At the beginning of the novel, we meet Stephen at the moment when he experiences his first essential awareness of the world around him. He is "baby tuckoo," the center of the universe, the one to whom stories are told and songs are sung. We perceive the world exactly as Stephen does — through sounds, smells, and sensations — all structured by a catalogue of comparisons which introduce the novel's good/bad, cold/hot, light/dark image motifs.
Clearly, even at an early age, Stephen prefers his mother to his father, and he is unconsciously aware of his nurse Dante's political and religious ideologies. He also learns, because of the "Pull out his eyes, Apologise" refrain, that any sudden, natural (spontaneous, artistic) expression of emotion — such as his declaration that he is going to marry Eileen (a little Protestant girl) — will result in swift moral retribution from the stern and practical members of his family. Later, of course, society's censures will parallel Stephen's family's early condemnation of his spontaneous outbursts of emotion and artistic expression.
Stephen's overly sensitive reactions to this censoring incident is proof to us that Stephen is "different." He feels keenly guilty without understanding why; later in life, he will suffer other moments of agonizing, confusing guilt.
The next scene, at Clongowes, focuses on Stephen's growing sense of isolation. Joyce's imagery in this passage — "swarming . . . strong cries . . . pale and chilly . . . thud . . . [and] greasy . . . " — indicates Stephen's general discomfort in his new surroundings. The use of the term "heavy bird," describing the low-flying, ponderous football, introduces bird imagery, imagery which will pervade the novel; here, it is used to identify the mythical escape theme which unifies the novel. Young Dedalus (like his Greek namesake, Daedalus) sees himself in a hostile environment from which, at least for the moment, he is unlikely to escape, although he would like to. Similarly, Stephen (the name of the first Christian martyr) suffers ridicule because of the uniqueness of his name; he is mercilessly questioned about his name by a bullying classmate, Nasty Roche.
