Apathy in Ithaca :: Ithaca Essays

Apathy in Ithaca In Ithaca, the depth of Joyces badinage is displayed. The denouement of this odyssey is perfect for this story, while at the same time going us with the exact opposite word of the resolution in the tale the make proclaims to emulate. Odysseus public apotheosis parallels skin rashs private shame. The concise question and answer stage which Ithaca adopts, found no where else in the book, is refereed to by many critics as aware of a catechism. The description is well deserved given the overt ghostlike themes in Ulysses. The almost mathematical precision of the text in juxtapose with gut wrenching emotion surrounding infidelity. The parallels that one can billet between the characters of Ulysses and the Odyssey are perhaps the deepest in Ithaca while the themes and undertones of the work wander further apart. The attempt at a father-son relationship between eyeshade and Dedalus is never more apparent as they converse, and fail to converse. B loom plays the intent of a cuckold almost too well, objectifying in Stephen that which he himself lacks. Of Dedalus, Bloom notes Confidence in himself, an equal and opposite power of abandonment and recuperation. (Joyce, Ulysses 550) This is a far cry from the Dedalus depicted anywhere in the novel. Bloom is flavour to Dedalus as a father who dreams his son will accomplish more than he ever could, and in as much he is disillusioned. The portrayal of the scene in Ithaca is one of mathematical precision, and it should strike as preposterous the amount of opinion and emotion underlying many of Blooms assumptions. He assumes Dedalus refusal to swosh is the incompatibility of aquacity with the erratic originality of genius, (550) and that his silence implies that me must be composing numbers to himself. These two men typify the thematic essence of father and son, and in doing so, they destroy the preconceived notions left in the wake of Telemachus and Odysseus. No lengthy 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 infraction of Blooms marriage bed could bring these two to arms.