The Ulysses Experiment

“History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake”

Stephen is teaching History at a posh school. The author narrates here the last moments of the lesson. In doing that he allows us to know not only what is happening in the class between the teacher and his students but also what it is happening in Stephen´s mind. In this sense we can deduce that Stephen does not like the insolence of wealthy people and that his thoughts fly away easily. I did very like when he said, referring to his snob students, that “their breath is sweetened with tea and jam”. He also told them the following riddle, which I did not understand. I ask here that if somebody of the group got it, please explain it to the rest:

The cock crew,

The sky was blue:

The bells in heaven

Were striking eleven.

´This time for this poor soul

To go to heaven.

Answer: the fox burying his grandmother under a hollybush (???)

The second part takes place in the office of Mr. Deasy (the principal??) He has a rare mustache and does not like jews, thinks that money is power and wrongly believes that the saying “the sun never sets on the empire” comes from a French celt (everybody knows it comes from the Spanish empire) He has a letter for the press, I did not quite understood what the letter was about (something to do with the mouth and foot disease…) He needs the help of Stephen and his literary friends because they know some editor in a newspaper.

having read the text weeks ago there’s not so much i remember but here goes. please forgive my errors and oversights. stephen is teaching some literature (greek myth?) to some mostly rich boys. after class most of the boys go to play hockey and one boy stays behind, stephen is supposed to help him with some math homework. when they’re done the kid joins the other boys and stephen has a talk with the gym teacher? principal? both? in a room overlooking the playing field.  the elder thinks stephen would make a great teacher but stephen doesnt think he has it in him. one of the hockey teams scores a goal and stephen posits that maybe god is a shout in the street, like the shouts of joy and anger of the boys outside. 

also, the old guy makes two anti-semetic comments, about how the jews are going to destroy britain, and i think europe as well. haines made a similar comment in the last section. 

also, stephen gets paid. woo hoo!

The Story. Stephen is teaching in a posh private boy’s school; history, classics, poetry class or something. He seems pretty popular amongst his students, but isn’t that much into it himself. He gives the students a riddle, the answer to which disappoints them. It did me too, as I didn’t get it at all. Can anyone explain? The class ends and the boys run out to play hockey. One student – Sargent – stays behind for help with his maths homework. Stephen thinks he is a pretty worthless pointless life form who will only ever be loved by his mother who protected him from the harsh world. He seems to see some of himself in Sargent. Stephen then talks with Mr Deasy, an older moustachioed, anti-Semitic teacher who seems very sure of himself and his conservative view on the world. He takes pride in that he has never owed money and is smugly satisfied that Stephen does. He wants Stephen to circulate a letter amongst his literary friends to get it published in the press. It’s about Foot and Mouth and how it can be cured. The letter is bizarrely written. Stephen agrees and leaves.

Just one other thing – on the continuing argument between Israel and I on whether the phrase ‘the sun never sets on the English/Spanish Empire’ is English or Spanish. Mr Deasy says it comes from a French Celt. Let the argument continue…

Btw just noticed my picture looks like it’s been done on a blue watercolour background like Israel’s. It’s actually a blue Post-It that got nicely discoloured in the photo.

Okay so I cheated and read the first six pages twice. Also then, while I’m ‘coming clean’, I already read the second section. AND on top of that, Catie explained to me that apparently they’re not in the army. Which is what I first thought? I initially assumed the reason they were in this tower was because it was a watch tower or barracks of some sort. Actually this is why I went back to reread the first few pages to see where I went wrong. In my defence it is a bit confusing, as there is a bunch of military stuff going on – the tower, Buck sits on a gun rest, etc. Another reason I think I made this assumption is the relationship between Buck and Stephen, where Stephen is submissive to Buck’s bravado and teasing and doesn’t really answer back. E.g. when Buck taunts Stephen for killing his mother and borrows (more demands) money. With the military assumption already gestating in my consciousness, I took this dominant/submissive relationship and assumed it represented a higher/lower military ranking relationship, with Buck being Stephen’s captain or something. Any way I see now I was wrong. At least I didn’t think they were in a barber shop ISRAEL. Actually, also thinking back on it, I have re-thought the relationship between Buck and Stephen. While Buck taunts Stephen, yes, I think he is quite affectionate toward Stephen and the joshing is more a sign of Buck’s flamboyant personality. Apart from this major mishap I followed the same synopsis as Catie and Ben. I won’t repeat it.

Another thing that sticks in my mind is the killing of Stephan’s mother and the dreams he has of her coming to him in her death clothes. Actually this I found quite haunting and uncomfortable to read– which is probably why it’s one of the few bits that stick out in my mind after having read the text a couple weeks ago. He obviously has some demons going on. Not sure if it’s a catholic guilt type thing for not praying for her on her death bed or it’s more than that. Actually I disagree with Ben that religion is not important to Stephen. I think the fact he appears to not believe in Catholicism to the point where he rejected his mum’s dying wish shows how important it is to him and how much he seems to disagree with it.

Right just realized I’m rambling so will stop here.

 OK, here are my first comments:
First of all, make it clear that I am making the effort of reading the book in English (which, as you can notice by my accent, is not my mother tongue) This explain my first misunderstanding of thinking that the action was taken place in a barbershop with flashbacks to other places (such as tower near the sea)… Fortunately, Sasha enlightened me when he came saying the action takes place in the Army… two weeks later I learnt that he was wrong too: the action takes place in a tower. (Sasha is English)
Secondly, far from disappoints me the book looks quite funny and interesting, and the English the author uses is delightful and rich (not like the kind of English I have been lately exposed to…)
In my opinion, the best part of the book is not the story behind, but the surrealism within the content and the conversations. The rest is just a decoration, a stage needed to make the characters interact with each other and say what they have to say. In this sense the book is a brilliant collection of good thinking, poetry and wise sentences that can make stop your reading and get you thinking for hours about their meaning. I pick up the following as an example:
- Is not the sea a grey sweet mother? (p. 3) This is the sentence that inspired my first drawing
- There is something sinister in you… (p. 4) don’t you think we could say this to every single person in this world?…
- He kills his mother but he cannot wear grey trousers (p.5)
- Look at the sea. What does it care about offences? (p.9)
- That is a lovely morning, sir. Glory to God. – To whom? Mulligan said. (p.15)

Finally, I would like to mention the reference made to Helsingor (Elsinore) in page 21. Hainses thinks the cliffs and the tower reminds him to that place in Denmark… (just around the corner)

Usurper.  That is him, above, with the chessboard, and that ridiculous half smile.  Maker of rules- usurper of peace, dignity, and in one case so far, victory.  And yet he looks and acts so innocent.  The child-like figure above has requested (in the form of plaintive shouts, “Cheating, you are trying to cheat!”) that all parties involved refrain from re-reading even a single sentence of the assigned passage before posting initial thoughts.  So, dutifully, it shall be (ahem, for most, SASHA!).  But as soon as I’m finished with this post, I’m re-reading my 28 pages.  Maybe then even posting something thoughtful.  And so as king Israel moved his pawn to the field, here goes:

Buck Mulligan, Stephen Dedalus, Haines, the Milk Lady.  Basic plot- 3 men in a tower, a space found and rented by Stephen, paid for evidently by some form of scholarship, have a shave, insult the Milk Lady, and go for a swim.

Haines is your basic douche, summarily disregarded by both Buck and Stephen, especially by Stephen once he questions Stephen’s faith.  Buck may or may not be studying to be a doctor.  I can’t remember what the hell Stephen is doing but I’ll know once I’ve had a chance to skim it again.  Obviously Buck is smart and likes Stephen, especially his ability to somehow prove that Hamlet haunts himself (again, as far as I remember).  I think Buck is basically  an overbearing mooch, and can’t stand to be without the key to the tower, much like Israel can’t stand to play a game without telling his opponent over and over again how screwed they are.  So there’s some tension, attitude towards irritating Haines, apparent control freak Buck who maintains his pushiness even while totally naked and doing cannonballs into a sweet pond overlooking the sea, and our main man Stephen, who’s off for the day, feeling totally fucking usurped.

Morning at Mulligan’s tower by the sea. Mulligan shaves, talks with and lectures a bit Dedalus (some greek myth reference i think)–a young, poor, intellectual type who has crashed at the tower for the night and whose mother has recently died. Although he refused her request to kneel at her deathbed he takes religion quite seriously, as opposed to Mulligan, who is always mocking Catholicism, and the other tower guest, Haines, who treats it with modern disregard. There’s lots of religious talk, images and references (literary, too).

Haines is English and annoying and pseudo-intellectual, but has some money, and Mulligan thinks Dedalus may be able to get some patronage from him, maybe by relating a theory about how Hamlet is Shakespeare’s own grandfather (or something like that). Dedalus owes a lot of people money, including Mulligan, but Mulligan seems convinced Dedalus is destined for greatness. 

The milkmaid arrives and chats for a while, they buy milk and then they breakfast. 

They go for a walk along the sea and Mulligan teases Haines with the Hamlet theory. They agree to discuss it later in the day over some beers. They see an old man swimming and Mulligan or Haines or both also take a dip but Dedalus leaves them.

[ok, so i read the text a couple of weeks ago and drew some pictures right away but didn't write anything until today. my first drawing (also the 2nd, but it's less prominent there) had a cracked mirror which reminded me that mulligan shaved with a cracked mirror that belonged i think to the servant girl and dedalus said that this was a perfect metaphor for ireland (or irish literature? history?): the cracked mirror of a servant girl. this image/metaphor left a strong impression on me initially, but not strong enough i guess that it stayed with me for 2 weeks.]

the drawings follow. the first has a few images from the first section—buck mulligan at the top of the stairs in his yellow robe; the cracked mirror and the (basically un-recognizable) sea. the second is just buck mulligan in his robe mock-blessing his shaving supplies. ideally, he’d be plumper, but he’s not.