30 pages • 1 hour read
James JoyceFinnegans Wake
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1939A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Part 1, Chapters 5-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Part 1, Chapter 5 Summary
Anna Livia Plurabelle (ALP) is the wife of Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker (HCE). The chapter begins with an extended prayer dedicated to ALP, who is portrayed as the Mother of the World and as goddesses and important figures from numerous religions and works of literature. Earlier, ALP wrote a letter regarding the accusations against her husband. The letter—referred to as the “mamafesta” (104)—was written and sent, but “the durn thing” (107) was not properly received. Eventually, “that original hen” (110) pecking and scratching at the ground uncovers the letter under the mud. ALP’s sons, Shem and Shaun, fight over the rediscovered letter. Though Shem is the person who originally recovered the letter, Shaun wishes to take all the credit. The letter is given to a professor to analyze in the manner of the old Irish religious text, The Book of Kells. The professor decides that ALP dictated “original document” (123) but did not personally write the letter. He surmises that the letter may have been transcribed by “Shem the Penman” (125) or someone like him.
Part 1, Chapter 6 Summary
The novel switches to an interview format. In this format, Shaun answers a series of 12 riddles on the topic of his family. Shaun is depicted as a schoolmaster. The questions become more farfetched, so Shaun begins to answer questions about Christianity and religion. He tries to explain his answers with “a more expletive method” (152), such as parables, including a story about “The Mookse and The Gripes” (152). In this story, Shaun represents the Mookse. As a part of the group known as the Mookse, he plays the role of Pope Adrian IV, who lived in the medieval era. Pope Adrian IV was a key player in the English invasion and colonialization of the island of Ireland, as led by Henry II.
In Shaun’s story, Shem plays the role of Saint Lawrence O’Toole, the then-Bishop of Dublin. Shem represents the Gripes, the name given to the Irish people who resist the Mookse invasion. The story describes how the Mookse and the Gripes cannot live together. The Gripes (the Irish) were eventually beaten down, brutalized, and colonized by the Mookse (the English). The colonization lasted for centuries. Shaun, the Mookse, explains to his brother that he will not help him as the “old diligences are quite out of date” (167). Shem, the Gripe, understands that he must leave his homeland to pursue his dreams of being an artist.
Part 1, Chapter 7 Summary
The discourse between Shaun and Shem continues. Shaun criticizes his brother, dismissing him as a mere artist. In this passage, Shem becomes a counterpart for James Joyce, and Shaun mocks Joyce’s previous work, Ulysses, as being essentially unreadable. In Shaun’s view, Shem is a “weak” person with alcoholism who abandons his country at a pivotal moment because he is “cowardly gun and camera shy” (171). He resents Shem for not being present during the Easter Uprising when the Irish Republican Army rose against the British colonial powers in fighting for Irish independence. Shaun blames Shem for preferring to choose a simple, non-violent life in a distant country rather than helping his homeland. As Shaun and Shem shift through personas and identities, Shaun seeks to assert his strength and dominance over his brother. He takes on the role of Justius while Shem becomes Mercius. Shem is always reduced to the weaker roles, meekly declaring his love for their mother, ALP, and reminding his sibling of their blood relationship. Shem disappears into the memory of his mother as he meekly defends himself.
Part 1, Chapter 8 Summary
The River Liffey runs through the city of Dublin. Two women wash their clothes in the river and call out to one another across the water. They wash the clothes belonging to HCE and his family, mocking HCE, whose private affairs are becoming public. They share gossip and rumors about his alleged crime and the stories they have heard about ALP, Shaun, and Shem. According to the women, ALP has stood steadfastly by her husband and tried to remind her children of his great accomplishments by handing them tokens of his achievements.
The women wash clothes belonging to other families. They hurl the wet clothes across the flat stones beside the river as they wash. They talk about the supposed Irish affinity for alcohol and wonder whether a sober Ireland would be, essentially, a dead Ireland. Eventually, the sun begins to set. The washerwomen by the Liffey change into a stone and a tree and stay beside the river.
Part 1, Chapters 5-8 Analysis
After introducing HCE in the opening chapters, the latter half of Part 1 of Finnegans Wake introduces his family: ALP, Shem, Shaun, and Isabel (Issy). Of these four, Shaun most closely resembles his father and his father’s travails. He is positioned as the inheritor of his father’s responsibility. In the cyclical nature of time, he will become his father, and, like his father, he will inhabit many roles and identities throughout history and mythology. Shaun struggles to bear this burden. He focuses his ire on his brother, and their arguments and discourses will become an important part of the novel. Shaun’s criticism of Shem is that Shem is a “weak-minded” artist who is uninterested in practical affairs and responsibilities. To some degree, Shaun resents his brother’s freedom and covets such freedom for himself.
The discussion between the two brothers contains references to James Joyce’s own life; he left his home country of Ireland at a pivotal moment in the nation’s history, just as the Irish were fighting for their freedom from the British colonial forces. During this time, Joyce produced his seminal works, such as Ulysses. Shaun’s criticism of Shem is the criticism Joyce imagines from his own brother, that he was more interested in artistic pursuits than responsibilities. Through complex language, Shaun references works such as Ulysses, and, throughout the novel, he will triumph over his weaker brother. Joyce, like his characters, inhabits numerous personalities in the context of Irish history and mythology. He is an important figure in modern Irish history, a scholar of its mythology, and a creator of even more stories that help define the national identity. Like Shem, he also feels like a coward in certain contexts. The complexity of Finnegans Wake includes the author’s anxieties, literally and figuratively woven into the novel’s narrative.
The scene between the two washerwomen is one of the few times when external perspectives are introduced to the novel. Neither of these women is a member of HCE’s family; they exist on the periphery of HCE’s life and share stories and rumors about the local people, including HCE. Their conversation is an act of mythmaking. By sharing gossip and rumors, they create the mythology of modern Dublin. Their stories grow, evolve, and change in accordance with the information they shout out to one another across the water. Though they are outsiders to the HCE family, they help create the mythology that propels the family and the novel forward. HCE’s supposed crime may or may not have occurred, but by sharing the story, the washerwomen create the myth of HCE as the people of Dublin will understand it.
The final passages of the story of the washerwomen help to consecrate the idea of the women as a vital part of the mythmaking process. Like the members of HCE’s family, they are not mere individuals. They represent the polity of mythology and how stories are shared and have been shared for centuries. They are transformed into a rock and a tree, becoming a part of the enduring natural world that will exist long beyond the lifespan of any individual. In a literal sense, they become part of the scenery. In a figurative sense, they exist and always have existed as long as humans need to swap stories to better understand the world.
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