To emphasize Stephen's inward turnings, Joyce brilliantly explores one detail about Stephen, which he withholds from the reader until the "Circe" chapter: Stephen broke his glasses on June 15, and on this climactic day of June 16, he cannot see very well — particularly, physically. Besides reinforcing the role of Stephen as a visionary and as a "blind prophet," in contrast to the outer-oriented Mulligan, Stephen's myopia continues as a motif from Joyce's earlier novel (also dealing with Stephen), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, in which, while a small boy at Clongowes Wood College, Stephen was unjustly punished by the clergy after he accidentally broke his spectacles. In the earlier novel, Stephen's physical near-blindness helped him to gain inner vision — that is, it assisted him to ultimately break from traditional Catholicism.
Yet before we can completely grasp the contrast between the two youths and fully comprehend Mulligan's deprecating treatment of Stephen before, during, and after breakfast, we must be aware of some facts about Catholicism, Joyce's personal background, and Irish history (the nightmare from which Stephen is trying to awaken).
To do this, we should be aware of several motifs that are developed throughout Ulysses. Some of the more important of these are religious symbols: the lost (and also the false) father theme, the image of Ireland as a desiccated wasteland, seen in the visit of the old milk woman, and the image of the key. These motifs are often blended, and one must never forget that Ulysses is a vast symphony of symbols and recurring images.
Most of the religious symbols are clearly and easily discernible. As examples, consider Mulligan's role as a false priest; Malachi Mulligan's shaving bowl is a chalice, and his quotation from the Introit ("Introibo ad altare Dei" — I will go to the altar of God"), spoken from atop the stairs, suggests the traditional Catholic Mass (common to Joyce's day), in which the celebrant ascends a number of steps at the beginning of the service; here, Joyce assigns the role of a high priest to the Jewish Malachi, and thus Mulligan metaphorically places Stephen in the inferior position of an acolyte; the allusion shortly afterwards to "Christine" again suggests the Eucharistic ceremony.
