While Stephen is in the infirmary, he meets Athy, the affable son of a racehorse owner; unlike Stephen, Athy seems to enjoy the uniqueness of having a "queer name." The infirmary can thus be considered a microcosm for those like Stephen. That is, Brother Michael, Athy, and Stephen are all isolated — either by duties, names, or physical illness — from the rest of the world of Clongowes.
Stephen contemplates his feelings of isolation as he falls asleep, lulled by pleasant memories of home and the sad sound of Brother Michael's voice as it reveals the news from the daily paper that Charles Stewart Parnell, the Irish Nationalist leader, is dead. In his dream, Stephen's preoccupation with his illness and his fears of death merge with his thoughts about Parnell's death, and he begins to identify his own plight with that of the great, rejected Irish hero.
When the next scene opens, Stephen is well and happy; he is back home in Bray with his family, just as they are about to sit down for Christmas dinner. It is a momentous occasion; this meal will be Stephen's ceremonial initiation into the adult world. By being allowed to say grace before the meal, Stephen has joined the world of grownups, a world which he expects will be filled with the excitement, joy, and peace of the season. Ironically, this dinner, which is traditionally held to announce the joyous anniversary of the birth of the Savior of the World, becomes the scene of loud, vindictive, religious and political debate. Ultimately, its angry focus is not on a birth, but on the death of a man who seemingly was once Ireland's savior, Ireland's hope for independence from England, Ireland's best hope for Home Rule.
In a sense, this traumatic experience causes Stephen to confront some of the disappointing truths about the adult members of his household. Dante, his old nurse and governess, a woman whom he has loved as if she were an aunt, is rigid and cruel as she loudly defends her faith and the Church's interference with matters of the state. Interestingly, this scene is based on an actual occurrence in the Joyce household. Dante Conway (the Joyce children's governess) and a Mr. John Kelley (a friend of Joyce's father who had been imprisoned for giving public speeches in defense of Parnell) actually did have a loud, angry argument during a Christmas dinner when Joyce was a boy. The vicious screaming ingrained itself so deeply in Joyce's memory that he was able to re-create its strong, minute details here. As a result of the argument, Stephen realizes that the pursuit of freedom usually includes martyrdom — a situation enunciated by Joyce himself, a belief that Ireland would always destroy her heroes.
