Absurdity

In The Stranger, Albert Camus creates a character named Monsieur Mersault who is living an absurd lifestyle. Although many would confuse Meursalt with Camus, Camus’s purpose is not to represent himself through Meursault's character but to use Meursault’s nature and actions in the book to help back up his own beliefs on the absurdity of life. Throughout the book, Camus does not directly state Meursalt as an absurd character, but in certain passages of the books, the key beliefs of absurdity are touched upon.
Absurdity is the philosophy that states people who try to find meaning to the universe will ultimately fail because the world is irrational and has no meaning. Trying to rationalize things in ways such as religion is henceforth a downfall in human nature. “Speaking very quickly and passionately he told me that be believed in God, that it was his conviction that no man was guilty that God would not forgive him but in order to do so he must repent…he was waving his crucifix over my head. To tell the truth, I found it very hard to find his reasoning, first because it was hot…also because he was scaring me…from across the table he had already thrust the crucifix in my face and was screaming irrationally, ‘I am a Christian’…I was almost surprised that I had ever enjoyed anything other than those moments when the judge would slap me on the shoulder and say to me cordially ’that’s all today Monsieur Antichrist” (69-71.) In this passage, Camus reflects ideas of absurdity through the character interaction between the priest and Meursalt. He also brings up the idea that religion is an opposition of absurdity just as the priest is an opposition to Meursault.
Camus uses the adjectives “quickly" and "passionately” when describing the way the priest speaks about God. Those adjectives help to further understand the priest’s belief in God and how it is a strong belief because he is so passionate about it. The priest tries to explain to Meursalt how God works and how he will forgive those who repent and therefore trying to manipulate or push the religion onto Meursault. Camus sets the priest as a character that has opposite beliefs of Meursalt, which is in turn setting up the conflicts between religion and the absurd. The crucifix is a symbol of Christianity and used as a symbol of opposition of Meursault’s absurd way of thinking. Since the philosophy of absurdity is overall saying that if humans try to find a meaning to life that is pointless and meaningless, believing in God to try to rationalize the world is ludicrous and a very irrational thing to do. When the priest was “screaming irrationally that he was Christian,” it further showed that Christianity or any attempt to explain the meaning of life is irrational in means of the absurd.
As the priest is speaking to Meursalt, Meursalt states that he has trouble paying attention. He is only taking notice to the physical aspects of the situation, such as how the atmosphere around him is hot. The hotness is used as a symbolism of the intensity of the situation. As a character that only takes notice to nature and the physical parts of life, Meursault is characterized as a heartless and uncaring person because he is so indifferent. Camus’s plan is to set up such an odd character to bother the readers. Meursalt and the thought of absurdity is opposite of what most people expect. Meursalt lacks remorse for his mother’s death and has such negativity toward the thought of trying to make sense of the world. Camus achieves giving the readers a taste of the absurd by introducing the character interaction between the priest and Meursalt who is referred to as “Monsieur Antichrist” towards the end of the passage. In the courtroom, Camus demonstrates both looks on life. The irrational way: looking to God, and the rational way: looking to nature and physical things and living through experience and taking things as they come.
Camus also uses his beliefs in the absurd in many other instances in the book. Although Meursalt does not represent Camus but rather represents absurdity, the thought of the absurd is brought into the way Meursault’s character was created. Rationality versus irrationality is constantly in conflict throughout the book. “He was expressing his certainty that my appeal would be granted, but I was carrying the burden of a sin from which I had to free myself... I told him that I did not know what sin was. All they had told me was that I was guilty. I was guilty and I was paying for it and nothing more could be asked of me…’you are wrong my son more could be asked of you and it may be asked…every stone here sweats with suffering I know that....’ I said I had been looking at the stones in these walls for months. There wasn’t anything or anyone in the world I knew better... I’d never seen anything emerge from any sweating stones... what did other peoples deaths or a mothers love matter to me; what did his God or the lives people choose of the fate they think they elect matter to me when we’re all elected the same fate.” (118-121). The irrationality of religion is brought in conflict with rationality of Meursault’s view toward life.
The chaplain is put into the conflict as Meursault’s character tries to push religion onto Meursault just as the priest did in the courtroom. The chaplain tries to tell Meursault that he can be free of his sin but Meursalt does not even understand what sin is. The inability of Meursault’s absurd character to understand the concept of sin shows that he does not give meaning to life and that he does not believe that by sinning he will live an unhappy afterlife. The chaplain gets frustrated with Meursault’s incapability to seek for God in his current situation saying that “he has seen suffering in the sweating stones” and how “a face emerges from the stones”. Camus’s uses personification by saying that the stones sweat. The personification of the stones and how a face emerges is a representation of God and religion. The chaplain tries to show Meursalt and teach him that in prison many people suffer and in the end realize of God’s presence and turn to him. Meursault’s absurd way of thinking enables him to not care about where his life is leading him to and he has an inability to care about consequences of his actions. All that Meursalt knows is that he committed a crime and that he was paying for that. He didn’t turn to God. In prison, Meursalt says there is nothing he knew better than the stones and he didn’t try to rationalize the irriational pathway of life “I’d never seen any face emerge from any sweating stones.” (119) in this passage Meursault’s thoughts are clearer. He states that the death of others, the love of his mother does not matter to him and that there is no point in trying to turn to God for a different fate because in the end there is only death. Death can not be escaped because no matter if death comes early or late, death will always come. So since death is binding and can not be escaped all lives are meaningless because in the end it will all result in the same fate which is death.
Camus uses character interaction between the main characters Meursalt to help readers understand the idea of the absurd. Oppositions to absurdity and existentialism would be anything that tries to rationalize the irriational way of life such as religion and any belief in Gods. The only rational thing about life is nature, which is brought up many times in the book along with other physical aspects of life. The society that Meursalt lives in is constantly trying to rationalize life and find meaning to it. In the courtroom and in the prison cell with the priest and the chaplain are characters that represent irrationality. Although in Meursault’s case, the prosecutors try to execute him based on logical reasons of why he killed, the fact that Meursalt did not have a reason is just to show the irrationality of the world. Meursalt refuses to fall into any belief that society offers to create rational order in life. Camus’s purpose of writing The Stranger is to open ideas of irrationality and absurdity in the world.

Plum Plum Pickers

In the story from Plum Plum Pickers’, the author Raymond Barrio suggests that men have to experience a point in their lives where they have to stand up for what is theirs and have integrity in their beliefs. Barrio suggests that men are built for this quality and that if men don’t stand up for what is rightfully theirs then “They are dead before they die” (2.) The main character in this story, Manuel, stands up for his hard-earned money against Morales who is trying to rob Manuel and his fellow workers.
The opening paragraph gives the effect of a big train of thought. The paragraph is written fast pace. Sentences in the paragraph are short and choppy. Barrio writes in a style that imitates the way a machine would process its information. The machine would process information and information and then it would end with a simple clean answer or sum up of all the information. “There had to be an end. There had to be. There – trapped. There had to be a way out. Locked. There had to be respite. Animal.” (p. 1) the way the whole first paragraph is written Barrio introduces the main character to the reader as more of a machine and animal more then as a human. Barrio wants to establish this to the reader to emphasize on the plum picker’s work style and find Manuel as a sympathetic character. “Drank the holy water in great brute gulps so he wouldn’t have to savor its tastelessness” (p.1) in this sentence there is symbolism in the “holy water”. Holy water is used in religious practices for things such as healing the sick but in this sentence holy water is seen in a negative way suggesting that religion is “tasteless” or lacking many answer’s to Manuel’s problems.
Lunch time comes and in this paragraph the lunch break seems as if it is very quick and short. “He felt his spirit swell out again like a thirsty sponge in water. Then up again.” (p.1) in this paragraph describing lunch Barrio chooses to use complete and full sentences. The sentences seem more relaxed but this is only in the first few sentences of the paragraph then the style reverts back to repetitive sentences. The repetitive sentences suggest that Manuel is back to work. The sentences also lack in verbs. Verbs in a sentence act as the action of the subject and since the sentence’s lack in action there is no movement forward which gives off the feeling of repetitiveness. “A ray of enemy sun penetrated the tree that was hiding him and split his forehead open. His mind whirred. He blacked out” (p.1) The sun is used as symbolism for torture, hell, or burning in this sentence. Barrio chooses to portray the sun as a negative symbol because it adds to the setting of the story. In this paragraph another character is introduced and that is Roberto. Roberto’s first words are “whatsamatter, can’t you see straight pendejo?” Barrio’s placement of Roberto’s dialect is directly related to Manuel’s spoken words in the begging paragraph, “Please to meetcha” These two quotes help establish characterization of the two characters and how they differ from each other. Manuel is portrayed as a more friendly character and Robert Morales and portrayed more as a mean character. Their names also impact the way they act because in Manuel’s name there is the word “Man”. Essentially Manuel is the symbol of a man. In Roberto Morales’s name there is the word “moral” and “less” so Robert is a man without morals. Barrio puts these two characters in opposition to each other to create a character conflict of good versus evil.
In the next paragraph there is a lot of detail on Roberto Morales’s character. “A real robber. A Mexican general. A gentlemanly, friendly, polite, grinning, vicious, thieving brute.” Barrio phrases this sentence to show the layers of Morales’s personality from outside to inside. On the outside Roberto is gentlemen like but on the inside he is a thieving brute. “he was actually the shrewdest, smartest, richest cannibal in forty countries around” (p.1) Barrio chooses the word cannibal to describe Roberto but not in a sense that he literally eats human beings but in a more in a sense that he “eats” at them to get what he wants. Roberto uses others and feeds off other’s work to benefit himself. Roberto is a man is a man of great power. Barrio shows the reader Roberto’s power by demonstrating how at first nobody speaks up against him when he wanted to take money from them. “Yes everyone understood. Freezing in place. After all that hard work.” The character conflict between Roberto and Manuel is intensified when Manuel spoke up against Roberto. “The two men, centered in a huge ring of red-ringed eyes, glared at each other. Reaching for each other’s jugular. The other exhausted animals studied the tableau” (p.2) There is a lot of imagery in this. The whole paragraph and description of what is going on is very vivid and intensifying. The reader is able to distinguish the beginning style to the style of the climax.
Roberto and Manuel circle each other while everyone else is watching in anticipation of who is to the make the next move. Manuel then kicks over his bucket of fruit and with the support of everyone else who “moved toward their own buckets still standing beside them on the ground awaiting the truck gatherer and took an ominous position over them, straddling their feet over them” Manuel was able to claim a power over Roberto. In turn, Manuel has his “moment of glory” that Barrio suggests that all men should have.

Myth of Sisyphus

In Camus’s essay, The Myth of Sisyphus, Camus introduces the possibility that life is meaningless. Camus’s interpretation of the myth reflects of the idea of absurdity and how giving meaning to life in ways such as socially of religiously, is inevitably pointless because in the end death is terminal. Camus’s suggests that happiness arises from absurdity when one learns and accepts death. Although Sisyphus’s futile punishment is meant to be eternal and torturous Camus’s is able to help readers view Sisyphus as a happy man because he was able to come to terms with his punishment.
I agree with Angela’s thesis statement. I think it’s very true that Camus’s uses imagery of the rock as suffering. I don’t really agree on the point that she was getting at on how Camus’s tries to show that suffering must be felt in order to feel happiness because I feel that he was getting more at the fact that death must be accepted as an “end all” type of thing. Happiness is achieved when life is accepted to have no meaning because living no matter what kind of life is led the fate of life is death. Although I don’t agree on how Angela chose the word “suffering” I understand at what she was trying to say because she does a great job at backing up her thesis.
I was not in class for the class discussion section but things that might have been talked about would probably be quotes on how Sisyphus’s punishment of rolling a rock up a mountain can be directly related to absurdity. “One sees merely the whole effort of a body straining to raise the huge stone . . . at the very end of his long effort . . . purpose is achieved…then Sisyphus’s watches the stone rush down in a few moments toward that lower world” (2) In this quote the stone that Sisyphus is pushing symbolizes how people struggle through life to find meaning. The stones heaviness and the burden it takes to push it up a huge mountain shows how hard and troubling it is to find meaning. All the end of trying so hard to push the rock up the mountain as soon as it reaches the top the rock just falls back down. The rock falling back down is symbolizing how finding meaning to life is pointless just as how rolling a rock up a mountain is pointless because in the end the rock just falls again, death is final. Sisyphus finds his happiness in acceptance of his situation “One must imagine Sisyphus as happy” (5). He accepted his fate because he made himself the master of his fate “His fate belongs to him. His rock is his thing” (4). By taking death into prospective and accepting his punishment he eliminates the suffering and torture that comes with his punishment. “The lucidity that was to constitute his torture at the same time crowns his victory” (3) In this quote the crown symbolizes accomplishment. It is clear that the reason for his punishment was a result of his wrong-doings. Another reason for his punishment, when taken into his own view and put into his own mindset can be set as an accomplishment.

Tom Philips

On page 301 of Tom Phillips' A Humument, Phillips suggests that music and visual images enhance the emotional experience by the choice and placement of words and punctuation. The words chosen educe feelings of loneliness and hopelessness. The word choice gives open access to the emotions that Philips is trying to express in the image. Philips uses solid and distorted colors and patterns. He uses straight lines to detail the solid empty room in order to make it a definite reality. For the red orange silhouette of a person Philips outlines with a wavy line to emphasize on the instability of the person’s state of mind.

The first thing that stands out is the red orange colored distorted image of a person. It stands out because it is a dark solid color in the painted against a pastel purple and yellow wall. The image is one dimensional in a three dimensional room and the character is sitting on a white chair isolated from everything. There is nothing around the chair or in the room and gives a feeling of emptiness or displacement. The person is staring out a window as if they are thinking, waiting, or longing for something and the isolation suggests that the character wants to be alone to figure things out or is depressed. The fact that the person sitting in the chair is a red orange color symbolizes feelings of pain. The character is hurt emotionally and is sitting in the chair. The chair is white and may symbolize a feeling of cleanliness because white is a symbol of purity or sanitation and by sitting in the chair and thinking over emotions the character anticipates on alleviating feelings of pain and hurt. Until the thoughts are lost in the fuzz of the floor and the character is bombarded with feelings of being alone.

The walls are complement colors of yellow and purple and help bring out the brightness in each other and making the room have an uplifting positive feeling but the empty red orange shape of a person contradicts the feelings that the colors of the room try to bring out. The bright colors may represent the opportunities and happiness that is present and around but the character is in a separate world where there is no happiness to be found. The color of the wall and the color of the figure in the chair represent a struggle to get over these sad emotions and be happy. The figure is looking out the window but it is not bright outside it is dark. The sky is midnight blue and the grass is forest green. The word that is placed on top of the dark grass is the word “shriveled”. Grass is a symbol of rebirth and growth. The shriveled grass can be looked at as an image of the death of youth, happiness, wealth, or wellbeing. The dead grass could also be looked at as an end to a road where there is no longer rebirth and new beginnings.

The floor of the room is the only portion of the image that is not a solid color. The floor of the room has a fuzzy texture and is made up of a bunch of words that are scrambled up and is a combination of the colors red, orange, black and brown. These colors are symbolic of the season of autumn which is a season of death because in autumn the trees die out and prepare for the cold loneliness of winter. Also a floor should be something that is stable but since the floor is the only part of the image that is a mixture of distorted colors it symbolizes instability and may also suggest insecurities.
The words are placed in bubbles around the image that are similar to thought bubbles. The words chosen help build ideas about the person in the image. It is almost as if the words have been taken from the characters actual thoughts. The first bubble at the top of the image says “only toge” and it drags into a bubble that says “alone.” It seems as though the thought began to say something about being together but before finishing the word “together” the drag indicates a new thought or a realization of being alone. Things are no longer together for the person in the picture but the person feels alone. The next bubble says “loneliness is the throb of my watch, long shriveled aspiration,” it suggests that the character in the picture grows lonely as he watches for something out the window for so long that his desire for it is getting old. “Shriveled Aspiration” is a dead desire because when something is shriveled it has been too long and started to die. The thing that the person is waiting for can be a lost love or maybe just a purpose to live in life.

The last bubble of text says “I have something left, two things left.” and that indicates that something has been lost which is why the character is so and lonely. “First – my viola the other thing your image I cannot get rid of it.” This furthers the feeling of loneliness and lost of everything in life. It evokes feeling of despair but the words in this bubble gives off the idea that there is two things that this person still has and it is the viola and an image. The viola is a representation of music and the image is a representation of a memory which cannot be forgotten. Music may cure, heal, clean, purify, or be used as a form of expression. Music can also help recall memory, reduce stress, and lessen depression.

In this picture the character feels that after everything is lost all that can be done is to sit around and be hopeless. In this image music is not healing the emptiness that the character feels but making the emotional experience stronger and the memory of the lost more vivid and hard to forget. Therefore the music and the images that are in memory deepen the pain and make the outpour of emotions harder to bear because once something is a memory it can not be erased or forgotten.

Realization & Appreciation

I felt miserable the moment I stepped of the plane. The humid air made it hard for me to breathe. The crowds of people scrambling to get their luggage gave me a headache. As soon as I got out of there and onto my cousins motorcycle I made myself a promise. I promised myself that I would try to make the best out of this trip. As the wind blew through my hair and he drove me through the dirty streets of Vietnam I embarked on new journey.
This past summer I spent some time in Vietnam. The living conditions were the complete opposite of what I am accustomed to. My small bedroom with pink walls and my twin size bed is like a 5-star hotel room compared to my sleeping quarters in Vietnam. I was also confronted with altering my Americanized diet of French fries and hamburgers.
My family traveled all over Vietnam so I had the opportunity to experience different ways of life. Life in the city was filled with technology: computers, television, and air-conditioning. Life in the country was a whole different experience. Farm animals running around were a household norm and if luck was on my side, a toilet could be found. My grandma lived in the county. She is very old fashioned and lives in a tiny house with a garden in her backyard where she grows melons, lemons, aloe plants, and many other fruits and vegetables. In the morning she wakes up before sunrise to walk to the market to sell some produce and make little cash. Her floors were made of cement and her roof was made of a material that is similar to that of an aluminum trashcan. When it rains, the roof leaks.
My grandma is actually a very wealthy woman. With all the money she has, she could probably buy a mansion in Vietnam and live in the city. She could even come live in America if she wanted. For some reason, she picks her lifestyle over a new one. I was never quite able to grasp why, but I loved being at my grandma’s house just because she was there. I didn’t mind sleeping on the floor and I didn’t mind the pitter patter on the roof when it rained. My dad said I could learn a lot from her. Although she occasionally lectured me on my education and importance of religion and obedience to my elders, I feel that what I learned from her was far more than just that. It didn’t take words, books, and excessive research to learn about her simple lifestyle. Growing up with more than just the pure necessities has numbed my appreciation for simple. I don’t need brand name clothes and purses.
I didn’t have an appreciation for what I had until my trip to Vietnam because so many people had less. Finding money was hard. Kids as young as age seven woke up early mornings to find work. Instead of going to Stop and Shop to buy chicken we would have to run and catch a wild one. People slept on street corners and cement floors. As I boarded my plane to head home I had a new outlook on life. When I arrived home to my pink room, I had a new appreciation for my bed.
Spending a nice portion of my summer in Vietnam helped me appreciate all the simple things I have like my family, education, health, and even all those extra things like clothes, and all the gizmos and gadgets from my ipod to my laptop. So many people don’t even have the simplest things. Some people don’t a family and money or an education or good health. That is why I would like to go into nursing and care for people that are sick and have less of a physical capability than I do. I feel that since I came into realization of the things that I have and the things that I am capable of that can use that to make a difference and help people.

Grapes and Wine in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce uses grapes and wine as a symbol of the opposing inner feelings that Stephen Dedalus experiences as he matures. Grapes and wine can be directly related to the blood of Christ, which represents Stephen’s religious view towards life, or to the Greek god Dionysus who is known for his dual nature between joy and unthinkable rage.
Readers witness Stephen Dedalus maturing throughout the book and how he opens his eyes and starts seeing the world for what it is. As a young boy Dedalus is completely naïve about the world and about how people are. Dedalus is seen as an innocent young boy who lacks information and experience. In the passage on pg 48-49 the author suggests that Dedalus’s innocence is shattered by the new information that he overhears from a group of kids his age. “You know the altar wine that they keep in the press in the sacristy? … well they drank that and it was found out who did it by the smell… A faint sickness made him weak.” (pg 49) The wine in this passage can symbolize the blood of Christ and his suffering that he has done for mankind. In Catholic religion the wine is very sacred and is symbol of the sacrifice that Jesus’s made for the sin’s of the world. The fact that these young children went into the church and stole this wine and drank it can symbolize how easy it can be for someone to come in and step all over the Catholic religion. The stealing of the wine can be looked at as a mockery of the religion and this sickens Stephen.
He recalls back to his youth in the church, “He remembered the summer evening he had been there to be dressed as a boatberer, the evening of the procession to the little alter in the wood. A strange and holy place.” (pg 49) The alter and the Catholic setting is seen to Stephen as “strange and holy.” Strange usually is a word that would describe something out of the ordinary, something that has not been experienced, bizarre, or even not natural. Something that is holy has to do with spirituality or God. The fact that Stephen sees the alter as something strange and holy shows that Stephen is really inexperienced and unsure about his beliefs. He knows that the alter and church is religious and holy but he has not been educated or been able to experience it or he has not come to terms with his religion and he is questioning it. He refers to the sacristy as “Dark and silent” (pg 49). The sacristy where the wine and sacred items are kept is a dark place. Usually darkness is associated with uncertainty and can symbolize Stephen’s struggle of knowing what is right and wrong as he grows up.
Stephen almost doesn’t want to listen to his fellow schoolmates talk. “The fellows were all silent. Stephen stood among them, afraid to speak, listening… how could they have done that?” (p 49.) Stephen feels guilt for how morally wrong this act is. Although he took no part of it he feels guilty. The wine that is stolen can also be symbolically relating the to the Greek god Dionysus. Dionysus is the god of wine, agriculture, nature, fertility and art. Dionysus is also know as Baccheus and he is capable of bring joy and ecstasy but can also bring unthinkable rage and anger. The two sides of Dionysus can symbolize the confusion of the two sides that Stephen is caught up in between. This incident marks a growth period in Stephen’s life when he realizes how religion is based in his life and how people are capable of being sinners and having a bad side that opposes the good side whereas before Stephen was not aware of this characteristic of humanity.
Stephen relates himself to Edmond Dantes who is the protagonist in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. (p 67) James Joyce brings this story into the context of The Portrait of the Artist as a Young man to put Stephen’s character into contrast with another in order for the reader to understand the similarities between the two. Edmond Dante is seen as a heroic character and the Count of Monte Cristo is known for being an adventurous tale of betrayal and revenge. The story has a lot to do with danger and changes which is the same idea for Stephen. Stephen’s view to life changes through the book his innocence leaves him as he goes into his teen years.
Edmond Dante’s fiancé is Mercedes and in his imagination Stephen pictures Mercedes as this sensual magical beautiful being, “and in his imagination he lived through a long train of adventures, marvelous as those in the book itself, towards the close of which there appeared an image of himself, growing older and sadder; standing in a moonlit garden with Mercedes who has so many years before slighted his love, and with a sadly proud gesture of refusal saying: -Madam, I never eat muscatel grapes” (p 67.) Stephen imagines this scene of himself getting old and sad. Stephen feels that as he grows he will miss out on something and regret it therefore being sad in the future. He pictures himself standing in a moonlit garden with this woman named Mercedes and he refuses her offer of grapes. The refusal of the grapes is symbolic of Stephen refusing to give in to his desire for women. Grapes are associated with Dionysus who is also known for youth, healing, joy, and freedom by madness and ecstasy just as how drinking a large amount of wine can relieve thoughts and free the mind.
Mercedes offering these grapes can be looked at as a form of seduction towards Stephen. Mercedes is just symbolic of women in general and she “slighted his love so many years before” which means that she didn’t take his love as something important and in result to that he refused her offer of grapes. This imagined setting shows that Stephen wants to be desired by women and that he feels that women can free him. This desire that burns within him is part of growing up but he feels that it is impure. This situation sets up the struggle that Stephen has with his desire for women and the Catholic religion.
Stephen refuses Mercedes offer of grapes “sadly and proudly.” Again Stephen is sad for picking the more Catholic approach to his problems. He is sad for giving up love and sad for refusing and giving into his desire and fulfilling his wants, but he is also proud . Proud of himself for maintaining his pride and not giving into sexual desires. James Joyce often describes Stephen’s feelings having two sides: sad but happy. It is related to how Dionysus the god of wine is also known for his dueling nature and how at a certain moderation wine can be a good but if it is abused the outcomes may be bad. The two sides of wine reflect with the two reactions that Stephen have to the offering of the grapes.
Symbolism of grapes and wine in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are used as a tool to add more meaning to the changes that Stephen goes through as he learns and experiences new things that he can not explain. The wine and the grapes symbolize his desire for freedom of his mind versus the teachings of the Catholic church. The struggle between being pure and impure is a struggle that Stephen Dedalus goes through.

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