Faubourg Saint Patrice - ScholarsArchive at Oregon State University

him: he would confess and repent and be absolved, confess and repent
again and be absolved again, fruitlessly. (A Portrait 137)
Each of these reflections reveals the power of the Church manifested through the
sacrament of Penance, for, as Foucault continues, "the agency of domination doesnot
reside in the one who speaks (for it is he who is constrained), but in the one who listens
and says nothing; not in the one knows and answers but in the one who questions and is
not supposed to know"(62). Clearly, as Bloom describes it while exiting All Hollows,
confession is a "great weapon in [the] hands" of the Church.
While revealing the "narcotic" effects of the Eucharistic rite, Bloom's attendance
at the mass also highlights his isolation from Irish culture. Indeed, Bloom does not
succumb to the lotus effect of the ritual as the others do; he passively observes its
effects by watching the "blind masks" of the worshippers. Or, as Ellmann describes: "At
church [Bloom] will not pray, any more than Stephen will, but he will eye the
churchgoers and inspect them as anthropological specimens" (Ulysses 46). Likewise, in
his thoughts, Bloom reveals his own religious isolation. Although baptized a Catholic,
he has admittedly little knowledge of the significance of Catholic rituals, and he
repeatedly uses the third person rather than self-inclusive language when referring to
Catholics. Perceiving the communal force of the religious ritual, Bloom comments:
"Then feel all like one family party, same in the theatre, all in the same swim. They do.
I'm sure of that. Not so lonely. In our confraternity" (5.362-4). Ironically, both Bloom
and Stephen are excluded from this "family party," which, to many characters in Ulysses,
defines Irishness; nevertheless, it is an exclusion which enables them to "bring to light"
the "power relations" of Catholicism (Foucault, "Subject" 211).
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