Apathy in Ithaca

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Recommended: Comparison and contrast odysseus and ulysses

Apathy in Ithaca

In Ithaca, the depth of Joyce's irony is displayed. The denouement of this odyssey is perfect for this story, while at the same time leaving us with the exact opposite of the resolution in the tale the book proclaims to emulate. Odysseus' public apotheosis parallels Bloom's private 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 well deserved given the overt religious themes in Ulysses. The almost mathematical precision of the text in juxtaposed with gut wrenching emotion surrounding infidelity. The parallels that one can draw between the characters of Ulysses and the Odyssey are perhaps the deepest in Ithaca while the themes and undertones of the work drift further apart.

The attempt at a father-son relationship between Bloom and Dedalus is never more apparent 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 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 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 emotion underlying many of Bloom's assumptions. He assumes Dedalus' refusal to wash is the "incompatibility of aquacity with the erratic originality of genius, (550) and that his silence implies that me must be composing poetry 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 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 Bloom's marriage bed could bring these two to arms.

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