Faubourg Saint Patrice - ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University

factors which accentuate Stephen's pathetic appearance, however, is the recurring guilt
over his apostasy. In a manner similar to Joyce, Stephen was molded by both his strict
Jesuit education and the Catholic-dominated culture of Dublin; his subsequent rejection
of the faith of his family and culture becomes a severe mental burden which continually
enters his thoughts during his journey on 16 June 1904. It is through these thoughts--his
alternating mockery of and reflection on Catholic doctrine, his obsession with the
heresiarchs, the scholastic manipulation of his Jesuit trained mind, and, most
significantly, his brooding guilt--that Stephen reveals the internalization of his Catholic
consciousness.
I. "The Jejune Jesuit": Stephen Dedalus's Catholic Dressage
To understand Stephen's spiritual alienation it is first necessary to address his
evolving religious sensibility unfolded in A Portrait. Lending Stephenmany of his own
spiritual struggles, Joyce demonstrates the conflicting forces which drove Stephen away
from the Roman Catholic faith: the struggle between the Catholic discipline with which
he was raised and the physical and artistic freedom which beckoned him. The more
mature guilt which Stephen manifests in Ulysses can be traced to his early childhood,
beginning with a scantily described pre-pubescent incident with his Protestant neighbor,
Eileen. After his mother orders him to apologize, Dante Riordan adds, "0, ifnot, eagles
will come and pull out his eyes" (A Portrait 20). This incident, described through the
naive but perceptive eyes of youth, unveils the stimuli for Stephen's continued guilt: an
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