Modern Identity In Ulysses

Joyce's works traverse three literary stages: realism, modernism and postmodernism. They witness both the Inward and the Linguistic Turns, experiencing the revolutions of epistemological aesthetics and linguistic aesthetics. Situated right in the center of the overwhelming swirl of narrative, linguistic and spatial-temporal innovations, the characters are also engulfed in dizzying metamorphoses: paralyzed Dubliners in epiphany, the adolescent artist in the mixture of realism and impressionism, the multi-dimensional individuals in montage and free association, the impalpable men and women in the night language.Ulysses plays the pivotal role in Joyce's literary career and identity study has always been the focus of criticism on this novel. The previous studies of identity in Ulysses have two features: only focusing on one of the three character, they seldom provide a systematic study; their perspectives are confined to gender study, colonialism, etc, unable to provide deep insight into the essential nature of human existence.By employing the subjectivity approach, this dissertation purports to explore the relation between ways of thinking and modes of being, between interiority and world, between individual and society. The analysis of modern identity will be based on both the discussion of social identity and of inner psychological patterns. The individual experience and existence of Bloom, Stephen and Molly reveal the following two characteristics of modern identity in Ulysses:Modern identity in Ulysses first features individuals in their conflict with society. As constituents of modern society, individuals with their own desires and wills are always in pursuit of freedom and independence. This forms"the law of the heart", which is in opposition to"the way of the world". The opposition here lies in the conflict between the social demand for regulation and the individual desire for freedom. In Ulysses, this conflict has internalized in the inner division of modern self. There is always the tension between fanciful flight and downward fall, wayward deviation and compulsory return. The coexistence of multiple selves results in the loss of stability; the prevalent mood is the alteration of pessimism and optimism, of the rosy wonderland and the bleak wasteland.Modern identity in Ulysses is also manifested in individuals' agentive role as subject. In the subject/object dichotomy, consciousness functions as the guarantee of man's autonomy and superiority. In Ulysses, individual consciousness is set against social ideologies. Although individuals are immersed in streams of consciousness, they are often troubled by the sense of invasion from the outside world. With varying degrees of self-consciousness, they perceive their inner world to be derivative and coded. With the boundary blurred between interiority and exteriority, individuals still attempt to impose an order on the world. To strike a balance between individual and society, they adapt themselves to the dilemma and challenges in their life, since any absolute stance of transcendence has become impossible in the increasingly complex modern society.Based on the above analysis of man's modern identity as individual subject, this dissertation explores the individual characteristics of the three central characters in Ulysses, Bloom, Stephen and Molly.This dissertation is divided into five chapters:Chapter one offers a review of Joycean studies, focuses on the identity study of Ulysses,analyzes the feasibility of subjectivity approach and introduces the general feature of modern identity as individual subject. Early critics usually concerned themselves with textual explication, the analysis of character and plot, the poetic and rhetorical patterns of Joyce's prose and poetry. Later, the applications of structuralism, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis have helped to bring out the radicalness of his works. As the pivotal part of Joyce's literary career, Ulysses has always been the focus of critics. The identity study, the crucial part of the criticism of Ulysses, has two distinct features: it usually focuses on one character; the perspectives are confined to colonial influence and psychoanalysis. In order to probe into the essential features of modern identity, this dissertation employs the subjectivity approach. The Inward Turn in Ulysses and the concern of the novel with individual freedom combine to determine the feasibility of the subjectivity approach. In the climate of psychology in the modern age, the prevalence of first-person narrative and the decline of third-person narrative in the literary inward turn establish man's identity as individual subject, which features the existence and autonomy of individual interiority. In Ulysses, the first-person narratives in stream of consciousness, based on psychological time, reveal the private life and personal experience of modern individuals. With the inner world consolidated, individuals reside in the qualitative changes and dynamic renewals of stream of consciousness. The autonomy of individuals is further reinforced in the coexistence of multiple streams of consciousness, which not only proves their relativity but also irreducible individuality. With its inner dynamics in the psychological dimension, the individual subject is an autonomous entity entangled in its relationships with others and society. With its innovations in narrative, Ulysses refashions modern identity as individual subject. In Ulysses, Bloom, Stephen and Molly respectively assert their role as individual subject in the experience of confronting the dilemma in the relationship with others and society. This will be elaborated in the following chapters.Chapter two analyzes Bloom, the modern antihero. The typical feature of the antihero is the reversal in social identity and psychological pattern, which foregrounds the contrast between obscurity and heroism, determines the reduced stature of modern individual. As a dethroned father, wandering Jew and heterogeneous nobody, Bloom is the modern antihero. The father with the phallus is acknowledged as a full presence which functions as the cause of the male child's desire and proves the fundamental lack in the mother's being. In addition to the familial and physical status, the father's full being is also revealed in his symbolic function as the social authority. Thus the interruption of traditional father-son and husband-wife relationships undermines Bloom's fatherhood both within the familial scope and the linear continuity. Besides, Bloom's androgynous status in his role as"the new womanly man"constitutes a threat to the prevalent ethos of masculinity that maintained a unified frame of rock-hard, disciplined, heterosexual virility. In addition to his awareness of being apprehended as an outsider by most other Irishmen, Bloom, the wandering Jew, himself always vacillates between two contrasting impulses: one is to conform and belong to the community, while the other is to enjoy his difference from other Dubliners. His double role as both insider and outsider makes Bloom a heterogeneous nobody. He not only adapts himself to his dilemma but also transcends the logic of exclusion in the hegemonic discourse, revealing the inclusive tendency and heterogeneous principle in his relationship with others and society. As the heterogeneous nobody, Bloom loses the stable unified self, split between the public and the private images. Although Bloom encompasses conflicting selves, the inclusion of extremes is not mechanical or static but dynamic and invigorating. The cyclical pattern of inflation-depression-recovery has double implications for his life. On one hand, this pattern reveals the inner division of Bloom, which makes his equilibrium strained and leaves his integral self under threat. His sense of being a bleak self also originates in the lack of Stephenlike self-consciousness and the decrease of familial attachment. On the other hand, his cyclical pattern is closed, but it does not negate renewal. With his resilience and resourcefulness, Bloom adapts himself to the tension between insider and outsider in family and social livesChapter three explores Stephen, the problematic individual. In the chasm between individual and society, ideal and reality, intellect and experience, the problematic individual features the sense of insubstantive self, suffering from disillusionment and anxiety. Stephen, the problematic individual, is a rebellious son against oppressive fathers. Fatherhood rejected by Stephen has gone beyond the familial circle and extended into social, political and cultural spheres. It is an institution based on the linearity of time, inheritance of paternal identity and social control. By rejecting the traditional fatherhood institution that demands inheritance and imposes a ready-made way of life on sons, Stephen confirms himself as a free being. His self-assertion as a promising artist is revealed in his Hamlet theory presented in the National Library, which shows his imaginary almostness, that state of anticipating possible fulfillment. This theory is actually the intellectual realization of the initiation rite of Stephen, the passage from youth to maturity. However, instead of establishing his own artistic world, Stephen is even troubled by his originality crisis, since he is still the embryo artist, drawing a picture of promising future but expecting the bubble to disappear soon. As a frustrated intellectual, he has reached a crisis in which he must either realize his place in the cycles of experience or be forever doomed to the prison of his own abstract conceptions. Since Stephen is split between intellect and experience, ideal and reality, he has an either/or personality, represented by the Siamese twins, Philip Drunk and Philip Sober in"Circe". Alternating between two extremes, Stephen is tortured by the loss of substantive self. Such hollow sense deteriorates, when he becomes increasingly aware of the spiritual invasion of cultural discourses as well as the specific voices of other speakers. The feeling of being engulfed by others, especially his mother, leads to his recurrent focus on external props such as attire, which might help to consolidate the autonomy of his interiority.Chapter four discusses the indeterminate female identity. Such indeterminacy is determined by the fractured coexistence of multiple discourses and selves in the image of Molly. She is steeped in competing codes of femininity, both authorized and unlicensed: confined wife and romantic heroine. As Molly falls victim to social discourses, she lays bare the constructedness of femininity. Her image as a wife is revealed in three levels of confinement: home, husband and female awareness. In sharp contrast with her role as a wife is the romantic heroine, which is reinforced and elaborated though her appropriation of the textual warehouse of music, literature and newspaper. Due to the coexistence of different discourses in her female identity, Molly is caught in her troubled relationships with children, Bloom and Boylan, which make her the modern Penelope. The indeterminacy resulting from the coexistence of discourses and troubled relationships is further revealed in her role as the speaking subject. No longer confined within the idealized mute female figure, Molly forms a dialogic relationship with others and social discourses. It is Molly's dialogic monologue that finally undermines the primacy of patriarchal control in Ulysses and fractures the hegemonic discourse of gender. However, her role as a speaking subject is severely undermined by the fact that she is immersed in an interior monologue. Instead of subverting the patriarchal image of women, the image of Molly evolves into a part of the strategy of maintaining open-endedness. With her indeterminate female role, Molly possesses an inclusive tendency based on the parallel coexistence or close juxtaposition of various and even contradictory selves.Chapter five is a conclusion, which sums up modern identity in Ulysses and also scrutinizes the critical stances of Frederick Jameson and Alice West. The decentered but substantive image of individual reveals the reduced romanticism in Ulysses. No longer residing idyllically within their own world, Bloom, Stephen and Molly must reach beyond the bounds of themselves and see themselves as parts of the given. They prove the necessity of freeing themselves from the most morbid form of the romantic disease, the disease of seeing the world as subservient to one's own self. To strike a balance between individual and society, they are walking a tight rope. Bloom, Stephen and Molly rely on themselves to solve the existential problems. Precisely because the heroic deeds in Homer's Odyssey are no longer applicable, they serve as models for the human experience and endeavor in modern society. Individuals choose to confront their demons, their subconscious desires, their vulnerabilities, and their less-than-perfect natures. They are engaged in the journeys of self-discovery in the ordinary circumstances of everyday life. These constitute the"heroic"deeds of modern individuals.