For an example of color imagery, note that Dante owns two velvet-backed brushes — one maroon, one green. The maroon brush symbolizes Michael Davitt, the pro-Catholic activist of the Irish Land League; the green-backed brush symbolizes Charles Stewart Parnell. Once, Parnell was Dante's political hero par excellence, but after the Church denounced him, she ripped the green cloth from the back of her brush. Other references to color include Stephen's desire to have a "green rose" (an expression of his creative nature) instead of a white one or a red one, symbols of his class' scholastic teams.
Another reference to color imagery can be seen in Lynch's use of the term "yellow insolence" (Chapter V); instead of using the word "bloody," Lynch uses the word "yellow," indicating a sickly, cowardly attitude toward life. The idea of a "bloody" natural lust for living would be appalling to Lynch. Lynch's name, literally, means "to hang"; he has a "long slender flattened skull . . . like a hooded reptile . . . with a reptilelike . . . gaze and a self-embittered . . . soul."
Like Lynch, Temple is also representative of his name. Temple considers himself "a believer in the power of the mind." He admires Stephen greatly for his "independent thinking," and he himself tries to "think" about the problems of the world.
Cranly, like his name (cranium, meaning "skull"), is Stephen's "priestlike" companion, to whom he confesses his deepest feelings. Note that several of Joyce's references also focus on Stephen's image of Cranly's "severed head"; Cranly's symbolic significance to Stephen is similar to that of John the Baptist (the "martyred Christ"). The name "Cranly" also reminds us of the skull on the rector's desk and Joyce's emphasis on the shadowy skull of the Jesuit director who queries Stephen about a religious vocation.
