The Style of "Oxen of the Sun"
For James Joyce, especially in Ulysses, style and content appear inextricably bound. “Oxen of the Sun” is perhaps the episode that best captures the indispensible, interdependent relationship between these two literary elements. With its myriad of styles and layers of plot and content, the narrative mode of “Oxen of the Sun” uniquely entwines style and content to reveal various levels of thematic importance throughout the episode. According to Susan Bazargan, “The bulk of scholarly research on this chapter proves, time and time again, that indeed Joyce borrowed phrases and sentences from a variety of sources” (273). Several critics have also acknowledged the relationship between the stylistic gestation of language and the gestation and birth of Mina Purefoy’s son. These readings are integral to understanding the marriage of style and content in “Oxen of the Sun,” but they are not the only interpretations. In fact, scholarship’s focus on the birth of Mina’s son and the birth of language ignores the ubiquity of death in “Oxen of the Sun.” The episode does indeed showcase the development of the English language and its prose styles across centuries, but the fact that the birth of a new style often requires an abandonment or death of an old style cannot be overlooked. Several of the prose styles parodied in “Oxen of the Sun” illustrate the looming presence of death. Similarly, the numerous conversations involving mortality need to be expounded upon. By exploring some of the stylistic developments and correspondences in the “Oxen of the Sun” episode, this exhibit aims to elucidate how the episode not only reflects the themes of birth and life but also communicates a sense of death. Death is present not only in the overarching storyline of the birth of Mina’s baby but also in several of the individual prose styles in the episode.
Broadly, death interrupts the narration of birth in “Oxen of the Sun.” Within the plot of the baby’s birth, there are references and styles relating to death. For example, infant mortality is considered alongside the death of mothers during the birth process. The characters discuss cases in which either only the mother or only the infant can live after birth. Ultimately “all cried with one acclaim nay, by our Virgin Mother, the wife should live and the babe to die” (Joyce 318-319). Both Mina and her child survive the birth in the episode, but it is noteworthy that the death of infants is mentioned in a chapter centered around the birth of a baby. Moreover, topics such as abortion, contraception, fathers who die before the birth of their children, rape, and birth defects are also discussed. These dark, death-related topics starkly contrast the joyous celebration of birth in the episode and serve to complicate a narrow reading of the text.
The death-related content of “Oxen and the Sun” prompts a reevaluation of the overall style of the episode as well. As previously noted, the chronological progression of linguistic styles in the episode is often read as a representation of the birth and development of language. Bazargan acknowledges that the episode “explores the fertility of the human language and also its limitations” (274). One important limitation in “Oxen” is death. Just as death seems to be present in the narration surrounding the birth of Mina’s child, the death of prose styles is also evident in their progression and reformation. Each switch in prose style signifies an abandonment of the previous style, and many of the prose sections do not progress smoothly or naturally. For example, the first six lines of the episode which, according to Stuart Gilbert, begin “with a set of three incantations, in the manner of the Fratres Arvales,” do not transition very smoothly into the following Latin prose style section (296). Each section almost seems to stand on its own. The names of characters also change with each style, which signals discrepancy rather than uniformity. Leopold Bloom, for example, is referred to by such names as “traveller Leopold,” “childe Leopold,” “sir Leopold,” and “Master Bloom” depending on the narrative style (Joyce 317,320, 323). Consequently, the narrative shifts do not seem to suggest a birth and development of language, but rather imply a kind of linguistic abandonment and destruction. Bazargan posits that “’Oxen’ often fuses several temporal horizons, creating a sense of temporal dislocation in the reader” (278). This idea is evident in the abrupt changes of location, characters, and style. For instance, the narrative leaves the hospital and the characters there to introduce the conversations and actions of Buck Mulligan and Alec Bannon in 17th century diary style but then quickly shifts back to the hospital to describe the characters of Lenehan and Costello. Each narrative mode seems more loyal to its respective author or content rather than to the overarching style and narrative weaving of “Oxen.” This lack of unity therefore complicates the parallel that is so often drawn between the natural growth and development of a fetus and the maturity of language in the episode. It seems that the transitions between styles would have to be less disjointed in order to mimic the gradual development of a fetus. The epitome of this lack of linguistic unity seems to occur at the end of the episode when the language dissolves into slang and gibberish. Harry Blamires asserts that at the end of the episode “Prose style disintegrates into a violent, explosive chattering in which slang, dialect, and the utterance of illiteracy go side by side with the sensational vulgarity of press and hoarding” (157). In other words, language dissipates and logic effectively dies. Thus, at the conclusion of an episode presumably about birth, death reappears in a stylistic and linguistic sense, perhaps warning against a disregard for history and language’s past. Embryonic development, the narrative technique of the episode according to the Linati Schema, eventually works towards the unified goal of the birth of a child. The progression of language in the episode, however, leads to chaos and a dearth of unity by the conclusion of the episode, which complicates the parallels drawn between the development of a fetus and the development of language in “Oxen.”
The presence of death is not only alluded to in the broad, overarching style and plot of “Oxen” but also in the styles and contents of the various prose sections of the episode. One style that is particularly illuminating is that of Horace Walpole. Joyce’s use of the gothic is intriguing because it projects death into the broader narration and plot of the episode through Buck’s random ghost story, and both works comment on death more narrowly within the content of the actual story. Gothic, by its very nature, is a genre associated with death. Consequently, Joyce’s decision to use this style seems deliberate and noteworthy. In Buck’s ghost story, according to Gifford, Joyce predominately parodies the prose style of The Castle of Otranto, which is pictured in this exhibit. Both Ulysses and The Castle of Otranto describe death and murder, and this section contains a number of character and stylistic correspondences. According to Gifford, for example, “Haines plays the part of Manfred, the bloodstained usurper” in The Castle of Otranto (431). Manfred stabs his daughter at the end of the novel, just as Haines murders Samuel Childs in Buck’s tale. Death also manifests itself in the excerpt from the first chapter of The Castle of Otranto presented in this exhibit when Manfred witnesses his son “dashed to pieces, and almost buried underneath an enormous helmet, an hundred times more large than any casque ever made for human being” (Walpole 18). Other correspondences include both texts’ use of “horror,” a common characteristic of the gothic mode, and Buck’s employment of other typically gothic terms such as “creep,” “ghostly,” “hell,” “the mystery was unveiled,” “graveyard,” “soul,” “curse,” and “haunted” (Walpole 18, Joyce 336-337). The several correspondences between the two works invite further speculation regarding the implications of these similarities. This particular section appears especially interesting because of its seemingly arbitrary nature. There is no indication or introduction leading up Buck’s story, and there is no real transition back into the plot of the episode after the story is told. The tale’s presence reiterates the lack of a natural unfolding of language and, by extension, birth in the episode. Furthermore, the story’s place in the overall narrative underscores death’s presence in everyday life. Death continues to reappear in “Oxen of the Sun” and throughout Ulysses as a whole just like the black panther in the ghost story. In fact, the story itself serves as a kind of linguistic ghost, hovering over the narrative of life in “Oxen” and serving as a reminder of birth’s eventual fate.
Death reappears in a slightly more subtle and clever way in the section of “Oxen” written in the style of Charles Dickens. Gifford points out that Joyce specifically parodies Chapter 53 of David Copperfield (pictured in this exhibit) in lines 1310-1343 of “Oxen.” In Ulysses, Joyce implements Dickens’ style to sentimentally praise Mina and to describe the naming of her baby, Mortimer Edward. On the surface, this parallel seems particularly apt because Dickens’ writing style is often described as sentimental, and names are known to carry thematic relevance in several of his works. Both passages also feature the character of Doady. Doady is the nickname of David, the main character and narrator of Chapter 53 in David Copperfield, and plays the part of Mina’s husband, Theodore, in Ulysses. The use of this name therefore serves as a means of comparison between the two Doadys and between Dora and Mina. The content correspondences along with the sentimentalized treatment of Mina and the naming of her child seem to perfectly merge Dickens’ style with that of Ulysses. Upon closer examination, however, certain paradoxes begin to emerge. While Joyce seems to be using the style of David Copperfield to celebrate the birth of a child, Chapter 53 of David Copperfield actually describes the death of David’s first wife, Dora. Thus, these two passages have several similarities, but their differences prove to be more intriguing. Both passages, for example, use the phrase “a weary, weary while” (Dickens 745, Joyce 343). Joyce utilizes this phrase to describe Mina’s and the doctor’s experience of the long period of labor. Dickens, on the other hand, uses the phrase to describe how long Dora has been sick. Moreover, Mina is described as being “in the first bloom of her new motherhood,” while Dora is very ill and dying (Joyce 343). Thus, while the “weary, weary while” experienced by Mina and the doctor leads a positive, life-giving experience, it leads to the death of Dora in the chapter of David Copperfield that Joyce is parodying. The use of this phrase in Copperfield therefore injects a sense of foreboding or death into the seemingly uplifting description of Mina in Ulysses. Chapter 53 also ends on a distressing, darker note stating that “It is over. Darkness comes before my eyes” (Dickens 749). This ending contrasts with “Oxen of the Sun’s” emphasis on light and sun and further complicates the episode’s association with birth and life since death seems hidden even within individual prose styles.
Overall, birth and death are often set up in binary opposition, but Joyce seems to complicate this contrast in “Oxen of the Sun.” This exhibit aims to illuminate how the typical associations of sun, light, birth, and life in the “Oxen of the Sun” episode are imbued with reminders of death. The interweaving of life and death is grappled with on a broad stylistic level evidenced in the transitions between prose styles. This intersection is also apparent within the styles of each individual section. Ultimately, “Oxen’s” death-related content and distinctive style combine to capture how life and death are in fact intimately connected and ubiquitously entwined. The acknowledgement of both life and death in “Oxen” helps showcase a more nuanced and comprehensive picture of the episode. Perhaps the organ which Linati cites and which is typically associated with “Oxen of the Sun” should not simply be the womb, but should instead be the “allwombing tomb” or the “tomb womb” cited earlier by Joyce in the “Proteus” and “Aeolus” episodes (Joyce 40, 114).
Works Cited
Bazargan, Susan. "Oxen of the Sun: Maternity, Language, and History." James Joyce Quarterly 22.3 (1985): 271-80. ProQuest. Web. 18 Oct. 2014.
Blamires, Harry. The New Bloomsday Book: A Guide Through Ulysses. 3rd ed. London ; New York: Routledge, 1996.
Dickens, Charles. David Copperfield. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Gifford, Don, and Robert J. Seidman. Ulysses Annotated: Notes for James Joyce's Ulysses. 2nd ed., rev. and enl. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.
Gilbert, Stuart. James Joyce’s Ulysses: A Study. New York: Vintage Books, 1958.
Joyce, James. Ulysses: The Corrected Text. 1st American ed. New York: Random House, 1986.
Walpole, Horace. The Castle of Otranto. London; New York: Penguin Books, 2001.