Chapter three was a very interesting chapter to me because of the sermon that the preacher is preaching and the sins that Stephen has committed at the end of chapter two. He has just slept with a prostitute and seems to be ok with it until the sermon covers hell and confessing your sins.
I imagined this entire chapter as him hearing the sermon and then flashing back to his night and then tuning back into the sermon. After church and his sleepless nights, he knows that he must confess. All I kept thinking throughout this chapter was of him, as a young child, being torn between right and wrong, confessing his sins as he should, or trying to "pray them off" at the side of his bed.
I find it interesting that Stephen did end up going to confess his sins the formal way because we do know that he later strays away from Catholicism. It seems to me that he would have stuck to the bedside way of confessing since the entire novel he has appeared torn between his religion.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This chapter was interesting to me as well. In particular, I agree with you about the surprise with which I read that he goes to confession. Indeed it is somewhat funny considering that we know he strays from Catholicism later, but I think the motivation behind it is really just his mounting fear from the sermon and his associating it with his biggest sin - sex. What I find even more intriguing, however, is when Stephen later questions himself and wonders if he will ever be absolved by his sins even with all the confessions and prayers he does. To me, it is at this moment of uncertainty and doubt that he begins to truly see that all his efforts in terms of Catholicism have been and always will be in vain.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by his confession too! Although I guess it somewhat makes sense since it is what Stephen was raised to believe is the right thing to do after you've sinned. Plus, that sermon probably made him feel guilty enough to conform to the Catholic ways, rather than inspiring him right away to go away from the organized religion of Catholicism. The later shift thus also begins to make sense, because the hell presented by the priest leaves room for Stephen to criticize the religion.
ReplyDelete