The Decision to Fly Solo

One theme that really stood out to me throughout Joyce’s novel was that which Stephen describes as “falling, falling, yet never having fallen.” Of course it does serve as yet another symbolic correlation with Joyce’s choice of the name Dedalus, as Stephen continues to kind of soar along- not exactly flying at the level he would like to be at (and probably feels himself capable of, if not for his circumstantial hindrances), and knowing he would eventually hit the ground, but continuing to soar between the two anyways. As Tracy effectively pointed out in class on Monday, it is as though Stephen is always caught up in and unable to fully escape from a type of limbo. No matter the situation, whether it be something like religion or politics, for example, Stephen seemed to always hold a middle ground- able to always relate to opposing positions, acting in a manner fairly acceptable to both, yet never fully and ultimately choosing one way or the other.

Due to this limbo in which he found himself bound, I believe Stephen felt within himself compelled to drastically attempt to shift either one way or the other. With his religious pursuits, for example, we can see that he clearly strove to experience two very drastic and opposing extremes. As the Christian doctrine teaches, it is better to be either fully cold or hot than lukewarm- a state in which one would consequentially be spewed forth from the mouth and unacceptable in the eyes of God. Stephen, I think, came to find himself slightly disgusted with his own degree of faith, and instead of choosing just one, ended up experiencing both extremes- from submerging himself in sin with “a cold lucid indifference” which “reigned in his soul,” to acting out in an excessively religious fervor; yet neither extreme seemed to ultimately appease him. So he continued to hold his middle ground with his own views and ideas of morality, whether completely lining up with or acceptable to those in either opposing stance or not. As he found, “his destiny is to be elusive of social or religious orders… He was destined to learn his own wisdom apart from others or to learn his wisdom of others himself wandering among the snares of the world.”