Ulysses Memory and the Past Quotes

Stephen here imagines the umbilical cord (omphalos) as a telephone cord that goes back into the past, allowing him to make a telephone call to Eden by dialing the Greek letters (Aleph, alpha). Why might he settle on the image of an umbilical cord? How can the umbilical cord become a metaphor for our relation to the past?

Notice here how the external world ties into memory. The shifting of the sun jogs a memory of Milly for Bloom. Is this how memory actually works? Is it true to life?

In the carriage with the men on the way to Dignam's funeral, Bloom has this recollection of the moment that he thinks was Rudy's conception. What does it mean to remember your child in terms of their conception versus their birth? Does the fact that we as readers read this memory as a sentence (a sentence that looks like all the other sentences that depict the present) make our experience of this memory different than it is for Bloom? What gives this memory special poignancy today? How might it be tied in with Bloom's feelings of guilt over the death of his son?

In "Scylla and Charybdis," Stephen is arguing that the ghost of Hamlet's father in the play corresponds to Shakespeare and not to Shakespeare's father. The idea is that when Shakespeare left Stratford to go to London, he became a ghost-like presence in his house and that he realized this when he returned to Ann Hathaway. Compared to the common superstition that ghosts are only of the dead, what does Stephen's theory suggest is the relation between the folk idea of a ghost and memory? If one can become a ghost simply through absence, then is a ghost just a trace in memory of a person no longer present?

Here, in "Wandering Rocks," Stephen's image of his sister mingles with his nightmare of his dead mother. His guilt over his mother's death and his guilt over not helping his sister out of her situation mingle to the point that they are indistinguishable. Does memory inhabit the present in this way? If it does, what might you take to be the purpose? In the scene, does Stephen's memory of his mother prompt or inhibit action?

In the savage style of the 18th century satirist Junius, the narrator here observes that Bloom has been judging the men around him for being insensitive, and that this thought is, in fact, hypocritical. What we're interested in here is how hidden self-interest (e.g. the desire to seem like a decent human being) can effect what one remembers and what one forgets. What role does self-interest play in memory? How can we become aware of the fact that our own desires are shaping our memories and deciding what we forget?

In imitation of the nostalgic style of the English essayist Charles Lamb, the narrator of "Oxen of the Sun" is here trying to capture what happens when Bloom thinks back to a younger version of himself. Our question is here is quite pointed: Would self-reflection be possible without memory? What role does memory play in self-reflection and self-evaluation?

Here, in "Circe," Bloom has a vision of his grandfather. Bloom is complaining to his grandfather that he feels sexually inadequate, and Lipoti Virag tells him to try to use a "mnemotechnic" (memory device). Why has sex become a matter of memory for Bloom? How does Bloom live out his sexual life through memory and the past?

In this scene from "Ithaca," Stephen's scene at Queen's Hotel sets off a memory for Bloom of his father Rudolph committing suicide. The memory is clearly elaborated on and particularized by the narrator. What parts of this memory do you think come from Bloom and what parts are embellished? Do we tend to remember days and dates and addresses or do we focus more on particular details and experiences? Does this tendency change when an event is especially personal and painful? If so, why might it change?

These being the last lines of the novel, they could be placed in a number of different "Theme" categories. As you'll notice, though, there are simply too many good quotes for us to repeat them. So we're going to look at these lines in terms of memory and the past. Molly's last lines are resounding lines of affirmation. Does the fact that this affirmation is remembered undermine it? Would it be more powerful if she was thinking these thoughts in relation to the present than to the past? Is she thinking this in relation to the present or the past or both? Does this promise of happiness get undercut by the fact that it is remembered or is happiness sustained through memory?