Concerning the other imagery in the novel, perhaps the most pervasive is the imagery that pertains to Stephen's exile, or, specifically, his "flight" from Ireland. The flight imagery begins as early as his first days at Clongowes, when Stephen's oppressed feelings are symbolized by "a heavy bird flying low through the grey light." Later, a greasy football soars "like a heavy bird" through the sky. At that time, flight from unhappiness seemed impossible for Stephen, but as the novel progresses and Stephen begins to formulate his artistic ideals, the notion of flight seems possible.
For example, in Chapter IV, after Stephen renounces the possibility of a religious vocation, he feels a "proud sovereignty" as he crosses over the Tolka and his name is called out by his classmates; this incident is followed by another allusion to flight. Later, the girl wading in the sea is described as "delicate as a crane," with the fringes of her "drawers . . . like the featherings of soft white down"; her bosom is described as "the breast of some darkplumaged dove." Her presence in this moment of epiphany enables Stephen to choose art as his vocation.
Finally, note that when Stephen's friends call him, his name seems to carry a "prophecy"; he sees a "winged form flying above the waves and . . . climbing in the air." The image of this "hawklike man flying sunward" is at the heart of the flight motif. As Stephen realizes his life's purpose, he sees his "soul . . . soaring in the air." He yearns to cry out like an "eagle on high." He experiences "an instant of wild flight" and is "delivered" free from the bondage of his past. At the end of the novel, Stephen cries out to Daedalus, his "old father, old artificer," and prepares for his own flight to artistic freedom.
