Previous
Summary
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Ulysses, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Alienation and the Quest for Belonging
Literature, Meaning, and Perspective
Love and Sex
Fate vs. Free Will
Religion, Atheism, and Philosophy
Irish Identity and Nationalism
Summary
Analysis
“Stately, plump Buck Mulligan” walks out onto the roof of a Martello Tower on the seashore near Dublin. He carries his razor and shaving mirror in the shape of a cross and sings out the first words of the Latin mass, then calls down into the tower for his friend “Kinch” (Stephen Dedalus). When Stephen comes up the stairs, Buck vigorously makes the sign of the cross, as though trying to banish a demon. Buck jokes that it’s time for the Eucharist and smiles, showing off his gold-tipped teeth. Stephen thinks of “chrysostomos,” a Greek word that means “golden-mouthed.” Buck remarks that both of their names are absurd—Stephen Dedalus and Malachi Mulligan—and starts shaving.
This episode, like all the episodes (or episodes) in Ulysses, corresponds to a specific section of The Odyssey. Telemachus is Odysseus’s son, who is yearning for his father to return from the Trojan War. At the beginning of the Odyssey, Telemachus sets off on a journey to look for news about his father’s whereabouts. From this first episode, it would be easy to mistakenly assume that Stephen Dedalus (or even Buck Mulligan) is the protagonist of Ulysses. But actually, just as the Odyssey starts with the story of Odysseus’s son, Ulysses starts with the story of Stephen Dedalus, who soon proves to be a kind of surrogate or symbolic son to the novel’s real protagonist, Leopold Bloom. This opening scene introduces readers to Joyce’s complex, allusive, and often indirect style, which turns everyday events into rich metaphors. For instance, few readers are likely to immediately understand that “Kinch” is both an Irish slang word for a child and Buck’s interpretation of the sound of a knife (and therefore a reference to how “sharp,” or intelligent, Stephen is). Similarly, “chrysostomos” is an obscure epithet commonly used for great Greek philosophers and Orthodox bishops (most notably St. John Chrysostom). This word is a reference to Buck’s wit as a speaker, but also to the tension between Greek and Christian traditions in Western culture, which is absolutely central to this scene. But Buck mocks both of these traditions, pointing out what he sees as their meaninglessness, but also revealing his own absurdity as a character. Meanwhile, Stephen seems to take both traditions absolutely seriously. This contrast reveals another important tension in the novel: seriousness versus satire, or the tragic versus the comic. As later becomes clear in the novel, Greece also represents Ireland, while Rome (and its Christian tradition) represents England; Greece represents the intellect (which is associated with Stephen Dedalus) while Rome represents practicality (which is associated with Leopold Bloom); and Greece represents the lost origins—or paternity—that Western artists and thinkers are trying to recover (much like Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom try to redeem their own bloodlines in the novel).
Active
Themes
Haines’s presence in Stephen’s home clearly represents British colonialism in Ireland, and Buck’s nicknames for Stephen allude to his literary aspirations. Stephen’s mother’s death is absolutely central to understanding him as a character. Stephen gave up on religion in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Joyce’s previous novel, which narrates Stephen’s upbringing). Because he did not believe in God, he did not want to pray for his dying mother, even though she wanted him to. Now, a year later, he views this decision as a mistake and intensely regrets it. But he also knows that he can neither bring his mother back to life nor go back into the past and pray for her. He constantly imagines doing so, but he knows that this will only ever be a fantasy. Of course, this is also a commentary on the relationship between reality and literature, which can break reality’s rules but never fully correct its flaws. This is also the main connection between Stephen and Hamlet, who faces a similar kind of struggle against fate and meets his dead father as a ghost.
Active
Themes
Buck notes that Stephen is in a bad mood and asks what the problem is between them. Buck claims not to remember any conflicts they might have had in the past. But Stephen explains how, a few days after his mother passed away, Buck heartlessly called her “beastly dead.” But Buck, a medical student, insists that death is a normal biological event that he sees every day in the hospital. Buck repeats that Stephen was wrong for denying his mother’s dying wish and refusing to pray for her, then apologizes for offending her memory. But Stephen complains that Buck has offended him.
Active
Themes
Get the entire Ulysses LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Haines calls up for Buck from within the tower, asking for breakfast. Buck tells Stephen to stop brooding, then sings the Yeats song “Who Goes with Fergus?” as he goes down the stairs. Stephen looks out at the sea and remembers singing this same song to his mother on her deathbed. He thinks of the objects that filled her room and again remembers the nightmare in which her corpse haunts him. He remembers a Latin prayer for the dead, but then thinks, “No, mother! Let me be and let me live.”
Stephen goes down for breakfast, and Buck advises him to ask Haines for money. Stephen explains that he’s about to get paid, so Buck proposes they go drinking and sings a jolly English song. Stephen decides to bring Buck’s shaving bowl downstairs, and then they have breakfast with Haines. Buck complains that there’s no milk for the tea, but fortunately the milkwoman is about to come. Haines comments that the tea is strong, and Buck and Stephen make fun of him by suggesting that this is a great Irish folk tradition that Haines can cover in his research.
Active
Themes
When the milkmaid arrives, Stephen imagines her as a stereotypical poor old Irishwoman, milking cows in the pasture. They drink their tea, Buck praises the delicious milk, and Haines says something in Irish—but the milkwoman thinks it’s French. Buck points out that it’s ironic for the Englishman to be insisting they should speak Irish, but the milkmaid agrees with Haines. The men pay—they’re two pence short.
Active
Themes
Buck tells Stephen to go get his paycheck from the school so that they can get drunk, and to wash, because he’s filthy. He also asks Stephen to explain his complex theory of Hamlet. Haines tells Stephen he wants to write down his “sayings,” and Stephen rudely asks if he’ll get paid for it. He tells Buck that he just needs to find a way to get some money, and then they strip off their clothes to go swimming.
Active
Themes
On their way out, Stephen grabs his ashplant and key, then explains to Haines that he rents the Martello tower for twelve pounds. He calls it “the omphalos” (Greek for “navel”). Haines asks Stephen about Hamlet, but Buck quickly summarizes Stephen’s theory—Hamlet is his own father’s ghost—and insists they wait until they’re drunk for Stephen to explain it. Haines compares the Dublin seashore to Elsinore, the setting of Hamlet, and comments that the play might be a religious metaphor for “the Father and the Son.” Buck goes down to the water ahead of the others and sings “the ballad of joking Jesus,” a satirical song about Jesus, Joseph, and Mary.
Active
Themes
Haines offers Stephen a smoke from his emerald-studded cigarette case and asks if he believes in God. Stephen replies that he’s a free thinker, but when Haines says that he must be his “own master,” Stephen replies that he has two masters: the British state and the Roman Catholic Church. Haines admits that the English have been unfair to Ireland, and “history is to blame.” Stephen thinks about the heretics who have challenged the teachings of the church. Meanwhile, Haines complains that the Jews are trying to take over Britain.
Active
Themes
Two men stand atop a cliff and talk about a man who drowned nine days ago; they are still waiting for his body to turn up. Down on the beach, Buck chats with another young man about a friend who recently met “a sweet young thing,” a photographer. A priest gets out of the water, and Buck and his friend chat about Seymour, a buddy who is joining the army and dating a girl named Lily Carlisle. Buck makes a joke about the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and gets in the water, while Haines sits on a rock and smokes. Stephen says he’s leaving. Before walking off, Stephen tosses Buck two pennies and the key to the tower, then promises to meet him at a bar called The Ship at 12:30.
Active
Themes
The church bells ring, and on his way up the path, Stephen thinks of a Latin prayer recited by his mother’s deathbed. He realizes that he can’t return to the tower that night, but also can’t go home to his family. Buck calls out to Stephen from the ocean, and Stephen thinks, “Usurper.”
