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Regina Zbarskaya

Ms. Nichole Wilson

AP Literature and Composition

21 April 2014

Prose Passage Analysis #2

James Joyce’s writing style was heavily laden with irony and humor, particularly in his

quest to bring to light the oppression experienced by the Irish from the English. In Ulysses, Joyce

incorporates metaphors, hyperboles and allusions to humorously portray the characters in the

tavern as grotesque, cruel individuals to bring to the forefront the cruel oppression of the Irish

culture.

Joyce first establishes the characters as Cyclopes through his use of metaphors,

hyperboles and allusions. As Joyce first introduces the citizen, he is “seated on a large boulder at

the foot of a round tower;” the particular use of the words boulder and tower establish the

character as a giant, menacing man, and quickly draw the parallel to the Cyclopes from The

Odyssey (Ulysses, 296). However, Joyce takes his description one step further with multiple

hyperboles focusing on the physical characteristics of the characters. The citizen from “shoulder

to shoulder measured several ells,” with eyes the “dimensions of a goodsized cauliflower” and

was covered from head to toe with a “strong growth of tawny prickly hair… similar to the

mountain gorse” (Ulysses, 296). The description of the eyes and the mention of the “boulder”

draw a clear allusion to the Cyclops depicted in The Odyssey, immediately creating a negative

atmosphere around the characters. The Cyclops from The Odyssey, was cruel and unintelligent,

but still dealt a significant blow to Odysseus’ journey; the negative connotation associated with

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the Cyclops is carried over to the citizen and the characters around him, cautioning the reader to

not take the words of these Cyclops seriously.

While Joyce has physically established the absurdities of the characters’ physical traits,

he further builds upon the absurdity by exaggerating their mental qualities through the use of

changing diction. Joyce incorporates paragraphs of elevated diction, such as when describing the

citizen’s dog as “a couched spear of acuminated granite… a savage animal of the canine tribe

whose stertorous gasps announced that he was sunk in uneasy slumber” (Ulysses, 297). And

immediately following the elevated description, he creates humor by contrasting the elevated

diction with the colloquial thoughts of the narrator: “So anyhow Terry brought the three pints

Joy was standing and begob the sight nearly left my eyes…” (Ulysses, 297). The elevated tone in

the depiction of the characters is established by words such as “acuminated,” “savage,” and

“stertorous;” however it is starkly contrasted with the use of colloquialisms such as “so anyhow”

and “begob”. The switch between the elevated diction used to describe the characters and the

scene, and the colloquial language used by the narrator produces and incredibly exaggerated

significance between their appearance and their words. The change in diction causes a sense of

distrust in the men; while they seem huge and important, their attitudes and words are not to be

trusted, for there is a significance between who they appear to be and who they really are. Joyce

spends a lot of effort in meticulously crafting these mocking portrayals of these men, and yet

they still bring a significant truth to the story.

In depicting the citizen, Joyce described him as containing “seastones” dangling from his

waist, “graven with rude yet striking art the tribal images of many Irish heroes and heroines of

antiquity” (Ulysses, 296). The absurdity and humor first established by the depiction of the

citizen is then transferred to the clothes and items he carries around. Joyce laughs at the

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remainder of the Irish culture; it is haphazardly attached to a giant, blundering, unintelligent

person indicating that the Irish culture is barely hanging on after the oppression of the English. In

the modern context, the Irish culture is insignificant; Joyce spends paragraphs upon paragraphs

describing the giants and only manages to insert one brief phrase referring to their Irish heritage.

In addition, the citizen blatantly makes fun of his own heritage by referring to the newspaper as a

“blasted rag… founded by Parnell to be the workingman’s friend” (Ulysses, 298). The use of

“founded by” followed by “to be” indicates that the purpose of the newspaper was not achieved

in the citizen’s eyes. He mocks the Irish paper, particularly with the repetition of “look at this,”

commenting that it is supposed to be the “workingman’s friend,” and yet through his tone, it

seems no one finds it to be so. Through this scene, Joyce demonstrates that even the modern

attempt at bringing back Ireland’s culture is a laughing stock. Even the most absurd characters

are laughing at the absurdity of something Ireland is trying to put out, further diminishing the

oppressed culture as far below standard and appreciation.

Joyce’s extreme establishment of the Cyclopes characters provides a base from which to

gauge the level at which the diminishment of the Irish culture has occurred. The hyperboles and

allusions create an unreasonable depiction of people, and yet there is a significant step down as

the characters laugh at the dismal state of the culture of the country.