Thursday, August 18, 2011

Leopold Bloom is the Wandering Jew in Dublin. In many ways he is left out and treated as though he does not belong as a Dubliner. Sometimes he is ostracized in subtle ways and sometimes in more savage ways. Joyce not only portrays Bloom as the victim of anti-Semitism, but he also represents the prejudice through narrative that Haines, Deasy and the Citizen embrace.

In the first episode, Telemachus, Stephen is talking with Haines and Haines says,

"-- Of course I'm a Britisher, Haines's voice said, and I feel as one. I don't want to see my country fall into the hands of German jews either. That's our national problem, I'm afraid, just now."

***

In the second episode, Nestor, the Headmaster, Deasy tells Stephen,

"-- Mark my words, Mr Dedalus, he said. England is in the hands of
the jews. In all the highest places: her finance, her press. And they
are the signs of a nation's decay. Wherever they gather they eat up
the nation's vital strength. I have seen it coming these years. As
sure as we are standing here the jew merchants are already at their
work of destruction. Old England is dying."

Stephen tries to reason with Deasy who, in referring to Jews, says,

"-- They sinned against the light, Mr Deasy said gravely. And you
can see the darkness in their eyes. And that is why they are
wanderers on the earth to this day."

And even as Stephen is leaving the school Deasy runs after him to relate some coarse humor,

"-- I just wanted to say, he said. Ireland, they say, has the honour of
being the only country which never persecuted the jews. Do you
know that? No. And do you know why?

He frowned sternly on the bright air.

-- Why, sir? Stephen asked, beginning to smile.

-- Because she never let them in, Mr Deasy said solemnly.

A coughball of laughter leaped from his throat dragging after it a
rattling chain of phlegm. He turned back quickly, coughing,
laughing, his lifted arms waving to the air.

-- She never let them in, he cried again through his laughter as he
stamped on gaitered feet over the gravel of the path. That's why."

***

In episode 12, The Cyclops, much hostility is directed at Bloom especially from the citizen.

Bloom and citizen are talking to each other and Bloom says:

-- Mendelssohn was a jew and Karl Marx and Mercadante and
Spinoza. And the Saviour was a jew and his father was a jew. Your
God.

-- He had no father, says Martin. That'll do now. Drive ahead.

-- Whose God? says the citizen.

-- Well, his uncle was a jew, says he. Your God was a jew. Christ was
a jew like me.

Gob, the citizen made a plunge back into the shop.

-- By Jesus, says he, I'll brain that bloody jewman for using the holy
name.

By Jesus, I'll crucify him so I will. Give us that biscuitbox here.

-- Stop! Stop! says Joe.

Citizen misses the mark with the biscuit tin, but his aggression towards Bloom is palpable. The Citizen's bodily attack with the biscuit tin is the climax of a succession of lesser attacks. In addition to being regarded as a Jew, even though he nominally Christian, Bloom assumes the role of Jew. This provides the dialogue that frames the stereotypes on which anti-Semitism is based. Haines is British, Deasy is Anglo-Irish and Citizen is an ardent Irish nationalist, but they all share much the same stereotype of the Jewish. Anti-Semitism is firmly rooted in the Irish culture.




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