Paragraph 2· Free preview
“Stephen closed his eyes to hear his boots crush crackling wrack and shells.”
Plain English translation
Stephen closes his eyes and tries to understand reality through hearing instead of sight. He reflects that sounds occur one after another in time, unlike visual impressions, which appear simultaneously. As he walks blindly across Sandymount Strand, he worries about falling, observes the sounds beneath his feet, and drifts into philosophical speculation about space, time, creation, and eternity. Even a simple walk on the beach becomes a meditation on how human beings perceive and understand existence.
Sentence-by-sentence commentary
“Stephen closed his eyes to hear his boots crush crackling wrack and shells.”
Plain EnglishStephen shuts his eyes so that he can concentrate on the sound of his boots crunching seaweed and shells beneath his feet.
He wants to experience the world through hearing rather than sight—continuing the perception experiment begun in the first paragraph.
“You are walking through it howsomever.”
Plain EnglishWhatever else may be true, you are still walking through this landscape.
Stephen reassures himself that even with his eyes closed, he is still moving through real space.
“I am, a stride at a time.”
Plain EnglishYes, I am—one step after another.
He confirms his existence through physical movement.
“A very short space of time through very short times of space.”
Plain EnglishEach step carries me through tiny distances over tiny moments in time.
Stephen begins analysing walking philosophically, reducing it to measurable units of space and time.
“Five, six: the nacheinander.”
Plain EnglishFive, six steps: one thing following another.
The German word 'nacheinander' means 'one after another' or 'in sequence.' Stephen counts his steps as a succession of moments.
“Exactly: and that is the ineluctable modality of the audible.”
Plain EnglishYes, that's the unavoidable nature of sound: it unfolds one moment after another in sequence.
Unlike sight, which takes in many things simultaneously, sound occurs over time.
“Open your eyes. No.”
Plain EnglishA voice in Stephen's mind tells him to open his eyes, but he refuses.
He wants to continue the experiment.
“Jesus! If I fell over a cliff that beetles o'er his base, fell through the nebeneinander ineluctably!”
Plain EnglishGood God! What if I walked off a cliff jutting out over the shore and fell helplessly through space?
'Beetles o'er his base' comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet and means projecting or hanging over an edge. The German 'nebeneinander' means 'side by side' or 'simultaneously.' Stephen jokes that he would experience the physical world very directly if he suddenly fell off a cliff.
“I am getting on nicely in the dark.”
Plain EnglishI'm actually managing quite well with my eyes shut.
Stephen is pleased with himself.
“My ash sword hangs at my side.”
Plain EnglishMy walking stick is hanging beside me.
Stephen imagines his ash walking stick as a sword, casting himself as a romantic wanderer or hero.
“Tap with it: they do.”
Plain EnglishI should use it to tap the ground ahead—yes, blind people do that.
He briefly considers using it like a blind person's cane.
“My two feet in his boots are at the ends of his legs, nebeneinander.”
Plain EnglishMy feet, inside these boots, stand side by side at the ends of my legs.
Stephen humorously objectifies himself, as if observing his own body from outside.
“Sounds solid: made by the mallet of Los Demiurgos.”
Plain EnglishThe sounds seem solid, as though they were created by the hammer of divine craftsmen.
Joyce/Stephen cleverly merges two classical 'builders', William Blake's 'Los' and the Gnostic "Demiurge" into one phrase.
“Am I walking into eternity along Sandymount strand?”
Plain EnglishAs I walk along this beach, am I somehow walking into eternity itself?
The physical walk prompts a metaphysical question.
“Crush, crack, crick, crick.”
Plain EnglishThe sounds of Stephen's boots crunching over shells and seaweed.
Joyce reproduces the actual sounds Stephen hears.
“Wild sea money.”
Plain EnglishStephen notices shells, often called 'sea money' because they resemble coins.
A throwback to Deasy's office, Stephen muses on money and the temporality of wealth.
“Dominie Deasy kens them a'.”
Plain EnglishMr Deasy knows all about these things.
'Kens them a'' is Scots dialect meaning 'knows them all.' Stephen recalls Mr Deasy, his employer in Nestor, who prided himself on his practical knowledge.