23rd March 2012 Mock Test Answers

1.Illustrate the function of epiphany in J.Joyce's The Dead

In J.Joyce's The Dead the function of epiphany is the core of the story: it allows Gabriel, the main character, to reach a deeper vision of himself and his relationship with his wife, the surrounding world thus creating a connection between " the living and the dead". What matters is the life of the soul: seeing his wife's tears he understands the profound difference of his love in comparison to Michael Fury's and this allows him even to create a relationship even with the young dead boy.

2. Discuss the features of the stream of consciousness technique

The stream of consciousness technique is one that allows the third person omniscient narrator to record all the workings of a character to focus on his/ her most inner thoughts, feelings, emotions and memories disregarding chronological time references as it really happens in one's consciousness. As a result, as Molly Bloom's final soliloquy shows there is no paragraphing, no punctuation, no connectors to guide the reader's reading process and so he/ she has to cooperate with the text.

3. Molly Bloom: the Modernist Penelope. Discuss the role of myth in J.Joyce's text.

Myth plays a significant role in J. Joyce's Ulysses: it works as a structuring principle connecting the different episodes as one can clearly see in the 18th episode where the classical myth of Penelope is exploited and turned upside down. So that, only the structure is kept and the writer can display the difference between the heroine of classical epic and the weakness and passions of Modernist Molly.