Theme of Motherhood in James Joyces Ulysses Essay

James Joyce structured Ulysses to correspond with events in Homers Odyssey. The relationship between two principle characters in Ulysses, Leopold Bloom as a sonless father and Stephen Dedalus as a fatherless son parallels the circumstances of Odysseus and Telemachus. This interpretation of the relationship between Bloom and Stephen, however, does not account for a significant theme of Ulysses, that of motherhood. Despite the idea that Bloom is a father looking for a son and that Stephen is a son looking for a father, the desires of both of these characters go beyond that of a father and son relationship. Although Joyce makes it evident that Bloom is, in face, in search of a son, Bloom is more suited to assuming the role of a mother than a†¦show more content†¦The intellectual Stephen even ponders the first mother of all life, Eve. Finally, Stephen says that Amor matris, ambiguously defined as either a mothers love for her child or a childs love for the mother (Gifford, p.241 ), may be the only true thing in life (p. 207). The emphasis on fertility in Ulysses also indicates the significance of motherhood. Stephen expresses his concern for the Godpossibled souls that we nightly impossibilise, which is a sin against the Holy Ghost, Very God, Lord and Giver of Life (p. 389). One of the narrators in Oxen of the Sun echoes this sentiment with Copulation without population! No, say I! (p. 423) In this same episode, Mina Purefoy, the mother of numerous children, is currently in labor. The narrator of the episode and Stephens acquaintances at the hospital beatify Mina Purefoys husband for being a fountain of fecundity and for performing his mans work (p. 423). The reference to Molly as Marion of the bountiful bosoms by the anonymous narrator of the Cyclops episode again emphasizes the focus on fertility (p. 319, italics mine). Finally, the importance of fertility is epitomized in the analogy between death and the woman who is no longer fertile: Dead: an old womans: the grey sunken cunt of the world (p. 61). Only Blooms wife, Molly, offers a different perspective on the fertility issue. In Penelope, Molly condemns the apotheosis of Mr.