Apathy in Ithaca :: Ithaca Essays

sluggishness in Ithaca In Ithaca, the depth of Joyces irony is displayed. The denouement of this odyssey is perfect for this story, sequence at the same time leaving us with the exact inverse of the resolution in the tale the book proclaims to emulate. Odysseus public apotheosis parallels Blooms clubby shame. The concise question and answer format which Ithaca adopts, found no where else in the book, is refereed to by many critics as reminiscent of a catechism. The description is sanitary deserved given the overt religious themes in Ulysses. The to the highest degree numeral precision of the text in juxtaposed with gut wrenching sensation surrounding infidelity. The parallels that ace can draw between the characters of Ulysses and the Odyssey are possibly the deepest in Ithaca while the themes and undertones of the work drift further apart. The attempt at a amaze- questionion relationship between Bloom and Dedalus is never more homely as they converse, and fail to converse. Bloom plays the role of a cuckold almost too well, objectifying in Stephen that which he himself lacks. Of Dedalus, Bloom notes Confidence in himself, an get even and opposite power of abandonment and recuperation. (Joyce, Ulysses 550) This is a far cry from the Dedalus render anywhere in the novel. Bloom is looking to Dedalus as a father who dreams his son will accomplish more than he ever could, and in as much he is disillusioned. The depiction of the scene in Ithaca is one of mathematical precision, and it should strike as odd the amount of opinion and perception underlying many of Blooms assumptions. He assumes Dedalus refusal to wash is the incompatibility of aquacity with the erratic originality of genius, (550) and that his conquer implies that me must be composing poetry to himself. These two men represent the thematic essence of father and son, and in doing so, they destroy the preconceived notions leftover in the wake of Telemachus and Odysseus. No longer is the bond of father and son to be understood as a bloodthirsty quest for familial vengeance. No, it is replaced with a pair so opposite that they have nothing to discuss but the weather. Not even the violation of Blooms marriage bed could nonplus these two to arms.