Ulysses, Telemachus, No. 8

[Cf. 1922 3:7, Gabler 3:8]

Mulligan calls down to Stephen (whom Mulligan has nicknamed "Kinch") to join him at the top of the tower. Why does he call Stephen "fearful"? Probably because of an incident that happened during the night with a house visitor--we'll be hearing about that soon. But also because of Mulligan's blasphemy, which we've been chatting about over the last few frames. Stephen isn't a believer, but he's not above hedging his bets.

Oliver St. John Gogarty, the person on whom the character of Mulligan is based, once referred to Joyce as an "inverted Jesuit." Joyce identified closely with the Jesuit order--he was educated in Jesuit schools as a boy, and in one famous anecdote, said "you allude to me as a Catholic; you ought to allude to me as a Jesuit" (see Kevin Sullivan's Joyce among the Jesuits for an exhaustive discussion). The Society of Jesus, then and now, has been closely associated with education based on rigorous and independent scholarship. Mulligan's 'fearful Jesuit' may also pick up on the dreaded reputation of Jesuits as interlocutors.