Bloom's Literary Themes - ymerleksi - home

252
James Joyce
adores the Most Blessed Sacrament, the consecrated body of Jesus. In
both cases, a ritual is played out in which the taboo is fetishized.
A fetish is any object believed to have magical powers; fetishes are
often surrounded by taboos. According to The Encyclopedia of Taboos,
the term “fetish”
has been used by anthropologists to describe anthropomorphic,
animal or abstract figures that are carved from wood, bone
or ivory, or molded in clay or termite secretions as well as
natural objects such as the gnarled roots and branches of trees,
dried leaves, animal claws, nails, fur and horns, tortoise shells,
sacred rocks and minerals. More recently, the word has been
applied to objects of religious devotion such as the Christian
crucifix, religious relics and icons, while it is also used to define
something that is irrationally reverenced such as goods in a
capitalist economy or substitutes for the sexual object. (86)
There are two kinds of fetishized experiences working in “Nausicaa,”
both revolving around an adoring gaze. Within sight of each other,
a man peers at a young woman on the beach while a congregation
at a temperance retreat worships the Most Blessed Sacrament. As
Bloom fetishizes Gerty and endows her with the “pure” and “angelic”
qualities of the Virgin Mary, the Mary, Star of the Sea worshippers
fetishize the consecrated Body of Christ. The adoring gaze unites
sexual and religious scenes as the narrative voice shifts between the
two fetishes. Thus, the objects of the “Nausicaa” are not only deified,
but are also sexualized.
Drawing attention to the farcical nature of Ireland’s self image
as a bastion of moral purity and religious fervor, Joyce juxtaposes the
two scenes. As Joyce’s fiction often deals with the disparity between
the real and the ideal, in “Nausicaa,” Joyce attacks a number of idealized
perceptions of experience by comparing them to realities that
are profane or immoral. He also exposes the futility of attempting to
create a moral society, critiquing a State where the Church censors
immoral thoughts and deeds. The most obvious juxtaposition of the
real and the ideal lies in Gerty’s character, which is presented with an
array of Marian symbols. Joyce associates her with the Virgin Mary,
whose color blue is present throughout this chapter and whose “blue
banners” grace the Marian church (13:447–48). The blue-eyed Gerty