Analysis of Ulysses

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Analysis of Ulysses

Writer:     Edward Ashcroft

Ulysses is a novel which is written by James Joyce. It is a preface introduction to that novel. It is based on one day event in June 16, 1904.

In this story, the writer has recorded all the events that a character Leopold Bloom undergoes in a single day. This introduction basically focuses in two major themes.

1. Use of stream of consciousness technique:

In this technique all the events are the thoughts that come in the mind of the character or narrator. Leopold Bloom keeps on thinking and we know what he thinks through the narration of the narrator. In this respect, this is the narration from the mind or the psyche of the character.

1. The social responsibility of the author:

This novel is bulky in its size but it does not have any story. Joyce is the Iris born writer writing from the locale of foreign country. He was born in one country and brought up in another. His birth and upbringing have raised the question regarding the social responsibility of the author. As an author, Joyce cannot forget the social life of Dublin. It is his responsibility to present that life. But at the time he has to write from above and far in order to be objective. If the writer only writes about Dublin that becomes bias and incomplete presentation. If the writer only writes from the distance, the presentation may lose the correspondence with reality. In order to be objective, the writer has to embrace all perspectives and no perspective. Therefore, in the present novel Ulysses Leopold has been shown both as the hero and fool. He is hero in one sense and fool in the other. For the writer, he is the hero-fool

In order to justify his notion, the writer James Joyce introduces the character named Stephen Deadalus who makes a wing for Icarus to fly but he himself remains in exile. Every writer remains in exile in order to be objective. But despite being in exile, he cannot forget where he belongs to.

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