Green With Envy

Pshh...not in the real world, buddy

Alright, let's be real. So far this whole stream-of-consciousness thing is just giving me a stream full of headaches! (be duh-cheesh [thats a drum set thing after a comedian says something]) Am I right?! (pin drops/crickets make that dumb noise)

Ok, after that little outburst of insanity - let me get to the point of my post, and that is the presence, right from the get-go, of that hundreds-of-years-long tension between the Catholics and Protestants of my dear Mother Country and Joyce's inability to truly identify with either. The issue arises after a heated academic battle of sums and expresses the same sentiment felt by, I would argue, both Stephen and Joyce himself. On only the sixth page of the novel Stephen, after recounting his favorite story, what it feels like to pee himself (I know that game), dancing to the good ol' hornpipes, getting shut down on his dream girl (Come on Eileen!), and getting bullied in the school yard, is put to work in the "hour for sums". He is placed against red-rose-wearing Jack Lawton, whose last name derives from Lawton, Cheshire, England and represents Lancaster, while he, the representative of York, wears his own white rose. He is defeated initially, but it is simply a battle in the longer war for "first place in Elements". Still, even after he continues on a attains the sums easily, his mind wanders to what is truly important. That is, the color of the roses that they have pinned to their chests. Clearly here, Joyce is stressing the tension, permeable even in a classroom while doing math, and indicates his own opinion on the matter. Stephen clamors over the beauty of red roses, and even pink and cream ones. The "were beautiful to think of". But he cannot identify with any of those roses, no matter their beauty. Instead he must resort to fantasy in an attempt of identifying with a rose while he knows that such is impossible, "But you could not have a green rose." Well, he knows that he won't find one in Ireland anyway.

Do you agree with this extrapolation?
Do you think Joyce is simply highlighting a difference between groups, or is he stating a preference for one over the other?
Does Stephen envy Lawton's rose because he more easily identifies with that group of people? (he does love Eileen after all)