The end
of the second section of the novel shows an attempt by Stephen to bring happiness
to his family. Their financial situation has greatly deteriorated, forcing the
family to relocate to Dublin.
Stephen
wins thirty-three pounds as a prize for an essay and for his exhibition.
Immediately afterwards, he takes his family out to dinner. As they travel to
their destination, “[h]e walked on before [his family] with short nervous
steps, smiling” and “[t]hey tried to keep up with him, smiling also at his
eagerness.” Stephen is eager to treat his family, hoping to reverse the
problems their financial situation has caused. The sight of “his thinly clad
mother” causes him to remember that “he had seen a mantle priced at twenty
guineas in the windows of Barnardo's.” He hopes to buy something for his mother
in order to help restore the previous status of his family.
With
his money, Stephen brings about “a swift season of merrymaking.” Using his
money, he buys many luxuries for his family, treating them to theatre shows,
and opens many loans for his family. However, when the money ran out, “the
season of pleasure came to an end” and “his household returned to its usual way
of life.”
Afterwards,
Stephen realizes the foolishness of his ways. He attempted in vain to “[bridge]
the restless shame and rancour that had divided him from mother and brother and
sister” using money. He tried to solve a problem that has its roots in personal
relationships using superficial means. Stephen shows a very naïve attempt to
solve the problem of his shattered household and the disconnect between him and
his family members, believing that money solves problems. Previously, when his
family was financially well-off, he never faced these problems, however, as his
family’s financial straits became direr, the foundation for the life he knew
began to crumble.
Money seems to be a problem for Stephen, and Irish men as a whole, throughout the novel. Far too many Irish men, such as the men he sees when he goes on a trip with his Dad, suffer from alcoholism which regularly breaks families apart. Moreover, lets not forget that Stephen's largest moral transgression and source of the majority of his self-loathing and confessions is prostitution. Without money, this would not be a possibility for him. Fundamentally, money is used as a way to escape the reality. Men drink so they do not have to deal with the sadness in their lives or their bleak futures. Stephen gives the family money so they do not have to deal with their poverty, which will inevitably become a problem again as soon as the prize money runs out, and their issues with each other, and finally, Stephen buys prostitutes so that he does not have to deal with his insularity.
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