In book 12 of the Odyssey, Odysseus and his men sail from Circe’s island; they pass the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, and at nightfall are coasting the island of the sun-god Helios. Both Circe and Tiresias have warned Odysseus to avoid the island and particularly to avoid harming the cattle sacred to Helios. The crew refuses to stay at sea, so they land on the island under the condition that they leave the sacred cattle unharmed. Odysseus falls asleep and the crew slaughters the cattle and feast for 6 days. On the 7th day Odysseus and the crew embark on a ‘clear’ day they embark. Unfortunately Lampote has warned her father, Helios, who has appealed to Zeus. Zeus promises retribution, and sends thunder that destroying ship and crew, fulfilling prophesies of Circe and Tiresias. After this he is beached on Calypso’s island.
Time: 10pm,
Scene: The National Maternity Hospital
Organ: Womb
Art: Medicine
Color: White
Symbol: Mothers
Technique: Embryonic development
Lampote+ Phaethusa- daughters of Helios entrusted with guarding the sacred cattle
Helios-Andrew J. Horne + Patrick J. Barry
Oxen- Fertility
Crime: killing the Oxen
These descriptors are given at the beginning of the annotations, and I usually ignore them, but I skimmed these and it seems that although this may be one of the most complex chapters it seems to be overly cohesive in one sense and completely chaotic in another. It plagues me, but I can’t figure out why this chapter was more coherent for me than the others. While at the same time completely daunting and dizzying like the others. It seemed that looking at the themes and how they interact might clear things up for me.
This chapter opens with an opposition between studied and ignorant men. And proceeds to set up a great many oppositions throughout. The biggest being life and death. Perhaps the narration here is what makes this chapter stand out. Narration has played a key if not determining role in each chapter, allowing a change in perspective: Stephen, Bloom, Gerty, and now and again ambiguous narration.
A particular remark that stood out in a chapter fraught with women and women’s space and trial, is the mention of Lilith; “Then spoke young Stephen orgulous of mother Church that would cast him out of her bosom, of law of cannon, of Lilith, patron of abortions…” (390)
Blamires:
“More detailed correspondences between the subject of fertility outraged and the matter and form of this episode will emerge. They are numerous, complex, and perhaps too elaborately contrived.” (146)
Blamires goes on to describe motifs, while at the same time pointing out how contrived they are.
>“Formally there is a division into nine parts (like the nine months of gestation), and these parts have special references to earlier episodes in the book.” (146)
> THE #9:
# of months in gestation
# of men left to debate
Mention of cat’s lives (numbering 9)
>THE SLAUGHTERED LAMB: Then there are the references to Rudy as the slaughtered lamb, which does a number of different jobs as a metaphor and motif. It ties in fertility, deformity, loss, motherhood, religion, and the episode in the Odyssey together.
>DEATH + THE CYCLE OF LIFE: Sacrificing the mother for the baby, when deciding from a medical/religious standpoint.
>FERTILITY: Erin (ireland) fertility of the land, of the animals, the crops. The mother the womb, children, procreation, The Quest…
>WASTE LAND + STERILITY: Bloom’s impotence, barren land, barren women, Stephen’s inability to publish anything
>THE CHALICE: The gold cup in the race, the goblet at the last sacrament,
>STAGES OF FEMALE LIFE: “Maid, wife, abbess, and widow…” (440)
>FOOT + MOUTH DISEASE: Ties in cattle, the sun god’s cattle, fertility, breeding, fraud.
>GROWTH + DEVELOPMENT: This broad category applies to so many of the themes floating around: Gestation, marital relationships, the flashbacks that both Stephen and Bloom have, and so on.
>USURPATION: This theme returns again and again, yet in this episode it is both a betrayal and perhaps a necessary measure, if the end goal is procreation. If contraceptives and saving the mother are considered sins then it only follows that tying a fertile woman to a sterile man is like tying a rock around her neck. And is against nature and propagating the species, and here Bloom’s stab at the scientific re-appears.
>TRANSFORMATION: Bloom notices how the medical students transform from wild animals to respectable practitioners when Nurse Callan enters the room, or when duty calls.
>SONLESS FATHER + FATHERLESS SON: Bloom’s loss of Rudy reflects Stephen’s loss of his father and how the mother figure plays into this holy trinity. In an earlier chapter it is said that when the mother goes the whole family falls apart.
>THE GOLD CUP RACE: The metaphorical race between the dark horse “Throwaway” (Bloom) and the phallic “Sceptre” (Boylan)
>GROWTH + DEVELOPMENT: This broad category applies to so many of the themes floating around: Gestation, marital relationships, the flashbacks that both Stephen and Bloom have, and s0 on.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I agree that for some reason this chapter was not as difficult as the rest. In one way, except for maybe the last few pages, the narrator is very straightforward. While the language he uses is archaic, he uses traditional writing styles, less abstract than the typical narration. I also agree that as the novel proceeds, the motifs and symbols create coherency beyond what is just "going on."
Indeed the chapter is straightforward, partly because it has less "content" than most chapters. The focus is on the rhetoric with a fairly circular conversation going on and the nurse coming in every now and then. (Bloom seems to have an interesting relationship to the nurse, whom he has known in the past, perhaps through Molly's two births?)
Margot's post shows how this chapter replays the classic themes of birth, paternity,respect for sexuality, the masculine and feminine... This chapter has two timelines, that of the history of the language and that of birth. When Odysseus sleeps he avoids one of the exigencies brought on by time - to eat. The cow is also a central figure in ancient origin stories - often the first creature (in Norse myth, for instance) was a cow, who created the world through licking the formless matter into shape (or something).
Milly also figures largely in the chapter, so that Bloom's role as a father is brought into play in another way. Bannon has obviously had sex with Milly, and Bloom may have actually loaned him the condom he will use to have sex with her again. Stephen speaks out against contraception - for philosophical reasons. And the progress of flesh, as opposed to spiritual progress, proceeds as the baby is born. Stephen's "the word is made flesh in the mother's womb" sets the story of creation in the physical world. Was there a word in the beginning? Or are words the creation of men, born of woman. The history of rhetoric could suggest either reading.
The symbols for each chapter are a mainstay of classic criticism, coming I think, from Stuart Gilbert's study on Ulysses (?). They are, as Margot notes, an example of critical extravagance.
Post a Comment