At the beginning of section III,
Stephen reflects on his soul. This seems to be a moment when Stephen will break
away from the Church’s ideals completely because he no longer seems to care
what happens to him. He believes that his soul is beyond redemption so what is
really the point anymore. He speaks of his “false homage to the Allseeing and
Allknowing.” (90). It seems he will completely forgo religion because he
already feels he is in so much sin so why not keep on indulging in his desires.
When reading this I thought this was going to be the theme
of the rest of the section, the break away and indulging of passions, but this
is not what happened at all. Stephen almost immediately starts thinking about
the Virgin Mary. On the retreat Stephen seems to be scared straight by the
whole experience. When listening to the sermon Stephen starts to imagine the
pains being described being experienced in hell are also happening to him as
well. This reaction to the sermon also further shows Stephen as an outsider
when concerning those around him. While the others talked casually about it, it
has really affected Stephen further showing the differences they have between
them. It also proves that Stephen still does care about his soul, and that he
still cannot totally forgo religion either.
While the reader does not get to see Stephen's reaction in Chapter 3 Section 2 to the retreat, the opening paragraph of Section 3 definitely agrees with your assertion that Stephen does care about his soul. The paragraph says that Stephen went to his room to be "alone with his soul: and at every step his soul seemed to sigh: at every step his soul mounted with his feet, sighing in the ascent" (118). This shows how Stephen feels that his soul has been diminished due to his sinfulness.
ReplyDelete