CHAPTER SUMMARY AND NOTES

CHAPTER 1

Summary (continued)

Stephen can hear the bell tolling. He sings to himself a song Brigid had taught him "Dingdong! The castle bell! / Farewell, my mother! / Bury me in the old churchyard / Beside my eldest brother . . ." He thinks of how beautiful the words of the song are. He wants to cry for the beauty of the words. The rhyme of bell and farewell appeals to him.

Brother Michael appears at his bedside with a bowl of beef-tea. Stephen can her the other boys playing outside. As Brother Michael leaves, the other boy tells him to tell him all the news in the paper when he returns. The boy introduces himself to Stephen as Athy. He says his father keeps a lot of racehorses. He tells Stephen that his father will give Father Michael a tip for giving him all the news. The papers have all kinds of news accidents, shipwrecks, sports and politics. Athy asks Stephen if his family also talks politics all the time at home. He then tells Stephen he has a queer name, Dedalus, and that his name, Athy, is queer also. AthyÂ’s name is the name of a town and StephenÂ’s is Latin. Athy asks Stephen to solve a riddle about why the county Kildare is like the leg of a pair of breeches. He answers it for Stephen there is a thigh in it, Athy. They are quiet for a while, then Athy exclaims that the riddle can be told backwards as well. Then he lies back and says he will not tell.

Stephen wonders why he wonÂ’t tell. He thinks AthyÂ’s father must be a magistrate also. He thinks of his own father, who sings songs while his mother plays the piano and who always gives him a shilling when he asks for a sixpence. He feels sorry for his father that he is not a magistrate. He wonders why he was sent to Clongowes with them. His father had told him his grand-uncle had presented an address at Clongowes to the liberator fifty years earlier. Stephen can tell at what time in history the people lived by noticing their dress. It seems as if it were a solemn time. He wonders if it was the time when the boys wore blue coats, brass buttons, yellow waistcoats, caps of rabbitskin, drank beer, and kept greyhounds.

He listens to the outside sounds and realizes the boys have left the field. They are probably in the classroom doing Themes or Father Arnall was reading a legend to them. He wonders why he has not gotten any medicine. He felt better now. He thinks of how nice it will be to get well slowly. He could get a book out of the library. He thinks of a book in the library about Holland. It has "lovely foreign names in it and pictures of strangelooking cities and shops. It made you feel so happy."

The light at the window is very pale. The reflection of the fire rises and falls on the wall like waves. He hears talking and it is like the noise of waves. "Or the waves were talking among themselves as they rose and fell." He sees a sea of waves, rising and falling on a dark, moonless night. He sees the tiny light of a ship entering the harbor. He sees a multitude of people gathered at the waterÂ’s edge. A tall man stood on the deck of the ship. Stephen can see his face in the light at the pier head. It is the sorrowful face of Brother Michael. He hears him say in a voice of sorrow, "He is dead. We saw him lying upon the catafalque." The people wail the name of Parnell. Stephen sees Dante in her maroon velvet dress walking proudly and silently among the people who knelt in sorrow.

A big fire roars inside the grate and Stephen sees the Christmas table spread under the ivy-twined branches of the chandelier. They had come home early, but still had to wait for dinner. They sit around the room and wait for the servants to come in with the food. At the table sits uncle Charles, Dante, Mr. Casey, Stephen, Mr. Dedalus, who keeps looking at himself in the mirror and waxing and re-waxing his mustache, Mr. Casey, who taps the gland on his neck with his fingers. Stephen smiles at the sight. He knows it isnÂ’t true that there is a purse of silver in Mr. CaseyÂ’s throat. He remembers that once the silvery noise that Mr. Casey makes in his throat had made him think it was full of silver. He had tried Mr. CaseyÂ’s hand to see if the silver were there, but his fingers will not straighten. Mr. Casey said he had gotten those cramped fingers giving Queen Victoria a birthday present.

Mr. Dedalus makes light conversation about their walk. He asks Mrs. Riordan (Dante), if she took a walk. She frowns and gives him a short "no" in answer. Mr. Dedalus goes to the sideboard and fills the decanter. He gives a glass to John Casey. Mr. Casey brings up the story of their friend Christopher manufacturing something, but breaks down into a fit of laughter at the thought. Then he gets out something about Christopher manufacturing champagne for some men. Mr. Dedalus laughs loudly in response and says Christy has more cunning in "one of those warts on his head than a pack of jack foxes." Mr. Dedalus licks his lips profusely and imitates the voice of the hotel-keeper, saying what a soft mouth he has when heÂ’s speaking and how moist and watery he is "about the dewlaps" (lips). When Stephen hears the voice of the hotel-keeper come out of his fatherÂ’s mouth, he laughs. Mr. Dedalus looks down at him and asks him kindly what he is laughing about, calling him a little puppy.

The servants come in with the food. Mrs. Dedalus comes with them and tells everyone where to sit. When everyone is seated, Mr. Dedalus puts his hand on the cover from the turkey and requests Stephen to say the prayer. Mr. Dedalus lifts the cover from the turkey with pleasure. Stephen looks at it. He had seen it trussed and skewered on the kitchen table and he knows his father had paid a guinea for it in DunnÂ’s. He remembers the voice of the man who had sold it to Mr. Dedalus. He had said, "Take that one, sir. ThatÂ’s the real Ally Daly." Stephen wonders why Mr. Barret at Clongowes called his pandybat a turkey. However, Clongowes is far away. Stephen is relishing the smells of the food and the anticipation of eating.

It is StephenÂ’s first Christmas dinner. His younger siblings are upstairs waiting in the nursery for their food. Stephen is wearing an Eton jacket and the collar makes him feel odd as if he were old now. That morning when his mother had brought him down dressed for mass, his father had cried at the sight of him. Stephen knows his father was thinking of his own father as is uncle Charles.

Simon Dedalus passes food to his guests. Mr. Dedalus begins a political-religious conversation. He says it was a good answer their friend made to the canon "IÂ’ll pay your dues father, when you cease turning the house of God into a pollingbooth." Dante disagrees vigorously. She thinks any Catholic should never give such an answer to a priest. Mr. Dedalus says that the priest should keep their opinions to religion alone. Dante argues that it is religion and that the priest are doing their duty to warn the people. Mr. Casey says they go to church to pray not to hear election addresses. Dante persists in her opinion that politics and religion are one and that priests should address political issues because "it is a question of public morality."

Mrs. Dedalus tries to stop the argument by appealing to everyone that it is Christmas dinner. Uncle Charles agrees with her and tries to calm Simon. Mr. Dedalus agrees and uncovers the dish again to distribute more turkey to his guests. Dante says again that it is "nice language for a Catholic to use." Mrs. Dedalus appeals to her to stop the argument. Dante answers that she cannot sit still while the pastors of her church are being flouted. Mr. Dedalus says no one is speaking against them as long as they stay out of politics. Dante responds, "The bishops and priests of Ireland have spoken, and they must be obeyed." Mr. Casey says that if they donÂ’t leave politics alone, the people will leave the church. Mr. Dedalus wants to know if the Irish are to desert Parnell at the bidding of the English people. Dante says he is not worthy to lead because he was a "public sinner." Mr. Casey says "we are all sinners," and Mrs. Riordan begins quoting from the Bible "Woe be to the man by whom the scandal cometh! . . ." and says it is the language of the Holy Ghost. Mr. Dedalus responds, "And very bad language if you ask me." Uncle Charles exclaims that Simon should watch his language around Stephen and Simon acts as if he were talking about the bad language of the railway porter.

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