Date of Award

5-1974

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

English

Abstract

Many critics are confused about the total meaning of James Joyce's Ulysses. David Daiches in The Novel and the Modern World states that "critics can acclaim the style, the organisation, the complexity, the insight, the ingenuity, and many other separate aspects of the work, but what are they to say of the whole?" Daiches is obviously among those critics who pass Ulysses off as art for art 's sake. On the other hand, William M. Schutte points out that critics who have a good deal to say about Ulysses as a whole are unfortunately saying the wrong things. These critics whom Schutte attacks believe that Ulysses comes to a happy and fruitful close, while it is my intention in this thesis to support Schutte's contention that Ulysses ends in utter failure, since Leopold Bloom and Stephen Dedalus will never join together in a common purpose to save Ireland. Along with maintaining Schutte's contention, I intend to prove that Joyce is making a strong moral statement in Ulysses through Bloom and Stephen's inability to join together. Joyce is attempting to show to Ireland and the world the need for a union of understanding between men which will enable them to join their talents and to strive together in a common and purposeful endeavor to better their condition.

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