Thomas Richards, in his 1990 exposition of cultural theory, The Commodity Culture of Victorian England: Advertising and Spectacle, 1851-1914, states: mid-19th century, the commodity became the living letter of the law of supply and demand. It literally came to life. ” (Richards 2) The “commodity” adopts a corporeal attachment to Victorian society in the form of the female body, as proposed in James Joyce’s modern epic, Ulysses. Narrative techniques and representations of the human body are simultaneously subject to the authoritarian commercial culture that permeates and structures Joyce's text. As Richards' publication claims, Ireland, under the economic influence of Victorian England, experienced significant changes in its cultural values, which began to reflect a modern capitalist system. Joyce, over the course of the novel, crafts an accurate depiction of Dublin during the rise of capitalism; consciously, and mainly, unconsciously, supported by advertising and consumer desires. The narrative is saturated with mercantile talk, as Molly and Bloom progress through the day interacting with goods in physical and mental states. With a particular focus on feminine hygiene products, such as "ointment" and "lotion", it is evident that Joyce has invented characters fully immersed in commercial culture and is particularly concerned with constructing an anatomical counterpart and feminine to “merchandise”. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'? Get the original essay The term 'commodity' infiltrated the Irish economy at an exponential rate and, with it, capitalism began to permeate the industrial status of the country. In consultation with Karl Marx's Capital: Critique of the Political Economy, it is possible to contextualize objects such as "ointment" and "lotion", as well as the characters' palpable and cerebral interactions with these objects, as events in the within “commodity culture”. “Volume 1” of the bourgeoisie-led work is essentially a critical analysis of capitalism as a political economy and the role of the commodity within it. This system applies to who governs the characters, as well as the consumerist intentions and desires they experience throughout the day. Examining Bloom's thoughts, particularly those regarding the lotion and soap he buys for Molly, it is evident that such goods are erotic and inspire a sexual appetite in him. Although erotic thoughts are not uncommon in Bloom, it is significant to consider that ointment and lotion, as commodities, provoke a coherent image of woman and a feeling of femininity. The episode “Nausicaa” formally introduces the impressionable figure of Gerty MacDowell, Joyce's literary writer. manifestation of “feminine sensitivity”. Gerty represents a hyperbolically feminized “poster girl” for feminine hygiene products, as she is aptly nicknamed the “Queen of Ointments.” His story is heavily imbued with mercantile language and consumerist desires; Gerty's thought process is entirely unique to the novel, but dictates a universal mode of thinking adopted by women in the Dublin of 1904. The thoughts that make up "Nausicaa" are echoed in a catchphrase for "the girl from the seaside." sea”, the commercial fantasy of men and women; for the first, an eroticized jingle which addresses the male libido, and for the second, an emblem of female jealousy and standardized beauty. Ointments, lotions, perfumes and creams arethe necessary components for constructing and maintaining femininity, just as Joyce's awareness of commodity culture is necessary for "writing" literary femininity. Joyce confronts the lived reality of the advertised spectacle, not only as a social space to display merchandise, but also as a coercive agent to invade and structure human consciousness. The “Nausicaa” chapter of Ulysses defines the impact of all this calculated consumption on a single consumer, Gerty MacDowell. Materialism and concerns about acquiring possessions appear persistently throughout the day in the characters' thoughts; Bloom, for example, spends his day remembering certain items he needs to buy and manipulating the items he buys. Consumerism is so deeply ingrained in Bloom that in the episode "Circe", during a hallucinatory moment, the bar of soap that resided in his pocket speaks for itself: "SOAP: We are a capital couple , Bloom and me. » (Joyce 406) The capitalist relationship is present in Bloom's mind, on both the conscious and subconscious levels. Marx, in concluding the first chapter of “Volume 1” of Capital, establishes a definition of the commodity: “A commodity appears, at first sight, as a very trivial and easy to understand thing. His analysis shows that it is actually a very strange thing, rich in metaphysical subtleties and theological subtleties. in what he calls “commodity fetishism”. In a capitalist system, human relationships are increasingly characterized by alienation, monetization and commodification. Relations between workers and owners, buyers and sellers pass through the goods produced. These goods become objects of fetishism; there seems to be an objective existence around them, which obscures the individual labor involved in their production. In the act of exchange, the commodity acquires an inherent value distinct from use value or physical properties. This relationship is evident between Bloom and the pharmacy: “Better prepare this lotion. Where is it? Ah yes, the last time. Sweny is at Lincoln Place. Chemists rarely travel. Their green and gold headlights are too heavy to move... It certainly made her skin so delicate, white as wax. » (Joyce 75-76) The passage, taken from Bloom's ongoing thought process while shopping, exposes his unconscious priority for feminine hygiene products. . Bloom considers the work of the chemist, as his mind wanders into the territory of the store and the effects chemicals can have on a person making them for the customer's use. He also remembers the lotion's earlier effect on Molly, provoking an image of desire which, as the "commodity fetishism" recounts, is evident in Bloom. Marx was aware of a dichotomy which structured the concept of commodity; On the one hand, commodities are calculable and quantifiable, but on the other, they carry cultural baggage whose origins are untraceable to humans due to their immediate and omniscient presence in a society. Marx writes: “A commodity is therefore a mysterious thing, simply because in it the social character of men's labor appears to them as an objective character imprinted on the product of this labor; because the relations of producers to the sum total of their own labor is presented to them as a social relation, existing not between them, but between the products of their labor. ” (Marx 665) Although Bloom is a suitable candidate for this asymmetrical social relationship, Joyce was perhaps doubly aware of the commodification of the characters. , since the soapperforms functions beyond those of an inanimate object. The commodity becomes an integral part of the commodity conversation and further mystifies the “commodity.” In “Nausicaa,” Gerty MacDowell’s reverie reveals more than just desires for her “dream husband”; her narrative is littered with beauty product “needs” and “wants,” which eventually become indistinguishable. Thomas Richards' comments on the problem of human action in an increasingly consumerist system, perhaps best exemplified by the figure of Gerty: "Perfectly following Marx's account of commodity fetishism in the first volume of Capital, Gerty shows the tendency towards failure. see that it deals with a social relationship between human beings and instead assumed that it deals with a relationship between things. » (Richards 218) Richards' critique also references Marx's theory, reinforcing Joyce's authorial proximity to commodity culture. Joyce, in her choice to use free indirect discourse to convey Gerty's episode, demonstrates the commercial thought processes of a young woman placed at the heart of a system of which she is both the object and the agent ; the vulnerable consumer and the “Queen of ointments”, simultaneously. The role of the commodity varies in Joyce's text; Bloom, Molly and Gerty interact physically and mentally with a wide range of merchandise and products throughout the day. By limiting the product, as contextualized by Marxist theory, to feminine beauty products, a pattern begins to emerge. There is a constant connection between the ointment and the provocation of eroticism associated with the female body. Bloom's head is constantly filled with sexualized images, as he fantasizes about ointment-smeared female hands: “Oh wonder! Coolsoft with ointments, his hand touched me, caressed me…” (Joyce 162) This fantasy suggests a subconscious relationship between commodity and sexuality, particularly that which corresponds to the female body. In the episode "The Wandering Rocks", Bloom is seen in a bookstore, contemplating pornographic novels for Molly: "Mr. Bloom re-read: The Beautiful Woman." The heat invades him slowly, intimidating his flesh. The flesh gave way in the middle of the crumpled clothes... Melting ointments for the chest (for Him! For Raoul!)... Smell! Press! Crushed! Young! Young ! » (Joyce 226) The product relating to the ointment is highly romanticized in Bloom's mind; he falls in love with female romance, distinctly, with the romance of a woman covered in ointments and lotions. Richards theorizes about the commercial consumption model and the manipulation that the female body undergoes in a male-dominated economic system: “Advertising has succeeded in establishing a female consumption model without ceding the business entirely to women. Advertisers defined consumption as an extension of the sexual division of labor embedded in the Victorian household. ” (Richards 206) The “female model” endorses the sexes equally as consumers of particular products, salves, and erotic novels. Bloom responds to both elements; he is excited by the contents of the book and integrates the pomade as a means of standardizing "la belle femme", products initially intended for feminine use. This double use will also appear later when examining Joyce's narrative technique in “Nausicaa”, in the demonstration of “feminine writing”. It is important to consider intertextual symbols for women in advertisements, jingles, and romance novels, alongside the representation of women. in Joyce's text. These figures are frequent, like that of “the seaside girl” or “the beautiful woman”, and have the function of makingadvertising and awakening consumers. Molly, and especially Gerty, interact with such figures on conscious and sometimes subconscious levels. Molly, aware of the scrutiny she faces to maintain her outward appearance, displays bouts of jealousy and views herself as a singular sexual figure that all men desire, including Bloom. Gerty, however, consciously and unconsciously distributes the same need for an attractive outward appearance. His desires are reserved “in secret”, within his thoughts, which constantly refer to beauty and hygiene products. Richards diagnoses this mode of thinking in detail in his chapter titled “These Lovely Seaside Girls.” He states that “…this neurotic woman became the prototypical consumer, and her traditionally feminine attributes were translated into a psychology of consumption and exploited by a new “science,” the psychology of advertising. » (Richards 206) Joyce provides a psychological profile of the typical consumer, but in this case the focus is on the female consumer. The feminine model structures and maintains The foundations of consumerism have been reduced for both sexes. Richards continues his discussion of women's advertising: "In the early 20th century, advertising became the primary means of condensing the detritus of consciousness into commercial language. Advertisers have now become specialists not only in the constitution of discourse, but also in the constitution of the self – particularly the feminine self – to occupy positions within commercial culture. » (Richards 210) Gerty's narrative represents a specifically female experience of Victorian political economy; Joyce's account of female consumerism is inherently suspicious of a world of unrestricted buying and selling associated primarily with men. But Joyce assumes that women are already involved as both agents and objects in a consumer economy. Likewise, Joyce himself, as an author, excludes a performative female voice, explicitly inserted into the literary marketplace in order to critique the hidden values ​​and assumptions of capitalism. To move on to a critical discussion of the role of the commodity and its relationship to constructing femininity, it is necessary to focus on Gerty MacDowell and the narrative that the chapter “Nausicaa” conveys. Gerty appears elsewhere in the novel, briefly in "Wandering Rocks", but is formally introduced in "Nausicaa". Joyce's account comes from a naturally feminine thought process, as Gerty enters the scene on the beach at Sandycove: "Her hands were finely veined alabaster with slender fingers and as white as lemon juice and queen of ointments couldn't do them even if it wasn't true. that she used to wear kid gloves to bed or take a foot bath in milk. » (Joyce 332) Immediately, Gerty's body is described; physical appearance is a priority in the perception of Gerty's character. Primarily, the description illustrates a young, child-like girl, however, the insertion of "ointment queen" suggests two things: first, Gerty may be going through puberty since "queen" is a label attached to a woman entering or experiencing adulthood, and second, Gerty is Joyce's deliberate "female role model" within the novel's established commodity culture. Richards' critique is relevant to this interpretation, as he comments on the consumer language used to represent female figures in advertising: "They delivered big drama on a small scale, transforming the body from a no-go zone into a a site. of voluble speech and the seatprivileged of the show. » (Richards 203) By describing aspects of Gerty's body in relation to commodities, such as the ointment, she is contextualized as a commodity itself; her body can now be interpreted as a consumable product, a living, breathing advertisement. Joyce provides a matter-of-fact characterization of Gerty, which, again, lacks human depth: "...as fine a specimen of attractive Irish youth as one could wish to see... Her figure was light and graceful, tending even to fragility , but the iron geloids she had been taking lately had done much better than Widow Welch's female pills and she was feeling much better with the spotting she used to have and the fatigue. feeling. ” (Joyce 332) By calling Gerty a “specimen,” her body is further classified as a consumable object; she is a physical representative of girls and women in Ireland and an advocate of the consumerist attitude that prevails in this society. Gerty's character and defining her as an individual are entirely dependent on cosmetics; Joyce essentially constructs a facet of femininity that relies on capitalism to act. More importantly, the narrative asks, “But who was Gerty? » (Joyce 331). Perhaps Gerty's body only exists in commodification, as the question suggests that a physical manifestation of Gerty is not present. Richards' argument is also relevant in setting the context of rapidly changing female identity: “…charlatans had already dug the claws of the market deep into the flesh of the consumer. The body had become the dominant icon of commodity culture, and there was no going back. ” (Richards 203) The “charlatans” that Richards refers to are the dominant men who manage the economy. He asserts that women's participation in the economic space exists in the form of the body, but by calling the body an "icon", there may not be a bodily representation, but rather a symbolic one. Richards is aware of the importance of identifying Gerty as the "Queen of Ointments", he states: "Although an advertisement like the 'Queen of Ointments' exerts an unprecedented influence on Gerty, it does not do so in the empty but remains submissive to it. varying needs and abilities. ” (Richards 224) This point is consistent with the previous characterization of Gerty as “object and agent” of the capitalist system. Being the “queen of ointments” limits and liberates Gerty in an economic system; she is locked into a position that restricts individuality and also gives her a capacity for action in the system that envelops her. Essentially, a contradiction marks the narrative of “Nausicaa” and the representation of human consciousness which is exclusive to women. Joyce inscribes a mode of thought associated with female desires and the female body. Although gender confusion is common throughout the text, the female voice is most explicitly heard in "Nausicaa" and "Penelope". Gerty's narrative, however, dictates the thoughts of the vulnerable and impressionable opposition to Molly's character. Gerty, the “queen of ointments”, is also the literary incarnation of “the seaside girl”; this figure appears frequently throughout the text of the novel, particularly in the minds of the male characters, Bloom and Blazes Boylan. The jingle “These girls, these girls/These pretty girls by the sea” (Joyce, 60 years old) resonates in the different stories, a bit like a commercial slogan would in the minds of consumers. Gerty, whose body lacks palpability and relies on cosmetics to achieve depth, is the fluid advertisement that permeates the minds of men and women. Richards' chapter,“These Lovely Seaside Girls,” demonstrates an analysis of the function of the jingle in relation to Gerty's purpose in the novel: “During the late 19th century, the advertising industry organized a proliferation of commercial narratives in a stable semiotic framework. canopy for capitalist society, giving this integrated universe an ontological status independent of human activity. ” (Richards 11) Richards proposes that “commodity narratives” are a form of meaning in “capitalist society”; Given this, Gerty's narrative is perhaps Joyce's schema for signifying female identity within the political and economic systems that structure her novel. Bloom reflects on “seaside girls,” as the following passage appears in his story: “The pretty seaside girls. Skin tanned brightly. I should have added cold cream first to brown it. Buttered toast. O and this lotion must not be forgotten. Fever near the mouth. Your head is simple. Braided hair: seaweed shell. Why do they cover their ears with seaweed hair? to satisfy the image of femininity. Richards justifies the form of objectification of women in terms of consumerism: "Because advertisers assumed that women acted as consumers only on the explicit instructions of men, they were not attentive to the many ways in which advertising spoke with a feminine voice and contributed to the formation of a specifically feminine consumer subjectivity. space. Gerty's own narrative is not subject to male consumption, however, Joyce, being a male author, subscribes to and manipulates Gerty's own female voice, promoting contradiction. The concept of writing describes everything in writing that can neither be subsumed into an idea nor correspond exactly to empirical reality. It encompasses the “textuality” of all discourses, and Hélène Cixous can be considered responsible for the discourse intrinsically specific to women. Prior to her seminal work on feminist psychoanalytic theory, The Laugh of the Medusa, Cixous advanced Joyce studies by writing her doctoral dissertation on her collected works. According to Cixous, Joyce's late style is perhaps the most precise writing effort in the English tradition. Cixous's feminine writing aims to render the figures of femininity literally and to explore the consequences of this literalization. Cixous does not privilege the “feminine” half of an existing binary opposition between “male” and “female”; just like her contemporary writing theorists, she questions the adequacy of this opposition to label the complexity of cultural realities. It becomes evident, particularly in an application of Cixous's theory to Joyce's account, that an inconsistency is at the heart of Cixous's theory. work: its insistence on the two incompatible logics within women's writing. Primarily, Cixous asserts that women's writing is characterized by explicitly feminine body parts that have been repressed by traditional discourse and must be expressed by the woman writer. However, it also promotes the use of feminine writing for both men and women. It is perhaps more appropriate to interpret Cixous's "body" as that of any transgressive or desiring individual; it is conceivable that it was his interpretation of the body itself that was repressed. The “body” may not even be a physical body, but rather figurative bodies that may or may not possess power. Traditionally, power, authority and law have dominated the male body; but, since no real bodies are depicted, both men and women would have access to comments about the body. By writing: