For example, even when Stephen is writing his name in the fly-leaf of his Geography book, he cannot limit his address to “Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare, Ireland”, but has to continue as – “Ireland, Europe, The World, The Universe”2 – which implies that even at this age Stephen does not see himself as merely an Irishman, but as a citizen of the Universe. This confrontation becomes one of the principal themes of the novel, and is brought up whenever the nation is mentioned. Here, the cow, being the symbol of Ireland, is brought into direct confrontation with Baby Tuckoo, or Stephen. The baby Stephen is listening to a story told by his father about a “moocow coming down along the road”, which met “a nicens little boy named Baby Tuckoo”1. The first line of the novel catapults the reader into the heated political arena of this period. The Home Rule movement, headed by Charles Stewart Parnell (probably the greatest individual force at that time), is especially relevant to this novel the Land Reform movement headed by Michael Davitt also comes into play. All through the century various political and social movements arose in Ireland, giving expression to the demands of the Irish for greater control of their own affairs. The background of the novel is the anti-colonial movement against the British in nineteenth century Ireland, which had begun with the Act of Union in 1800, making Ireland a part of the United Kingdom, and abolishing a separate Irish Parliament in Dublin.

Portrait artist as a young man