Stephen is an awful Catholic. And not because he had sex with prostitutes or because his sins are too great to ever be forgiven. That's certainly not the case; Augustine once joked "Lord, grant me chastity and continence, but not yet." But unlike Augustine, Stephen will not go on to write any seminal Catholic work or treatise. Stephen is focused only on escaping Hell.
If his conversion had been a genuine one, we would expect to see Stephen happy to serve and honor God in all his glory, truly delighted at the chance to pray the rosary three times a day and devote all his free time to devotion. But Stephen's thoughts seem to reveal that his excitement stems more from a chance to save his own soul than a legitimate regret. It calls to mind the old, guilt-provoking question, asked by mothers everywhere: 'Are you sorry you did it or sorry that you got caught?'
And as far as Stephen is concerned, he's been caught. God already knows his transgressions.The priest's disturbing visions of hell and torment terrified the boy into a sense of piety, not genuine remorse. The priest didn't talk about God's great love for his creatures, but about the suffering they must face for evil. It seems that Stephen is just a susceptible and malleable youth, eager to avoid unending torment.
Stephen keeps track of the time he's taken off of purgatory sentences, as if keeping score, attempting to create a good to balance the evil of his sin. He's proud of the work and Joyce even allows Stephen's word, "ungrudgingly", to slip into the narration (128). One can actually imagine Stephen telling himself how ungrudging and selfless his behavior has become, convincing himself that he's making up for evil. And his description of purgatory, including the thought that is it is as painful as the "infernal", reminds the reader how easily Stephen can become ensnared by some kind of grand beauty (128).
Given Joyce's long standing animosity for the Church, we must also recognize that not all blame can fall on Stephen. He isn't attempting to 'game' the system. It's just the only way that he knows. Is Joyce implying that even the supposedly faithful are victims of their own imagination and fancy? Is there anything good at all about the dominance of the Church? Or even anything good in the Church's nature?
No comments:
Post a Comment