ipl-logo

The Use Of Symbols In Ulysses By James Joyce

740 Words3 Pages

Joyce once said: "I 've put in so many enigmas and puzzles that it will keep the professors busy for centuries arguing over what I meant, and that 's the only way of insuring one 's immortality." And it is true, the book is full of symbols and images, some of them are not very clear so they have different interpretations. In chapter five, Joyce makes references to different symbols:1 “Sleeping sickness in the air” (Joyce, 2010: 63) Like the lotus flowers in Ulysses, which produces narcotic effects on Ulysses, Bloom talks about different types of flowers, and he ends with this commentary, making a clear reference to the lotus flowers. 1. Some of the meanings are extracted from: GIFFORD, D. Ulysses Annotated, California: University of California Press, 1988. “Griffith’s paper is on the same tack now: an army rotten with venereal disease: overseas or halfseasover empire.” (Joyce, 2010: 64) Joyce plays here with the word ‘overseas’ and ‘halfseasover’ that refers to the term intoxicated. Probably he is referring to the corruption of the English Empire. “Handsome is and handsome does.” (Joyce, 2010: 65) It is the personal interpretation that Bloom does of the English proverb “Handsome is as handsome does”. “Blackened court cards laid along her thigh by sevens. Dark lady and fair man” (Joyce, 2010: 66) These cards are coat cards. In fortune telling, “Dark lady and a fair man” is a combination of a queen and a king. The queen of spades, referring to a woman who is false and a widow;

Show More
Related

  • Imagery And Symbolism In The Age Of Innocence By Edith Wharton

    1293 Words  | 6 Pages

    Imagery and Symbolism Edith Wharton creates the novel with a high percentage of imagery and symbolism in one. Some ways she combines both imagery and symbolism together is by a flower. Wharton states, “He had never seen any as sun-golden before, and his first impulse was to send them to May instead of the lilies. But they did not look like her - there was something too rich, too strong, in their fiery beauty”(Wharton).

    Read More

  • 'Symbolism In Michael Hollinger's Naked Lunch'

    235 Words  | 1 Pages

    Symbolism can be identified in the short play, “Naked Lunch” written by Michael Hollinger (2003). The play opens and the characters Vern and Lucy are sitting at a dining room table. Hollinger describes flowers on the table, “There is a small vase with too many flowers in it, or a large vase with too few.” (pp. 823) A bottle of wine has been open and the couple is having dinner.

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Possibility Of Evil

    900 Words  | 4 Pages

    She uses symbolism to express how Miss Strangeworth compares the people like her roses but treats them differently in a cruel way. For example, on page 1,“Miss Strangeworth never gave away any of her roses, although the tourists often asked her. The roses belonged on Pleasant Street, and it bothered Miss Strangeworth to think of people wanting to carry them away, to take them into strange towns and down strange streets.” In other words The roses are the symbol that represents the story.

    Read More

  • Symbols In Ellie Wiesel's Night

    598 Words  | 3 Pages

    Millions of ashes obscure the bright stars in the night sky; ashes of death and vanished hope. The eerie night, as described in the novel Night by Ellie Wiesel, has many significant symbols. During the holocaust, darkness consumed individuals with fear of the unknown. Flames of infernos covered the sky in dark smoke and released a penetrating smell. In fact, death was one of the factors one feared during the night.

    Read More

  • How Does Nathaniel Hawthorne Use Symbols In The Scarlet Letter

    705 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the book, The Scarlet Letter, the author Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism to bolster the characters and to help the readers get a better understanding of them. Symbolism is used by writers to better relate to objects. Some examples of symbolism would be in chapter 7. These would have to include: Pearl/the scarlet letter, the sunlight on Governor Bellingham’s mansion, and the reflection within the suit of armor. These three examples are the most paramount to help to reveal the characters and to distribute Hawthorne’s message.

    Read More

  • Scar In Lord Of The Flies Quote Analysis

    1139 Words  | 5 Pages

    The use of symbolism is often used by authors to show a deeper meaning to an object within a story. These enhancements to the meaning of objects gives readers insight to what is really being represented. Although they may seem vague, they create a path to better understanding of characters and scenarios within a story. A proper use of this technique can be witnessed in Lord of the Flies. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, symbolism is used to depict a greater meaning within the objects that appear throughout the novel.

    Read More

  • Symbols In The Book Night

    79 Words  | 1 Pages

    The book Night is written by Elie Wiesel. For my history project I had to find a recurring word, or symbol from the novel Night. The word death is used frequently throughout the book. During World War II, Elie, his family, and other jews from the area, were deported to German concentration camps, known as Aushwitz and Buchenwald. In this true novel, Elie takes you through his journey of how horrible concentration camps are and how he survived

    Read More

  • Symbolism In Marigolds By Eugenia Collier

    660 Words  | 3 Pages

    The author uses the marigolds as a symbol but, their meaning varies between each character. To a young Lizabeth , the marigolds symbolise beauty in a place that it doesn't belong. These beautiful flowers anger a young Lizabeth because she thinks they didn’t belong in the old dusty town she grew up in. To an adult Lizabeth these flowers hold a different meaning, they now represent hope to her. These flowers hold a different meaning to Miss Lottie, to her they represented what was left of love, hope, and beauty in her life.

    Read More

  • Elie Wiesel Symbolism And Metaphors In Night

    517 Words  | 3 Pages

    Losing faith is like clearing off a foggy windshield. The true pain and suffering of the world are revealed. During the Holocaust, the SS would often force prisoners to witness the deaths of fellow prisoners, to scare them into obeying the SS and to show the prisoners what would happen to them if they did not follow orders. In the memoir Night, Elie Wiesel uses symbolism and metaphors to show the theme that suffering will weaken religious faith.

    Read More

  • Symbols In Margaret Laurence's 'Horses The Night'

    436 Words  | 2 Pages

    Through her use of a changing narrative perspective, Margaret Laurence creates a contrast in character development. Laurence shows the reader the male protagonist of the story, Chris, through the eyes of a child first, then of an adolescent, and finally through an adult’s eyes. At the beginning of “Horses of the Night,” the narrator, Vanessa notices that Chris looks completely oblivious towards Vanessa’s Grandfather’s belligerence, as he is displaying “no sign of feeling anything.” This is the first sign Laurence provides about Chris escaping in order to cope with reality. Next, when Vanessa visits Shallow Creek she comes to a realization that most of the stories Chris has shared with her about the farm, only exists “in some other dimension.”

    Read More

  • Symbols In The Outsiders

    609 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Symbolism shown in The Outsiders is focused mainly on the differences between social class and personality. The Outsiders takes place in Oklahoma in the Mid-Sixties where there is high tension and conflict between two social classes, mainly two gangs of different social classes, the Greasers and Socs. The narrator, a young boy at the age of fourteen lives as a greaser. The most prominent symbols in The Outsiders are hair representing identity, eyecolor representing personality, and the cars that the Socs drive. Hair is a large symbol in The Outsiders because it is a sign of the greasers.

    Read More

  • Essay On Symbolism In The Book Speak

    1197 Words  | 5 Pages

    Symbolism can use an object (like a tree of birds), or art, (like Melinda’s art project or Mr. Freeman's canvas) to represent an abstract idea. Laurie Halse Anderson uses symbolism to hint at a certain mood or emotion, rather than just blatantly saying it. So, the use of symbolism is important because it helps create meaning and emotion in a story. Symbolism makes a book fun to read, the symbolism produces a thought provoking work of art and it, (like in this book), adds meaning to seemingly unrelated objects and elicits emotions in the

    Read More

  • Symbols In Fahrenheit 451 By Ray Bradbury

    448 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first symbolic dual image behind fire is brutal destructions that show the negative image of the society the fact that fireman in this society control the entire society not normal. Books contain knowledge and ideas that inspire readers to convey independent thoughts and rebellion, which opposes the government’s ideals, and captain Beatty. When the captain visits the home of sick Montag, he expresses an idea about his own perspective to the fire: "Forget them. Burn all, burn everything. Fire is bright and fire is clean” (37).

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Handmaid's Tale

    1410 Words  | 6 Pages

    Throughout the book the narrator draws many comparisons between women and flowers. Often, flowers are considered as a symbol of fertility and beauty. In the book, flowers are highlighted as objects that can bloom and grow at a time when few women can. From a technical standpoint, flowers are also the part of a plant that holds the reproductive organs. They're constant reminders of the fertility that most women lack.

    Read More

  • Interior Monologue In James Joyce's Ulysses

    944 Words  | 4 Pages

    James Joyce’s Ulysses is widely recognised and celebrated as being one of the most influential works of literature, and was previously described as “a demonstration and summation of the entire [modernist] movement” by Beebe in 1971. Throughout the over 700 page “epic”, Joyce follows a day in the life of numerous Dubliners such as Stephen Dedalus (whom we may have first encountered in Joyce’s earlier novel; A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man), and advertising campaigner Leopold Bloom, along with many others. Due to the vast array of characters and their associated perspectives, we are subjected to Joyce’s infamous use of “interior monologue”, resulting in what undoubtedly becomes somewhat of a chaotic (and notoriously difficult to read)

    Read More

More about The Use Of Symbols In Ulysses By James Joyce

Open Document