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| Stephen worshipping Emma as his intercessor |
Throughout
the first two chapters, we saw Stephen admire Eileen and E. C., and seek a
relationship with them only in order to ultimately want to reject them in a
Monte Cristo “I never eat muscatel grapes” style. Stephen was a shy boy who
fantasized about girls, but never did anything in order to form relationships
with them. Although E.C. clearly liked him, Stephen remained passive when he
talked with her in the tram. He waited for his first sexual experience in order
to be transfigured – to become strong, manly and bold.
In chapter
three of the novel, Stephen continues his worship of girls, and even takes it
to a further extent by describing Emma as a sort of intercessor to God. He
believes that God and Mary are too grand for him: “He tried to raise his soul
from its abject powerlessness. God and the Blessed Virgin were too far from
him. . . But he imagined that he stood near Emma. . . humbly and in tears, bent
and kissed the elbow of her sleeve” (102). We still see that Stephen reveres
the female object of his admiration, but now he sees her as someone who
minimizes and shares his fault as, “they stood together, children that had
erred. Their error had offended deeply God’s majesty, though it was the error
of two children” (102).
Calling to mind Stephen’s earlier,
dominance-thirsty and shy attitude toward girls, and seeing how it contrasts
with his view of Emma as his intercessor, is it fair to say that Stephen’s view
of girls and his objective in his relationships with them has changed? Does
this show his maturation and development, or is he still stuck in his
narrow-minded worship of girls?
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