Themes and Ideas of "Finnegans Wake" Chapter 9 

 

Themes and Ideas in "Finnegans Wake" Excerpts (Pages 219-225):

This briefing document outlines the key themes, characters, and narrative elements present in the provided excerpts from "Finnegans Wake," Chapter 9. The text, a challenging and multi-layered work, defies simple linear interpretation, instead operating through a rich tapestry of linguistic play, mythical allusions, and dream logic.

I. Core Thematic Concerns:

• Performance and Spectacle: The entire excerpt is framed as a theatrical performance or "perfumance" at "Feenichts Playhouse." This meta-narrative suggests that life itself is a staged event, with "nightly redistribution of parts and players" and "daily dubbing of ghosters." The presence of a "puppetry producer" further reinforces the idea of a controlled, perhaps predetermined, show.
• Conflict and Rivalry: A central conflict is established between "GLUGG," the "bold bad bleak boy," and "CHUFF," the "fine frank fairhaired fellow." Their struggle is described as wrestling "for tophole," with an underlying sense of cyclical, recurring opposition ("until they adumbrace a pattern of somebody else or other"). This rivalry appears to be a fundamental, perhaps primordial, element of existence.
• Transformation and Rebirth (Cyclical Nature): The title of the play, "The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies," itself hints at a cyclical narrative. The concluding "Magnificent Transformation Scene showing the Radium Wedding of Neid and Moorning and the Dawn of Peace, Pure, Perfect and Perpetual, Waking the Weary of the World" strongly suggests themes of renewal, resolution, and a new beginning after conflict and weariness. The opening phrase "While fern may cald us until firn make cold" also implies an ongoing cycle of decay and rebirth.
• Language and Communication as Central but Obscured: Joyce's characteristic linguistic innovation is paramount. The text is "wordloosed over seven seas crowdblast in cellelleneteutoslavzendlatinsoundscript." This highlights the universal and fragmented nature of language, which is simultaneously a vehicle for meaning and a source of confusion. Glugg's inability to understand Izod ("what she meaned he could not can") and the emphasis on "wordless" communication (e.g., "With nought a wired from the wordless either") underscore the difficulty of true understanding.
• Mythological and Historical Allusion: The text is rife with allusions, both overt and subtle. Characters' names (Genesius Archimimus, Hyrcan and Haristobulus, King Ericus of Schweden) and place names (Findrias, Murias, Gorias and Falias, Adelphi, Annapolis) ground the fantastical narrative in a rich, if fragmented, historical and mythological context. "The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies" is "adopted from the Ballymooney Bloodriddon Murther by Bluechin Blackdillain (authorways 'Big Storey')," suggesting a reinterpretation of pre-existing narratives.

II. Key Characters and Their Dynamics:

• GLUGG (Mr Seumas McQuillad): The "bold bad bleak boy of the storybooks," characterized by his intellectual shortcomings ("knew to mutch," "lost-to-lurning") and his "sulfur" nature ("the duvlin sulph was in Glugger"). He is depicted as struggling with rejection ("having jilted Glugg") and an inability to understand the desired object of his affection. His quest for understanding is met with frustration and confusion: "what she meaned he could not can." He is ultimately defeated, losing to Chuff.
• CHUFF (Mr Sean O'Mailey): The contrasting figure to Glugg, described as the "fine frank fairhaired fellow of the fairytales." He is presented as the victor in the rivalry for Izod's affection: "Chuffchuff's inners even. All's rice with their whorl!" He embodies a more traditional heroic archetype.
• IZOD (Miss Butys Pott): A "bewitching blonde who dimples delightfully," she is the object of both Glugg and Chuff's attention. Her beauty is so profound it is only approached by "her grateful sister reflection in a mirror." She "jilted Glugg" and is "being fatally fascinated by CHUFF." She is also linked to the "youngly delightsome frilles-in-pleyurs," suggesting a more collective female presence. Her departure ("Fled") signifies a shift in the narrative.
• THE FLORAS (Girl Scouts from St. Bride's Finishing Establishment): A group of "pretty maidens" who form a "guard for IZOD," suggesting a collective female presence and perhaps a protective or judgmental role towards Izod.
• ANN (Miss Corrie Corriendo): The "poor little old mother-in-lieu, who is woman of the house," playing a parental or nurturing role to Glugg and Chuff, who are brought home to be "well soaped, sponged and scrubbed again" by her.
• HUMP (Mr Makeall Gone): A figure of authority and trouble, the "cause of all our grievances, the whirl, the flash and the trouble." He is associated with "King Ericus of Schweden" and "the spirit's whispers in his magical helmet," hinting at a powerful, perhaps even mythical, presence. His partial recovery from "impeachment due to egg everlasting" suggests a resilient, if flawed, nature.
• THE CUSTOMERS (Components of the Afterhour Courses at St. Patricius' Academy for Grownup Gentlemen): A "bundle of a dozen of representative locomotive civics," representing a wider public or audience.
• SAUNDERSON (Mr Knut Oelsvinger): A "scherinsheiner and spoilcurate, unconcerned in the mystery but under the inflounce of the milldieuw," suggesting a peripheral, perhaps disruptive, character.
• KATE (Miss Rachel Lea Varian): A "kook-and-dishdrudge," who despite the chaos believes "the show must go on." She represents a resilient, practical, and perhaps cynical, perspective.

III. Narrative Structure and Poetic Devices:

• Dream Logic and Non-Linearity: The narrative eschews conventional plot progression, instead operating on a dream-like, associative logic. Events and character interactions are fragmented and symbolic rather than strictly causal.
• Portmanteau Words and Neologisms: Joyce's extensive use of portmanteau words (e.g., "perfumance," "childream's," "thugogmagog," "catastrophear") creates a dense, multi-layered linguistic experience, where multiple meanings and associations are compressed into single words. This requires the reader to actively participate in constructing meaning.
• Sound Play and Alliteration: The text is highly phonetic, with numerous instances of alliteration and assonance (e.g., "bold bad bleak boy," "fine frank fairhaired fellow," "shimmershake rather naightily"). This emphasizes the musicality of language and contributes to the dream-like atmosphere.
• Questions and Unanswered Queries: The frequent use of questions (e.g., "Who are you?," "What do you lack?," "What is that, O holytroopers?") underscores the pervasive sense of mystery and the elusive nature of definitive answers within the text.
• Shifting Perspectives: The narrative voice shifts frequently, offering glimpses into the thoughts and perceptions of various characters, often blurring the lines between objective description and subjective experience.

IV. Key Quotes and Their Significance:

• "Every evening at lighting up o'clock sharp and until further notice in Feenichts Playhouse." - Establishes the theatrical framework and the cyclical nature of the performance.
• "The Mime of Mick, Nick and the Maggies, adopted from the Ballymooney Bloodriddon Murther by Bluechin Blackdillain (authorways 'Big Storey')." - Highlights the reinterpretation of pre-existing narratives and the central conflict.
• "GLUGG...the bold bad bleak boy of the storybooks, who, when the tabs go up, as we discover, because he knew to mutch, has been divorced into disgrace court..." - Introduces Glugg's flawed nature and his initial downfall.
• "CHUFF...the fine frank fairhaired fellow of the fairytales, who wrestles for tophole with the bold bad bleak boy Glugg,geminally about caps or puds or tog bags or bog gats or chuting rudskin gunerally or something,until they adumbrace a pattern of somebody else or other..." - Defines the central rivalry as a recurring, archetypal struggle.
• "IZOD...a bewitching blonde who dimples delightfully and is approached in loveliness only by her grateful sister reflection in a mirror, the cloud of the opal, who, having jilted Glugg, is being fatally fascinated by CHUFF..." - Describes Izod's captivating nature and her role as the object of desire.
• "And wordloosed over seven seas crowdblast in cellelleneteutoslavzendlatinsoundscript." - Emphasizes the global and fragmented nature of language and communication.
• "But the duvlin sulph was in Glugger, that lost-to-lurning." - Reinforces Glugg's inherent character flaws and his struggle with knowledge.
• "He has lost. Off to clutch, Glugg! Forwhat! Shape your reres, Glugg! Foreweal! Ring we round, Chuff! Fairwell! Chuffchuff's inners even. All's rice with their whorl!" - Declares Glugg's defeat and Chuff's triumph.
• "The whole thugogmagog...to be wound up for an afterenactment by a Magnificent Transformation Scene showing the Radium Wedding of Neid and Moorning and the Dawn of Peace, Pure, Perfect and Perpetual, Waking the Weary of the World." - Foreshadows the ultimate resolution and the theme of rebirth and peace.
• "But what is that which is one going to prehend? Seeks, buzzling is brains, the feinder." - Highlights the difficulty of comprehension and the constant search for meaning.
• "the show must go on." - Kate's pragmatic and resilient outlook on life's continuous performance.

In conclusion, these excerpts from "Finnegans Wake" Chapter 9 (page 219-225) present a complex and highly symbolic narrative of theatrical performance, eternal rivalry, and the cyclical nature of human experience. Through its innovative use of language and its rich tapestry of allusions, the text invites readers to engage with themes of communication, transformation, and the persistent human quest for meaning within a world that is both chaotic and profoundly ordered.

 

Themes and Ideas in "Finnegans Wake" Excerpts (Pages 226-230):

 

This briefing document reviews key themes and ideas present in the provided excerpts from "Finnegans Wake," Chapter 9, pages 226-230. The text, characteristic of Joyce's experimental style, presents a dense, multi-layered narrative that defies simple linear interpretation. Instead, it offers a rich tapestry of linguistic play, mythical allusions, and fragmented insights into the human condition.

Main Themes:

• Transformation and Cycles (Day/Night, Life/Death, Renewal):
  • The most prominent theme is the continuous cycle of transformation, particularly evident in the imagery of day fading into night and the promise of renewal. Isa's fading "like Journee's clothes so you can't see her now" is immediately followed by the reassurance that "Day the Dyer works, in dims and deeps and dusks and darks. And among the shades that Eve's now wearing she'll meet anew fiancy, tryst and trow." This suggests a cyclical nature of existence where endings are merely transitions to new beginnings.
  • The phrase "The same renew" further reinforces this idea, suggesting a perpetual process of reinvention and continuation, even in the face of loss or change. The description of "All run-away sheep bound back bopeep, trailing their teenes behind them" similarly evokes a sense of return and cyclical movement.
• Feminine Collective and Diversity:
  • A significant portion of the text focuses on a collective of women, often referred to as "the ingelles," "an angel's garland," or "the florals." They are depicted in various states and roles, from innocent "schoolgirl[s]" to more mature figures like "the grocer's bawd" and "the widow Megrievy."
  • Their descriptions are vivid and sensory, focusing on their attire ("Catchmire stockings, libertyed garters, shoddyshoes, quicked out with selver. Pennyfair caps on pinnyfore frocks and a ring on her fomefing finger") and their movements ("they leap so looply, looply, as they link to light. And they look so loovely, loovelit, noosed in a nuptious night").
  • The list of names (Winnie, Olive, Beatrice, Nelly, Ida, Amy, Rue; Rubretta, Arancia, Yilla, greeneriN, Boyblue, O, W) highlights their individuality within the collective, suggesting a vast array of feminine archetypes and experiences. The "many wiles of Winsure" also points to their diverse and often complex nature.
• Masculine Internal Conflict and Disgrace:
  • In stark contrast to the feminine collective, the male figure (implied to be H.C. Earwicker, or "He") is presented as experiencing profound internal turmoil and public humiliation. He is described as feeling "funny and floored for the cue" and experiencing "tornaments of complementary rages."
  • His physical and emotional reactions are exaggerated and self-destructive: "He dove his head into Wat Murrey, gave Stewart Ryall a puck on the plexus, wrestled a hurry-come-union with the Gillie Beg, wiped all his sinses... excremuncted as freely as any frothblower into MacIsaac." This section portrays a breakdown, a desperate attempt to purge or escape his predicament.
  • The "oathword science of his visible disgrace" suggests a public downfall, perhaps related to sexual transgression, as implied by lines like "if goosseys gazious would but fain smile him a smile he would be fondling a praise he ate some nice bit of fluff." He is "off colour" and "ambothed upon by the very spit of himself," indicating self-reproach and internal conflict manifested externally.
• Language and Storytelling as Creation and Redress:
  • A meta-narrative emerges around the act of writing and creating. The male figure, despite his disgrace, resolves to "jused sit it all write down just as he would jused set it up all writhefully rate in blotch and void." This suggests a desire to control his narrative, to transform chaos into a structured account, albeit a "writhefully rate" one.
  • He aims to "fillfull ninequires with it for his auditers, Caxton and Pollock, a most moraculous jeeremyhead sindbook for all the peoples." This highlights the ambition of the work itself – to be a comprehensive, perhaps even morally instructive, text for a wide audience.
  • The recurring motif of sending letters and writing ("his farced epistol to the hibruws," "rearing a writing in handy antics," "inform to the old sniggering publicking press") underscores the importance of communication and public record in his attempt to process or redeem himself. He is "the general," suggesting a strategic, perhaps even combative, approach to narrative.
• Memory, History, and Ancestry:
  • The concept of memory, both personal and collective, is deeply embedded. The "family histrionic" with "Avus and Avia" (grandfather and grandmother) and their descendants ("Nurus and Noverca," "nepotists") signifies a lineage, a chain of events and relationships stretching through time.
  • The "castle throwen? Ones propsperups treed, now stohong baroque" evokes a sense of decline from a glorious past, a ruined grandeur. The attempt to "trace me there title to where was a hovel not a havel (the first rattle of his juniverse)" suggests an archaeological excavation of personal and familial history, seeking origins and foundational moments.

Most Important Ideas/Facts:

• Cyclical Nature of Existence: "The same renew." This phrase is central to understanding the fluid, ever-changing reality presented in the text. Endings are always pregnant with new beginnings.
• Contrasting Gender Roles/States: The juxtaposition of the vibrant, diverse female collective with the tormented, disgraced male figure is a key dynamic. The women are associated with beauty, unity, and ongoing life, while the man grapples with shame, isolation, and a need for narrative control.
• The Power of Language and Storytelling: The male figure's resolve to "write down" his experiences, to create a "sindbook for all the peoples," underscores the text's own self-awareness as a narrative act. It suggests that through language, chaos can be ordered, disgrace addressed, and meaning created.
• Subversion of Conventional Narrative: The highly experimental language, with its portmanteau words, puns, and fragmented syntax, is not merely stylistic but thematic. It embodies the complex, often contradictory, nature of reality and consciousness. The reader is actively engaged in "connecting the succeeding" and deciphering meaning from the linguistic "blotch and void."
• Exploration of Guilt and Redemption: The male figure's "visible disgrace" and subsequent desire to write about it suggest a journey towards self-understanding or a form of atonement, even if the path is tortuous and the outcome uncertain. His actions ("He would split. He do big squeal like holy Trichepatte. Seek hells where from yank islanders the petriote's absolation") highlight a desperate plea for absolution.

In summary, these excerpts from "Finnegans Wake" Chapter 9 Page 226-230 offer a glimpse into a world where time and identity are fluid, where the feminine principle represents continuous renewal, and the masculine grapples with the weight of past actions through an intensely personal and often painful process of linguistic creation. The text itself becomes a testament to the enduring power of storytelling to reflect and reshape human experience.Analysis of "Finnegans Wake" Chapter 9 (Pages 231-235)

Themes and Ideas Pages 231-235:

This excerpt from James Joyce's Finnegans Wake presents a dense and multi-layered tapestry of language, allusions, and fragmented narratives. It defies straightforward linear interpretation, instead operating on principles of linguistic play, dream logic, and a cyclical understanding of history and human experience. The main themes emerging are:

1. Language as a Fluid, Playful, and Transformative Medium:

The most striking feature of the text is its constant linguistic innovation, often referred to as "portmanteau" words and stream-of-consciousness prose. Joyce distorts, combines, and reconfigures words to create new meanings, associations, and aural textures. This is evident from the opening lines:

• "hovel not a havel (the first rattle of his juniverse)": The subtle shift from "hovel" to "havel" and the invention of "juniverse" immediately signal a departure from conventional language. "Juniverse" conflates "junior" and "universe," suggesting a nascent or personal cosmos.
• "tingtumtingling": An onomatopoeic word that evokes a continuous, perhaps chaotic, sound.
• "errorooth": A blend of "error" and "root," suggesting a fundamental flaw or origin of mistakes.
• "Haveajube Sillayass": A derogatory and humorous combination of "have a job," "silly," and "ass," highlighting a character's foolishness.
• "Holihowlsballs and bloody acres!": A vivid, exclamatory phrase combining "holy howls," "balls," and "bloody acres," conveying extreme exasperation or shock.

This linguistic play extends to questions and responses:

• "Haps thee jaoneofergs? —Nao. Haps thee mayjaunties? —Naohao. Haps thee per causes nunsibellies? —Naohaohao.": These nonsensical questions and escalating "Nao" (no) responses highlight a breakdown in communication or a deliberate obfuscation of meaning.

The text constantly reminds us of the constructed nature of language and its capacity for both profound expression and utter absurdity.

2. Cycles of Fall and Resurrection/Reinvention:

A recurring motif is the idea of a fall or decline followed by a subsequent regaining of oneself. This is not a simple linear progression but a cyclical pattern.

• "But, by Jove Chronides, Seed of Summ, after at he had bate his breastplates for, forforget, forforgetting his birdsplace, it was soon that, that he, that he rehad himself.": This passage explicitly describes a character forgetting their "birdsplace" (perhaps a place of origin or innocence) and then "rehadding himself" – a process of self-reconstitution, possibly through "esercizism" (exercise/exorcism).
• "And Malthos Moramor resumed his soul.": This reinforces the idea of a return to a former state, a recovery of self after a period of disarray.

This theme can be interpreted on multiple levels: personal, historical, and even cosmological, aligning with Vico's theory of cyclical history, which greatly influenced Joyce. The "Finnegan" of the title itself alludes to the ballad "Finnegan's Wake," where a deceased character is revived by whiskey, symbolising constant rebirth.

3. The Body, Its Functions, and Its Grotesqueries:

The physical body and its less-than-dignified functions are frequently referenced, often in a grotesque or comical manner.

• "His mouthfull of ecstasy... shot pinging up through the errorooth of his wisdom... Wholly sanguish blooded up disconvulsing the fixtures of his fizz.": This vivid, almost violent, description of a physical reaction, possibly vomiting or an internal rupture, highlights the body's unruly nature.
• "snivelled from his snose and blew the guff out of his hornypipe.": A crude and visceral depiction of bodily fluids and sounds.
• "how he's knots in his entrails! Mookery mooks, it's a grippe of his gripes. Seekeryseeks, why his biting he's head off? Cokerycokes, it's his spurt of coal.": These lines describe internal turmoil and discomfort with a certain dark humour, reducing ailments to their crude physical manifestations.
• "And may his tarpitch dilute not give him chromitis! For the mauwe that blinks you blank is mostly Carbo.": A reference to physical ailments and the internal workings of the body, presented with a mix of medical and nonsensical language.

This focus on the corporeal grounds the otherwise abstract linguistic play in a messy, human reality, often subverting elevated notions of the individual.

4. Allusions to Mythology, Religion, and History:

The text is densely packed with allusions, creating a rich intertextual web. These are often fragmented and distorted, reflecting the dreamlike quality of the narrative.

• "Joshua Croesus, son of Nunn!": A biblical reference (Joshua, son of Nun) combined with Croesus, a king famed for his wealth, suggesting a figure of both spiritual and material significance, or perhaps a juxtaposition of the two.
• "by Jove Chronides, Seed of Summ": Evokes classical mythology (Zeus/Jove, Kronos/Chronides) and a sense of primal origins.
• "Malthos Moramor": Potentially a blend of "Malthus" (economic theorist) and "Morality" or "Mortality," suggesting a figure linked to societal structures or human fate.
• "Shing-Yung-Thing in Shina from Yoruyume across the Timor Sea": References to Eastern geography and culture, contributing to the global scope of the narrative.
• "Old Roastin the Bowl Ratskillers": A possible distorted reference to a historical figure or a popular song/rhyme.
• "Osman glory": An allusion to the Ottoman Empire, suggesting a grand, fading power.
• "Allah-lah lahlah lah!": Arabic sounds evoking Islamic prayer, linking to the religious themes present.
• "Xanthos! Xanthos! Xanthos!": A Greek word meaning "yellow" or "fair-haired," possibly a classical invocation or a reference to a specific character.

These allusions are not meant to be systematically deciphered but rather to add layers of resonance and associative meaning, contributing to the sense of a universal human story unfolding.

5. Domesticity, Desire, and Social Interactions:

Amidst the broader themes, there are glimpses of more intimate, domestic scenes and the complexities of human relationships.

• "I have soreunder from to him now, dearmate ashore, so, so compleasely till I can get redressed, which means the end of my stays in the languish of Tintangle. Is you zealous of mes, brother? Did you boo moiety lowd?": This fragmented dialogue suggests a personal confession, possibly a romantic or familial entanglement, and feelings of jealousy or betrayal. "Tintangle" might allude to Tintagel, linked to Arthurian legend and illicit love.
• "Angelinas, hide from light those hues that your sin beau may bring to light! Though down to your dowerstrip he's bent to knee he maun't know ledgings here.": This speaks of hidden desires, secrets, and the need to conceal aspects of one's life, especially from a lover ("sin beau").
• "He is guessing at hers for all he is worse, the seagoer. Hark to his wily geeses goosling by, and playfair, lady!": This hints at a game of romantic pursuit or seduction, with one party (the "seagoer") attempting to understand or manipulate the other.
• "They've come to chant en chor. They say their salat, the madiens' prayer to the messiager of His Nabis, prostrating their selfs eachwise and combinedly.": This passage, with its religious undertones, also describes a communal gathering, possibly of women, engaged in ritualistic behaviour related to a revered figure.
• "Lady Marmela Shortbred will walk in for supper with her marchpane switch on, her necklace of almonds and her poirette Sundae dress with bracelets of honey and her cochineal hose with the caramel dancings, the briskly best from Bootiestown, and her suckingstaff of ivory": This detailed and somewhat fantastical description of a woman's attire suggests a social gathering, perhaps a dinner party, and highlights the artificiality and indulgence of such events. The "suckingstaff of ivory" adds a suggestive, almost bawdy, element.

These interactions are often imbued with a sense of playfulness, intrigue, and sometimes melancholy, reflecting the multifaceted nature of human connection.

6. The Dream-State and Unconscious Mind:

The entire text reads like a dream, with its non-linear progression, illogical juxtapositions, and the constant slippage of meaning.

• "His mouthfull of ecstasy... as thought it had been zawhen intwo.": The sudden, almost violent, shift and the fragmented perception are characteristic of dream logic.
• "like a chimista inchamisas, whom the harricana hurries and hots foots, zingo, zango, segur.": The vivid, almost hallucinatory imagery and the rapid, associative leaps mimic the mind's workings in a dream.
• "He had his sperrits all foulen on him; to vet, most griposly, he was bedizzled and debuzzled; he had his tristiest cabaleer on; and looked like bruddy Hal.": This description of a character's state of mind suggests disorientation, drunkenness, or a descent into an altered state, akin to a nightmare.

Joyce's work is often seen as an exploration of the collective unconscious, and this excerpt certainly reflects that, inviting the reader to surrender to its irrational flow.

7. A Sense of Place and Domestic Aspiration:

Despite the global allusions, there is a distinct sense of an Irish, specifically Dublin, setting, interwoven with dreams of an idealised domestic future.

• "My God, alas, that dear olt tumtum home": A nostalgic yearning for a lost home.
• "We and I shall reside with our obeisant servants among Burke's mobility at La Roseraie, Ailesbury Road. Red bricks are all hellishly good values if you trust to the roster of ads but we'll save up ourselves and nab what's nicest and boskiest of timber trees in the nebohood. Oncaill's plot. Luccombe oaks, Turkish hazels, Greek firs, incense palm edcedras. The hypsometers of Mount Anville is held to be dying out of arthataxis but, praise send Larix U' Thule, the wych elm of Manelagh is still flourishing in the open, because its native of our nature and the seeds was sent by Fortune.": This detailed description of a desired future home, replete with specific Dublin place names (Ailesbury Road, Mount Anville, Manelagh) and botanical preferences, anchors the fantastical elements in a tangible, aspirational reality. It reflects a desire for social status and a picturesque, idyllic life.

This blend of the mundane and the mythical is a hallmark of Finnegans Wake, suggesting that grand narratives are always playing out within the confines of everyday life.

In conclusion, this excerpt from Finnegans Wake is not a text to be simply read, but to be experienced. It challenges conventional understanding of language and narrative, inviting the reader to engage with its rich tapestry of sounds, allusions, and fragmented meanings. The main themes revolve around the transformative power of language, the cyclical nature of human experience, the often-grotesque reality of the body, a vast web of mythological and historical allusions, and the complexities of human desire and domestic life, all presented within a dreamlike, stream-of-consciousness framework.

Themes and Ideas in Finnegans Wake Chapter 9 (pages 236.19-239.15) – The Dance of the Flower Girls and Chuff's Encounter

This section of Finnegans Wake presents a complex and multi-layered narrative, primarily focusing on the erotic interplay between the "flowery girls" (representing various female archetypes and the rainbow girls) and "Chuff," a character embodying purity and religious devotion (often identified with Shaun). The language is highly polysemic, weaving together botanical imagery with overt sexual suggestion, classical allusions, Irish idiom, and a pervasive sense of the mutability of time and human experience.

I. Main Themes

1. Mutability vs. Stability: The Enduring Dance of Life: The opening lines establish a core theme: despite the passage of time and the rise and fall of civilizations and currencies ("Since the days of Roamaloose and Rehmoose... sterlings and guineas have been replaced by brooks and lions"), certain fundamental human activities and patterns endure. The "dances" (pavanos, vaulsies, reels, rigadoons, danceadeils, cancanzanies) are presented as stable elements in contrast to the "mutability of men." This idea is reinforced by the "Motif: Aujourd'hui comme aux... (Quinet)," suggesting "today as in the past." The dancing of the little girls is described as "as gay today as ever."
2. Erotic Performance and Seduction: The central action revolves around the "flowery girls" engaged in an "erotic performance of word and gesture," directed at Chuff. Their dance is explicitly sexualized, with botanical terms serving as transparent metaphors for female anatomy and sexual acts. They are "exposing themselves before Chuff" and "turn toward him in their sun worship [heliotropism], and he can see right through them, as, dutifully, all are alisten to his elixir." The girls' dialogue becomes "more and more sexually explicit."
3. Innocence, Purity, and Temptation: Chuff is depicted as "thrice-innocent," "pure," and "stainless" ("Stainusless"). The girls praise his purity, stating: "Unclean you art not. Outcaste thou are not... You are pure. You are pure. You are in your puerity. You have not brought stinking members into the house of Amanti." This purity is challenged by the girls' seductive advances, making Chuff a "dreadful temptation." The tension between his perceived innocence and their desire to "pollinate" him is central.
4. Religious Allusion and Blasphemy/Parody: The text is heavily saturated with religious references, particularly Christian and Egyptian.

• Confession and Sin: The girls' plea, "May he colp, may he colp her, may he mixandmass colp her!", parodies the Catholic "Confiteor": "mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa" ("through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault"). Their request to Chuff ("Now promisus as at our requisted you will remain ignorant of all what you hear and... draw a veil till we next time!") alludes to the secrecy of confession and the proverb "Satan finds work for idle hands to do."
• Purity and Pollution (Indian Caste System): The girls' assertion of Chuff's cleanliness ("Unclean you art not. Outcaste thou are not. Leperstower... has not blanched at our pollution and your intercourse at ninety legsplits does not defile. Untouchable is not the scarecrown is on you.") directly references the Hindu caste system and the concept of ritual purity and untouchability, as detailed in Hunt: India's Outcastes, A New Era.
• Egyptian Mythology (Book of the Dead): Phrases like "Your head has been touched by the god Enel-Rah and your face has been brightened by the goddess Aruc-Ituc" directly echo passages from Budge's The Book of the Dead, where deceased individuals' members are identified with gods for protection. The "Great Cackler" motif is also derived from the Book of the Dead.
• Biblical and Christian Imagery: References like "Behold the handmaid of the Lord!" (from the Angelus, celebrating Mary's conception) are parodied in the girls' seduction. The "Original Sinse" and the "snake, apple (Genesis)" motifs also appear.

1. The Role of the Postman/Messenger (Shaun/Chuff): Chuff is explicitly identified as a "deliverer of softmissives," a "postmaster," and "Shaun the Post." The girls ask him to "send us, your adorables... a wise and letters play of all you can ceive." This links Chuff's character to the recurring motif of the Letter and communication, a core element of Finnegans Wake.

II. Most Important Ideas and Facts

• Synopses: The section is clearly delineated by the provided synopses:
• II.1.2.W [236.19-236.32]: "the mutability of men — the stability of dances"
• II.1.3.A [236.33-237.09]: "the flowery girls continue their dance — exposing themselves before Chuff"
• II.1.3.B [237.10-239.15]: "they sing his praise — they seduce him"
• The "Girls" and Their Symbolism:
• They are "flowery girls," associated with plants, pollination, and natural sexuality.
• They are "Angèles," linking them to angels or perhaps fallen angels.
• They embody the "7 rainbow girls," each associated with a colour ("Brick, fauve, jonquil, sprig, fleet, nocturne, smiling bruise").
• They represent different female archetypes: "toutes philomelas as well as magdelenes" – the innocent rape victim (Philomela) and the reformed prostitute (Magdalene), suggesting a duality of innocence and fallenness, or "innocent Issy vs. fallen Marge."
• They are associated with "dishybilly" (déshabillé), a state of undress, highlighting their sexual openness.
• Chuff's Identity and Attributes:
• Stanislaus Joyce: He is directly addressed as "Stainusless," a clear pun on James Joyce's brother, Stanislaus. The "useless" pun within "Stainusless" also hints at a potential critique or characterisation.
• Purity and Religious Figure: He is a "young confessor," "pure," "sainted youngling," and compared to a "heaven-dweller" ("O coelicola"). He is also identified with Jesus ("Jesus was born in a barn," "our barnaboy").
• Postman/Shaun: He is the "deliverer of softmissives," holding a "pampipe" and associated with a "mail bag" and "belted lamp," clearly identifying him with Shaun the Post.
• Buddha: There are numerous allusions to the Buddha: "Buddha did not wish to preach the law but was persuaded by Brahma," "Buddha preached the law at Gazelle Park," "King of Snakes encircled and warmed the Buddha," "Buddha played lute while teaching," "Buddha's begging bowl." This adds a layer of enlightened wisdom and stoicism to Chuff.
• Misfortune: Despite the praise, a note indicates a similar prophecy given to a king whose "brow would be kissed by Apollo, his limbs washed by Neptune" but "It turned out that he was crucified." This foreshadows potential suffering or a fall for Chuff.
• Language and Wordplay:
• Portmanteau Words & Puns: The text is replete with Joyce's characteristic portmanteau words and puns: "Roamaloose and Rehmoose," "Chapelldiseut" (Chapelizod/Iseult), "mismy cloudy" (Miss McCloud), "danceadeils" (dance/daffodils), "cancanzanies" (can-can/canzoni), "po's taeorns" (buttocks/post horns/past aeons/posterity), "obcecity" (blindness/obesity/opacity), "teapucs" (teacups/past epochs), "lovestalk" (love-talk/penis), "tournesoled" (turned/heliotrope), "calyzettes" (chalices/stockings), "muscalone pistil" (muscle/masculine/pistil/musk), "Mullabury mesh" (Mulberry Bush/muliebre/mesh stocking), "prizelestly preshoes" (precious), "dumbelles" (stupid/belles/dumb-bells), "aboutobloss" (about to blossom/bare), "softmissives" (love letters/submissions), "overblaseed" (overblessed/blasé/ovoblast), "Leperstower" (Leperstown/tower of silence), "karman's loki" (karma/dunghill/mischief-maker), "legsplits," "puerity" (purity/boyhood), "stinking members," "Enel-Rah" (Harlene backwards), "Aruc-Ituc" (Cuticura backwards), "masikal" (magical/rain season), "Sweetstaker" (sweet-talker/sweepstake), "ticklets" (tickles/tickets), "ishibilley" (Isabel/dishybilly), "mixandmass colp her!" (mea culpa/hit), "pervergined" (perverted/virgin), "Mutantini" (mutandine), "mything smile" (myth/missing), "wholesole assumption" (wholesale/Assumption of Virgin Mary), "smithereens robinsongs" (fragments/Smith, Robinson/robin's song), "juneses nutslost" (youth/Jones/Nut/useless), "whiteyoumightcallimbs" (white limbs/what-you-may-call-'em), "triel" (trial/trio), "Eer's wax" (ears/here's/beeswax), "Sur Soord" (sour/deaf/sword), "bollets" (bullets), "iris riflers" (Iris/Irish Rifles/combs), "queemswellth" (queen's wealth/quim/semen), "jennyjos" (thistledown/jinnies), "Teomeo! Daurdour!" (God/my God!/dear), "Gizzygazelle Tark's bimboowood" (Buddha/Gazelle Park/boy/bud/bamboo wood), "Original sinse" (Original Sin/sense), "napple" (nip/apple), "deedsetton" (dead certain), "questuan" (quest/begging/question), "lutean bowl" (lute/begging bowl), "tingling in your trout" (tickling trout), "tice-ments" (enticements), "Up-some cauda!" (lift up hearts/tail), "ammatures" (amateurs/amatory/immature/maid), "ores" (ours/whores), "hoax-ites" (hoaxes/marriage), "gifting in mennage" (Gift/marry/household), "Vania, Vania Vaniorum, Domne Vanias!" (Ivan/vanity of vanities, all is vanity).
• Intertextual References:
• Literary: Rudyard Kipling's Just-So Stories, Jules Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, Dryden/Boyce's "Song of Momus to Mars," Aesop's The Hare and the Tortoise, James Macpherson's The Poems of Ossian (Temora, Fingal), Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass ("Jabberwocky").
• Songs/Nursery Rhymes: "Miss McCloud's Reel," Carl Böhm's "Still wie die Nacht," "Silent Night," "Ding Dong Bell," "Jumbo Said to Alice," "My goodness, my Guinness," "Father O'Flynn," "We Don't Want to Fight, but, by Jingo, If We Do," "Auld Lang Syne," "Smilin' Through," "Old Rosin the Beau," "Frankie and Johnny," "Little Brown Jug," "Gin a body meet a body."
• Proverbs: "Idle hands are the devil's playground" (Satan finds work for idle hands to do), "Coming events cast their shadows before."
• Historical/Political: Romulus/Remus, Maurice Brookes and Dr Robert Dyer Lyons (Liberal candidates), Sir Arthur Guinness and James Stirling (Conservatives), Napoleon Bonaparte, Duke Wellington.
• Specific Dublin Locations: Chapelizod, Ballybough, Harcourt Street, Grangegorman, Leopardstown racecourse, Carmanhall, Mount Melleray Abbey, Dublin (Baile Átha Cliath).
• Joyce's Other Works: References to Dubliners ("Clay") and Ulysses ("Penelope," "Nausicaa," "Scylla and Charybdis," "Hades," "Oxen of the Sun") demonstrate continuity of motifs and themes.
• The Unveiling/Veiling Motif: The suggestion to "draw a veil till we next time!" (238.17-18) alludes to concealment and the idea that "when we sleep we draw a veil over everything and usually remain ignorant of what is happening." This contrasts with the girls' own "disrobing to the edge of risk" and "flimsy dresses made of intoxicatingly transparent tissue-paper," highlighting the theme of revelation and hiddenness.
• Emancipation and Sexual Freedom: The girls ultimately express a desire for sexual freedom and emancipation, stating that the day is coming when they "shall ope to be ores" (whores/ours), with "no more hoax-ites! Nay more gifting in mennage!" This signifies a rejection of traditional marriage and a longing for a world where "every scullery maid will have as many rights as every yard scullion. All of us romantic Kathleens will be emancipated. And the world is maidfree."

In summary, this section of Finnegans Wake is a highly condensed and allusive exploration of sexuality, innocence, temptation, and the cyclical nature of human experience. It uses a dizzying array of linguistic techniques and cultural references to create a dream-like, polyphonic narrative where the boundaries between the sacred and profane, and the past and present, are constantly blurred.

 

Themes and Ideas in Finnegans Wake, Pages 239-242

Executive Summary

This document provides a comprehensive analysis of pages 239-242 of Finnegans Wake, synthesizing detailed annotations and critical interpretations. The passage divides into two primary movements. The first section (239.16-240.04) depicts a group of young women, the "rainbow girls," engaged in a circular dance while celebrating a future of complete sexual emancipation, where the world will be "maidfree." This theme is articulated through dense, multilingual wordplay that parodies religious texts like the Angelus and the Lord's Prayer. The second, and much larger, section (240.05-242.24) focuses on the character of Glugg (Shem), who rises from a grave-like state to deliver a complex testimony. Initially framed as a personal confession and renunciation of past heresies, his speech transforms into a convoluted defense of his father figure, HCE. Glugg details a series of accusations against this paternal character—primarily sexual impropriety with young girls—while simultaneously dismissing them as lies. The portrait of HCE is a composite, blending traits from historical figures like Emanuel Swedenborg and Lewis Carroll. Despite Glugg's defense, the passage concludes with an apparent guilty verdict from a "jury of matrons," culminating in an explicit description of a sexual act.

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1. The Dance of Future Liberation (239.16-240.04)

This section, subtitled "they look forward to their sexual freedom — they dance away," opens with a declaration of radical change and liberation, primarily from a female perspective. The girls dance in a circle ("in gyrogyrorondo"), a game echoing "Ring-a-ring o' Roses," while anticipating a world free from traditional constraints.

Core Themes and Language:

• Sexual Emancipation: The central argument is for a future where women are sexually autonomous. This is expressed in lines such as:

    ◦ "When every Klitty of a scolderymeid shall hold every yardscullion's right to stimm her uprecht for whimsoever" (239.18-20). This line is layered with sexual innuendo ("Klitty" for clitoris, "yard" for penis, "uprecht" for standing sex) and political significance ("stimm" and "uprecht" combine to suggest the German Stimmrecht, or suffrage).

    ◦ "And when all us romance catholeens shall have ones for all amanseprated. And the world is maidfree" (239.21-22). This envisions a world emancipated, without virgins ("maid-free"), and separated from traditional Roman Catholic norms.

• Religious Parody: The girls' pronouncements are framed as a subversion of religious language:

    ◦ "Hightime is ups be it down into outs according!" (239.16) is a sexualized parody of the Virgin Mary's acceptance in the Angelus: "Be it done unto me according to Thy word." The word "Hightime" itself is a pun on the German word for wedding, Hochzeit.

    ◦ "eat on earth as there's hot in oven" (239.17-18) twists the Lord's Prayer ("on earth as it is in heaven"), with "oven" carrying the slang meaning of vagina or uterus.

• Circular Dance and Decline of the Male Figure: The girls dance around the "princesome handsome angeline chiuff" (239.29) while Glugg, the male figure, is abased. The section ends with the pronouncement that "poor Glugger was dazed and late in his crave, ay he, laid in his grave" (240.03-04), referencing the children's game "Old Roger is dead."

2. The Resurrection and Confession of Glugg (240.05-242.24)

Following the girls' dance, Glugg rises from his metaphorical grave in a scene that evokes both the resurrection and the sea shanty "What Shall We Do With a Drunken Sailor?" ("low, boys low, he rises"). This marks the beginning of a long, convoluted monologue that functions as a confession, a defense, and an accusation.

Stages of Glugg's Monologue:

1. Examination of Conscience (240.06-240.14): Glugg begins a formal "Examen of conscience," a spiritual exercise preceding Catholic confession. He resolves to renounce his past ways and sins. This includes:

    ◦ Renouncing intellectual pride and lust, symbolized by ceasing to sit "on the stolen. With his tumescinquinance" (240.08), a pun on a tumescent Thomas Aquinas.

    ◦ Abandoning his Jewish identity ("No more singing all the dags in his sengaggeng," i.e., synagogue) (240.09-10).

    ◦ Recanting Protestantism, associated with Trinity College ("Trinitatis kink had mudded his dome") (240.10-11).

    ◦ Rejecting the Albigensian Heresy ("dooly redecant allbigenesis henesies") (240.12-13).

2. Shift to Pidgin and Testimony (240.24 onwards): Glugg's voice shifts into a defensive pidgin dialect, identified as Beach-la-Mar from Lynch's Isles of Illusion. He begins to speak about a "remarklable moliman" (240.27), a father figure identifiable as HCE. As noted by critic Joseph Campbell, Glugg appears to be confessing not his own sins, but reciting the story of his father's.
3. Glugg's Testimony: The Case of the Father Figure (HCE)

The majority of the passage is Glugg's testimony concerning the HCE figure, here named "Anaks Andrum" (a pun on Homer's "anax andrôn," lord of men). The testimony is a blend of defense against accusations and the construction of a detailed, composite character portrait.

The Composite Portrait of HCE:

Glugg's description of this "lord of men" is not of a single individual but a complex figure built from the traits of several historical and literary personalities.

Source Figure : Attributed Traits in the Text

Emanuel Swedenborg : Described as an "Assessor" (242.01); subject to trances (240.29); has "smily skibluh eye" (240.33); wears a suit of "black velvet" (242.06); grew a new "bucktooth" at age 81 (242.08-10).

Lewis Carroll : Carries "two purses" (242.14); has a meticulous tea-making ritual, "swinging the tea-pot" (242.14-15); has a "rather incoherend" gait and a stammer (242.15, 242.18); is a photographer, a "toucher up of young poetographies" (242.18-19).

James Joyce : Suffers from eye trouble ("glaucoma," "lavabad eyes") and received "arsenicful" injections (240.16, 242.13); has blue eyes ("skibluh eye") (240.33).

Parnell : Referenced in a jumble of allusions: having acid thrown in his face, a scandalous love affair, and working to "appeal for the union" (240.19-20).

The Accusations and Defense:

Glugg recounts and refutes the classic accusations leveled against HCE throughout the book, framing them as slander spread by "Big dumm crumm digaditchies" (241.01).

• The Charges: The central accusation involves sexual impropriety with young girls. He is accused of giving "candid zuckers" (sugar candies) and other offerings to "lilithe maidinettes" (lithe maidens) with "pruriest pollygameous inatentions" (241.03-05). The act itself is euphemized as wanting them to "bloo his noose for him" (241.04), interpreted as a request for ejaculation.
• The Defense: Glugg vehemently denies these stories, calling them a "Collosul rhodomantic" (colossal romantic lie) and "purely simply tammy ratkins" (tommyrot) (241.08, 241.25). He counters with a portrait of HCE as a respectable, "highly accurect" man, a "retiring family buckler" living quietly at "nummer seven" (242.03-05).

The Verdict:

Despite Glugg's impassioned and convoluted defense, the passage concludes with a judgment. The case is brought before a "trial by julias," a "jury of matrons" (242.14, 242.22). The final lines appear to confirm HCE's guilt, abandoning euphemism for a direct statement: "his Thing went the wholyway retup Suffrogate Strate" (242.23-24), with "tup" being an Elizabethan term for sexual intercourse.

4. Key Literary Techniques and Motifs

The passage is a showcase of the signature techniques used throughout Finnegans Wake.

• Multilingual Wordplay: The text is saturated with puns drawing on numerous languages. This technique allows for multiple, often contradictory, meanings to coexist within a single phrase.

Phrase : Line : Languages and Meanings

Hightime : 239.16 : English "high time" + German Hochzeit (wedding, marriage).

stimm her uprecht : 239.19 : English "stimulate her upright" (sex) + German Stimmrecht (suffrage, right to vote).

mishe mishe / Teufleuf : 240.25 : Reoccurring motif (started on page 3), here paired with German Teufel (devil).

calaboosh : 240.24 : American "calaboose" (jail) + Beach-la-Mar calaboosh (jail).

Anaks Andrum : 240.27 : Greek anax andrôn (lord of men) + Biblical sons of Anak (giants).

• Serial Misprision: A key device in which a phrase is misheard or misinterpreted, leading to a chain of transformations. The primary example here is:

1. A request for a "shave and haircut" is misheard by one group as...
2. The "shape of hegoat," which is then corrected or re-heard by another as...
3. The "sheep of herrgott" (German for "sheep of the Lord God"), which evokes the "lamb of God" (240.34-35).

• Sourcing and Allusion: The passage is densely woven with references to external texts, which provide the raw material for its character portraits and linguistic experiments. Key sources identified in the annotations include:

    ◦ Literary and Historical: The Bible (Genesis, Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, Revelation), children's games ("Ring-a-ring o' Roses," "Old Roger"), and sea shanties.

    ◦ Biographical: Trobridge's A Life of Emanuel Swedenborg and Bowman's The Story of Lewis Carroll are heavily mined for details about HCE's character.

    ◦ Linguistic and Legal: Macalister's The Secret Languages of Ireland, Lynch's Isles of Illusion (for Beach-la-Mar pidgin), and Crofts' Women under English Law (for details on legal concepts like "torts" and the "jury of matrons").

 

Themes and Ideas in Finnegans Wake, Pages 242-246

Executive Summary

This briefing document provides a comprehensive synthesis of pages 242-246 of Finnegans Wake, drawing from narrative summaries, critical interpretations, and detailed linguistic annotations. The section opens with the character Glugg delivering a complex, contradictory testimony regarding his parents, HCE (Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker) and ALP (Anna Livia Plurabelle). Glugg's defense of HCE is a blend of refutation and praise, denying specific rumors while simultaneously portraying him as a simple, flawed man. His account of ALP casts her as a devoted "fairy godmother," detailing their legal and personal relationship under English Common Law and her conditional willingness to perform acts of extreme self-sacrifice.

Following this testimony, the text transitions into a lyrical passage depicting the universal descent of night. Titled "Zoo Snores" in one summary, this section details the gradual quieting of the phenomenal world, with a particular focus on the animals of the Phoenix Park zoo falling into slumber. The atmosphere of encroaching darkness and silence gives way to a scene within HCE's tavern, "The Jug and Chambers." This establishment is presented as a welcoming refuge for wanderers, staffed by HCE as the tapster, his "ale-wife" ALP, the curate "Watsy Lyke," and the cleaner "Kate." The section concludes with HCE and ALP calling for their children to come home, but the children's game remains unfinished, setting the stage for a final choice or confrontation between the two rival brothers for their sister, Issy.

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1. Glugg's Testimony: A Portrait of HCE and ALP

The section begins with the re-emergence of Glugg, described as a "low, would-be-shriven, sinister, jealous drunken-sailor" who is "wholly consumed with spite." Having experienced a change of heart, he resurfaces to deliver a devious and multifaceted testimony about his parents, HCE and ALP. This account is framed as Glugg confessing his father's story rather than his own sins.

1.1 The Defense of HCE

Glugg's testimony concerning his father is a paradoxical defense, mixing effusive praise with the refutation of specific accusations, all while acknowledging HCE's personal oddities.

• Refutation of Rumors: Glugg directly confronts and denies several circulating rumors about HCE:

    ◦ It is "not true" that his portmanteau was full of potatoes.

    ◦ It is a "colossal lie" that he offered pennies, apples, oranges, and sugar candy to little girls.

    ◦ It is "emphatically untrue" that his index finger weighs fifty-five pounds ("his pig indicks weg more als femtifem funts").

• Portrayal and Praise: In contrast to the rumors, Glugg presents HCE as a venerable, if peculiar, figure:

    ◦ Stature: He is compared to a mountain, a "far-famed Norwegian captain," and an "Irish Nelson."

    ◦ Character: He is described as a "poor orphan," a "clean-living, retiring family man," and highly correct and accurate, as testified by "countless bishops."

    ◦ Quirks: His innocence is underscored by his simple nature, possessing two purses, a stutter, an "uncertain gait," and the habit of "rigorously agitating the pot before pouring out his tea." He is a "simple-minded toucher-up of photographs who would blush at the first sound of a rude noise."

    ◦ Physical Detail: A specific, celebratory detail is that HCE has a "darling new back-tooth growing ever so nicely at the ripe old age of eighty-one," an event marked by the firing of guns in the parks.

1.2 The Revelation of ALP

Glugg's account of his mother, ALP, paints her as a foundational and fiercely loyal figure, wronged in her past but legally and emotionally bound to HCE. Her name is associated with a range of titles, including "Helpmeat," "fiery goosemother," and "fairy godmother."

• Her Past and Origins:

    ◦ She was "factory-fresh" when she first "come into the pictures."

    ◦ She was "early wronged by Hwemwednoget." This name is a complex pun derived from the Danish "hvem ved noget," meaning "who knows something."

    ◦ This early trauma left her "terrified ever afterwards of the mere names of mountains."

    ◦ The description "the woman who did" alludes to Grant Allen's 1895 feminist novel about a woman who defies convention and raises a daughter out of wedlock.

• Legal and Marital Status: The testimony is dense with specific legal terminology, primarily drawn from the 1927 text Women under English Law by Maud Crofts.

    ◦ HCE "harboured her as a feme sole" (an unmarried woman) and kept her "during coverture" (the legal status of a married woman under her husband's authority).

    ◦ Under Common Law, a husband and wife were considered a single legal entity, meaning "she could not steal from him or he from her."

    ◦ Furthermore, a wife was not legally obligated to pay for her husband's funeral expenses, a liability that would fall to "Hetman MacCumhal."

• Conditional Devotion: ALP's loyalty is presented as conditional upon HCE's reform. If he would only:

1. "renounce the devil and all his sins"
2. "kick the street-walkers out of the place"
3. "stop selling faulty tripe in his shop" (a pun on Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves) ...then she would perform profound acts of devotion. She would "delicate her nutbrown glory cloack" (dedicate her hair, like Queen Berenice), "hang herself down Oxmanstown way," and wave her hat at the papal legate.

2. The Descent of Night: "Zoo Snores"

Following Glugg's speech, the narrative perspective shifts to a lyrical, panoramic description of nightfall. The passage is characterized by a sense of universal quiet and encroaching cold, captured in phrases like "circumveiloped by obscuritas" and "Zoo koud!" (so cold).

2.1 The Quieting of the Animal World

The primary focus is on the animals of the Dublin Zoo in Phoenix Park as they settle into sleep.

Animal/Entity : Description of Action/State : Associated Wordplay and Allusions

Lion and Tiger : They "close their eyes" and fall silent. : "Laohun is sheutseuyes" combines Chinese lao-hu (tiger) and shih-tzu (lion) with "shut eyes."

Birds : Quail, titmice, and peacocks fall silent; there is "not a cheep to be heard from a beak." : The text references archaic terms for carving birds: "imbraced, alleged, injoynted and unlatched."

Elephant : Has "said her prayers" ("sed libera nos a malo" - but deliver us from evil) and rests from the toil of carrying children. : "Eliphas Magistrodontos" puns on elephas (Latin for elephant), the occultist Éliphas Lévi, and megadontos (Greek for great teeth).

Other Animals : The tusked rhino, apes, beagles, camels, and fish in Dublin Bay all become still. : The text lists a series of animal noises from Rabelais: "No chare of beagles, frantling of peacocks, no muzzing of the camel."

Mythic Beasts : The scene evokes "Panther monster," "behemuth," and "mahamoth." : "Panther monster" alludes to pater noster (Our Father) and a legend about the father of Jesus.

2.2 The Human World in Transition

As the animal world sleeps, the human world transitions into its nocturnal phase.

• Lights are illuminated one by one in village houses.
• Beacons begin to blaze on distant hilltops.
• The scene anticipates the evening's activities: girls will stroll in twos and soldiers will prowl in threes near the wishing-well.
• Men will gather in HCE's tavern.

3. The Tavern Scene: "The Jug and Chambers"

The focus narrows to HCE's establishment, a welcoming tavern that serves as a central hub of activity as night falls.

3.1 Atmosphere and Inhabitants

The tavern is depicted as a warm and functioning pub, providing refuge for any "weary traveller" or "wanderer." The setting is rustic, with straw strewn on the floor amidst mugs and "spits in sawdust." Beds are available upstairs for those who need lodging. The establishment is explicitly named "the Jug and Chambers," and its sign is "A" and its number is "one," an allusion to Findlater's "A.1." brand of whiskey.

The primary characters present are:

• Mr. Knight (HCE): The "tuntapster" who "buttles" (pours drinks).
• His alefru (ALP): His ale-wife, who is "up to his hip."
• Watsy Lyke: Identified as the curate, he "sees after all rinsings."
• Kate: The cleaner, described as "homeswab homely, put in with the bricks."

3.2 The Call Home and the Unfinished Game

The section is punctuated by the arrival of the parents and their call to the children.

• A light appears on the horizon, identified as HCE "hastening up the lane, swaying a lamp, with ALP in tow." This is also described as the rising of the moon.
• They call the children home with the words, "Comehome to roo, wee chickchilds doo." Critical commentary suggests the time is around 8:30-8:45 PM, linking the scene to the historical Norman curfew, which was signaled by the ringing of bells.
• Despite this call, the children's game is not over. HCE calls out again "in a threatening voice," but they ignore him.
• The narrative suspensefully concludes that Glugg "must have his third and final try," as the central conflict remains unresolved: Issy must be chosen by one of the two brothers, "the dark deed doer and the bright day wooer," who "will not be atoned."