating a coughed up cud with zest.  Leopold orders a burgundy wine with his comrade, Nosey Flynn.  This selection to thinking about the sandwich he might order led him to ponder non-Kosher meats and a tagline he once wrote:  “What is home without Plumtree’s potted meats? Incomplete. What a stupid ad! Under the obituary notices they stuck it. All up a plumtree. Dignam’s potted meat… like pickled pork.” (740)

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Don  Gifford, Robert J. Seidman. Ulysses annotated: Notes for James Joyce’s Ulysses.  Second Edition.  University of California Press.  1988.

We had a deal: Pronouns, proforms, antecedents, agreements & matching socks

What is the importance of subject, verb, and pronoun agreement to effective sentence structure?  Complete sentences can become lengthy, with many commas and dashes that introduce new ideas and nouns through prepositions along the journey between capitol letter and punctuation.  What happens when Mr. Subject cannot find his one and only son, who has also been known by but not limited to the name, Junior?  I think I got that one right—the ambiguous antecedent—the pronoun that has more than one possible reference. (Rhetorical Grammar: Grammatical Choices, Rhetorical Effects, 232)  Essential to the subject predicate construction, the antecedent identifies the boundaries of the noun phrase units.  It serves as the pronoun’s back-up system and its known information.  The pronoun will work only when the antecedent is clear to the reader in the foreground of the reader’s consciousness.  The farther the pronoun is from the antecedent, the more likely there will be confusion.  (90-91) 

Proforms, or words that substitute for other expressions, are phrases that act like antecedents in conventional sentence structure.  Like a brother or sister to the antecedent, the proform shows more complexity. 

pro·form or pro-form  (prō′fôrm′)  n.  An item in a sentence, typically a pronoun, verb, or adverb, that substitutes for a constituent phrase or clause, as the words he and so in the sentence He said so, with the pronoun he replacing a noun phrase such as the president and the adverb so replacing a clause such as that he would leave today.[1]

What are proforms as they apply to modern English grammar?  Proforms reference the context in which they appear, either from the antecedent that occurred earlier in the utterance or from another situation.  Who or what are we talking about when we say, write (or text) any of the following abstract words? They, then, there, or do so?  She likes chocolate and so do I.  This gets complex the farther the pronouns are from their original subject or object, or nouns from matching verbs.  Think of all this like matching socks in the drawer:  Colors, stripes, gold toes and stitched wigwams, cottons, wools, and blends.  An antecedent is that fancy curving clip, the binder that comes from the department store; the one we toss after we get home.  Unless the subject is a plural (ends in –s, or words like children, people, mice), the ensuing verb will end without an –s:

Ex. The purpose of this essay is to investigate how the design of toothbrushes _____ changed over time.  (has or have?)[2]

Even though toothbrushes is a plural, the subject of the passage is design.  The design, not the toothbrushes nor the purpose of the essay, has changed.  Another example:

Genes are the microscopic parts of a living organism that determine its structure and functions.[3]

Genes requires a plural verb like a living organism requires a singular pronoun.  Of course, eliminating forms of be guarantees eloquence.  Genes, the microscopic parts of a living organism, determine its structure and functions.  Look at all this, a busy subject to link with a simple antecedent them:

The everyday stresses of students, such as labs and essay deadlines, teach them to manage their time wisely.

Teach modifies the plural stresses of students. 

Click for a fun refresher on subject/verb and pronoun/antecedent agreements, take the quiz: http://www.oupcanada.com/higher_education/companion/literature/9780195425154/eng_135/quiz_subject_verb.html

 

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[1]The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.  Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company. Houghton Mifflin Company.  2009.  

[2] Oxford University Press, 2007–2014.

[3] Ibid.