Apathy in Ithaca

765 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

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.

Show More
Related

  • O'Brien's Things They Carried Essay: Experiences and Emotions

    1608 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried is not a novel about the Vietnam War.  “It is a story about the soldiers and their experiences and emotions that are brought about from the war” (King 182).  O'Brien makes several statements about war through these dynamic characters.  He shows the violent nature of soldiers under the pressures of war, he makes an effective antiwar statement, and he comments on the reversal of a social deviation into the norm.  By skillfully employing the stylistic technique of specific, conscious detail selection and utilizing connotative diction, O'Brien thoroughly and convincingly makes each point.

    Read More

  • Odysseus: A Godlike Warrior's Emotional Odyssey

    1040 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout the epic poem of The Odyssey readers are exposed to the man that captures the interest of many, Odysseus. Odysseus is portrayed as a ‘godlike’ man as well being deemed a warrior of his own class, beyond all men in mind and in comparison, the Hugh Heffner of his time. He is everything men aspire to be in many ways as well as being profoundly in touch with his emotions when it comes to women. Odysseus shows this in many different ways from tears for his wife Penelope to the heartbreak for his long-dead mother, Antikleia.

    Read More

  • Freedom of Thought in Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich

    621 Words  | 2 Pages

    Solzhenitsyn believed that it was nearly impossible to have truly free thoughts under the prison camp conditions described in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, or in any situation where there is an authoritarian ruler. In a pris...

    Read More

  • The Odyssey

    537 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Odyssey is a tale that has changed literature and storytelling. In this tale Odysseus is a Soldier from the battle of Troy trying to get home to his island of Ithaca, where he is king. His wife and son must wait ten years while he is trying to make his way home. In Odysseus’s absence wooer’s, or better known as suitors, learn of his absence and travel to Ithaca to win his wife’s hand in marriage. These men come every day feasting on Odysseus’s food and wine, and give his servant’s orders. His son Telemachus, does his best to keep the suitors from ruining his fathers house but he is only a boy, and doesn’t receive the respect of an adult. Telemachus then has a visit from the god Athena, whom Odysseus is friends with, who advises him to travel to find out about his father. In his travels he hears that Odysseus may still be alive. Meanwhile Odysseus goes through a series of adventures and hardships that prove his wisdom. It is interesting in contrast of the Iliad, even though Achilles was much stronger and a better warrior, Odysseus was portrayed as a greater hero due to his wisdom. He uses this wisdom to escape from the Cyclops.

    Read More

  • Role Of Justice In The Odyssey

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Odyssey is a well-known epic poem of ancient Greek. The poem is a great story that shows the power of gods, the way they treat others, and the strong spirit of the hero Odysseus. The Odyssey is about the King Odysseus of Ithaca who had to fight and overcome many obstacles and dangers in order to find a way back home. However, there are controversies about this book which are whether or not the virtue of justice does exist and if Odysseus is a just man.

    Read More

  • Comparing Homer's Odyssey and Everyday Life

    1382 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Odyssey is filled with emotion and adventure. Homer’s ability to show and give the reader a visual of each and every scene gives the story its unbelievable significance. To all the people who read his work there is something to be captured within every sentence, each one different in its own, unique way. Through tales of courage and defeat, friendship and love this book tells of all the values within the life of a single, solitary man, and his journey to attain what is true and dear to him. And this journey is known to all of us as The Odyssey. The Odyssey is a test of human devotion and trust through the gods, the mortals, and the obstacles through which they venture. No matter where they go or what they do, humans are tested for certain characteristics everyday of their lives, whether they realize it or not; and The Odyssey is just one of those many miraculous tests.

    Read More

  • The Things They Carried - Themes

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the novel, Tim O’Brien illustrates the extreme changes that the soldiers went through. Tim O’Brien makes it apparent that although Vietnam stole the life of millions through the death, but also through the part of the person that died in the war. For Tim O’Brien, Rat Kiley, Mary Anne and Norman Bowker, Vietnam altered their being and changed what the world knew them as, into what the world could not understand.

    Read More

  • Learning Temperance in Homer’s Odyssey

    1517 Words  | 4 Pages

    Being a work of importance in the western tradition of philosophy, The Odyssey is much more than some play written by Homer ages ago. Though The Odyssey certainly is a dramatic work and partially intended for entertainment, it also provides insight into the ways of thinking of the time it has been written in. Aside from illustrating the perspective of early Greek philosophy The Odyssey also raises certain questions pertaining to virtues and the morality of actions undertaken therein. Such questions and the pursuit of their answers may also lead to a better understanding of the actions taken in present-day society and the human condition in general. One of the virtues that is present throughout The Odyssey is temperance, or the lack thereof. In the course of Odysseus' journey, numerous events take place which are determined by the actions of Odysseus' himself, as well as those of his shipmates. In fact, the endeavor here is to portray how the delays and troubles encountered by Odysseus and his crew are due to their inability to exhibit proper self-restraint in conduct, expression, and indulgence of the appetites. This is undertaken in the proceeding text by an examination of two specific episodes from Homer's The Odyssey. The first episode being Book X of The Odyssey, entitled "The Grace of the Witch", containing Odysseus' encounter with the goddess Kirke. The second being Book V under the title of "Sweet Nymph and Open Sea," of how Odysseus departs the island of the nymph Kalypso. Both episodes are intended to demonstrate the importance of temperance in the journeys of Odysseus.

    Read More

  • The Impact of Ancient Religion on Homer’s Odyssey

    1398 Words  | 3 Pages

    There has long been a fashion among critics and historians, including Sir James Frazier and Graham Hancock, to insist upon taking the account of Odysseus' voyage to Hades in Book XI of the Odyssey at near face-value as a description of people and places familiar to a Greek audience of Homer's day. Both linguistics and comparative history have been employed to discover exactly how accurately this originally oral epic conveys this gritty realism. Something, however, is not right with this purely empiric approach. What is missing is an examination through the lens of ancient religious practices. Surely a literary work so teeming with deities-wise Athena, spiteful Poseidon, impish Hermes, omnipotent Zeus-deserves such study.

    Read More

  • The Odyssey Literary Analysis

    1143 Words  | 3 Pages

    “The Odyssey” is an epic poem that tells the story of Odysseus and the story of his many travels and adventures. The Odyssey tells the main character’s tale of his journey home to the island of Ithaca after spending ten years fighting in the Trojan War, and his adventures when he returns home and he is reunited with his family and close friends. This literary analysis will examine the story and its characters, relationships, major events, symbols and motifs, and literary devices.

    Read More

  • Investigating Depression in Shakespeare's Hamlet

    1628 Words  | 4 Pages

    Hamlet is depressed from the exposition of the play. Why? It is a month after his father’s death. Why can't he just continue on with his life? Hamlet’s overwhelming depression first manifests itself after the visit from his father as a ghost. His father warns him of the deceptive and wretched qualities of his uncle Claudius. Hamlet suffers a great deal of sadness, feeling helpless in his father's request to exact revenge against Claudius and becoming distrusting of the incestuous nature of his mother. Hamlet, however rational, normal, and capable he may have been before the play begins, is unable to think rationally, instead over-analyzing every detail. This meticulous analysis cripples him, rendering him unable to make any sort of rational decision. This inability to make decisions is rooted in the intense internal struggle Hamlet must overcome: he cannot imagine himself killing someone and he cannot imagine himself not avenging his father’s murder. This duality of conscience causes Hamlet to spiral into depression and he must examine the depths of his soul before he makes a decision. To make a decision Hamlet must answer the quintessential Hamlet-ian question, “To be or not to be?” (Shakespeare 3.1.56). Hamlet is depressed and unable to act until he has an epiphany in Act V, wherein he must just “Let be”.

    Read More

  • Parallels between Virgil’s The Aenieid and Homer’s The Odyssey

    829 Words  | 2 Pages

    Lawall, Sarah N. “The Odyssey.” The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton, 2006. 206-495. Print.

    Read More

  • Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson

    1224 Words  | 3 Pages

    'Ulysses' is both a lament and an inspiring poem. Even modern readers who are not so familiar with the classics, can visualize the heroic legend of Ulysses, and so is not prepared for what he finds in the poem— not Ulysses the hero but Ulysses the man.

    Read More

  • Should We Ban Cigarette Smoking? An Analysis

    1405 Words  | 3 Pages

    As for the smokers, their health is at a high risk. Smoking causes cancers to the voice box, esophagus, lungs, throat and mouth. Also it helps in developing cancers in the kidneys, bladder, pancreas and cervix of the body. Smoking can cause cardiovascular disease such as heart disease, diseases of the blood vessels and stroke. According to CNN “The landmark U.S. Surgeon General 's report linked smoking with bad health.” In this study, lung cancer was the first cancer to be linked to smoking in between the 1940s – 1950s. It is also the number one cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Between 80 to 90 percent of all lung cancer today is smoking related and there are eight other cancers linked to smoking. According to the CDC, “Cigarette smoking causes more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. Smoking causes more deaths each year than all of these combined, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, and firearm-related incidents.” If smoking cause 480,000 deaths each year in the United States then people should stop smoking. People are still smoking today. Therefore, they don’t care for their health. Smoking can also cause respiratory diseases. About 8,000 people die each year from respiratory diseases from inhaling smoke from cigarettes which can permanently damage their lungs and airways. This is way people

    Read More

  • lies save lives

    835 Words  | 2 Pages

    For much time the gruesome, jaw-dropping nature of war stories has lead readers to question their truth. This is particularly true in the emotional anecdotes told about the Vietnam War. Tim O’Brien, author of The Things They Carried, is one of the first to address the idea of truth in his novel itself. Since O’Brien never confirms whether the factuality of his tales, many readers question whether the stories he weaves are actually true. O’Brien does not want for his audience to read so deeply into the facts and figures. To him it should not matter whether his tales truly happened. O’Brien’s greater purpose in writing of Vietnam is to share the stories he physically could not tell in a way that saves himself and society. He aims to use writing as self-release while also warning his audience of the horrors of war.

    Read More

More about Apathy in Ithaca

Open Document