In the third chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses, specifically the Proteus episode, Stephen Dedalus is walking along Sandymount Strand, his mind churning with philosophical inquiries about the nature of existence, time, and the physical body. When you encounter the phrase That is why mystic monks, you are catching a fleeting, fragmented thought in Stephen’s stream of consciousness. To answer your specific question: in this context, monks is a noun, plural, referring to the religious men who live in seclusion, and it is not a verb.
For most students approaching Joyce for the first time, this confusion is not a sign of a language barrier, but rather a sign that you are reading Joyce exactly as he intended. He writes in a style that mimics the erratic, associative nature of human thought. When Stephen thinks of mystic monks, he is likely making a rapid, shorthand connection between the idea of omphalos—the navel, the center of the world—and the ascetic, inward-looking nature of monks who seek divine connection through meditation and self-reflection. He is musing on why humans seek to transcend their physical flesh, much like those who pursue mystical religious lives.
The Challenge of Stream of Consciousness
I remember working with Elena, a junior majoring in Comparative Literature, who spent three hours trying to parse the grammar of a single page in Ulysses. She felt like a failure because she couldn't identify the subject and predicate in every sentence. I told her what I am telling you now: Joyce is not writing a standard novel; he is writing a map of a human mind. When you hit a phrase like That is why mystic monks, you are seeing a mental snapshot that has been cut off before it could be fully explained.
The beauty of Joyce is that he captures the way we think before we turn our thoughts into polite, grammatical sentences. If you feel lost, it is because you are being dropped into the middle of someone else’s internal monologue. It is meant to be disorienting.
The phrase is a bridge between the physical and the metaphysical. Stephen is thinking about the cords of all flesh—the umbilical cords that link us to our past and our ancestors—and then he jumps to the idea of monks, who represent a different kind of link, one that aims to bypass the flesh to reach the divine. He is asking, in his own way, if we can escape our physical limitations. The sentence is intentionally incomplete because Stephen’s thought process is interrupted by the sights and sounds of the beach.
The takeaway here is that you shouldn't treat every noun in Joyce as a piece of a logical puzzle; sometimes, it is just a color or a texture in the painting of the narrator's mind.
Is it a Noun or a Verb?
It is easy to see why you might wonder if monks is a verb. In English, many words can shift roles depending on the sentence structure. However, in this specific instance, monks functions purely as a plural noun. If it were a verb, it would imply the act of "monking," which is not standard English usage. Joyce loves to play with language, but he rarely invents verbs out of nouns unless he is creating a compound word, like strandentwining earlier in that same passage.
Think about how you might jot down notes in a journal when you are tired. You might write: "Why the late nights? Coffee. That is why tired students." You have omitted the verb because your brain already knows what you mean. Stephen is doing the same thing. He is observing the world, making a connection between the navel (the omphalos) and the spiritual seekers (the monks), and moving on to the next thought before he finishes the sentence.
When you read Joyce, try reading the passage aloud. You will find that the rhythm of the words often provides the meaning that the grammar lacks. The cadence of "That is why mystic monks" has a liturgical, chanting quality to it, which reinforces the religious context of the word.
When you encounter a word that seems out of place, ask yourself if the author is prioritizing the sound and the association over the strict rules of syntax.
Contextualizing the Omphalos
To fully grasp why Joyce places mystic monks near the omphalos, you have to understand Stephen’s obsession with the navel. The omphalos is the "navel of the world," a concept found in Greek mythology where the navel is the point of connection between the earth and the heavens. For Stephen, the navel is the scar left by the umbilical cord—the physical proof that he was once connected to another human being.
Consider Marcus, a sophomore in a philosophy seminar, who struggled with this passage. He thought Stephen was talking about actual monks in a monastery. I had to explain that Stephen is using the monks as a metaphor for the human desire to return to a state of unity. The monks, in their mystical practices, are trying to return to the source, just as the navel represents the source of our physical life. It is a dense, layered connection that Joyce expects his readers to hold in their minds simultaneously.
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If you find yourself stuck on a single word, step back and look at the paragraph as a whole. Ask yourself what the narrator is feeling rather than what they are saying. Stephen is feeling isolated and is trying to find a way to connect his physical body to the vast history of humanity. The monks are just one of the many symbols he uses to explore that feeling.
The takeaway for your reading process is to focus on the thematic resonance of the words rather than the individual dictionary definitions.
Quick Self-Assessment: How to Approach Difficult Texts
When you feel overwhelmed by a passage in a complex text like Ulysses, use this table to determine if you are stuck on a technical detail or if you are simply experiencing the intended effect of the author's style.
Question
If you answer YES
Does the word appear to be a noun or verb?
Check the dictionary, but don't obsess over the grammar if it's a stylistic choice.
Does reading the sentence aloud help the rhythm?
You are likely on the right track; focus on the music of the prose.
Is the sentence fragment part of a longer thought?
Look at the sentences before and after; the meaning is usually in the flow.
Does the word relate to a major theme?
Stop parsing individual words and start thinking about the big picture.
Why Joyce Remains Difficult
It is important to acknowledge that Joyce is difficult for everyone, including native English speakers and literature professors. You are not struggling because you are a non-native speaker; you are struggling because Joyce intentionally broke the rules of the English language to reflect the complexity of human consciousness. He uses portmanteau words, obscure historical references, and rapid shifts in tone that challenge even the most experienced readers.
I once sat with a group of graduate students who were reading Finnegans Wake, and even they were stumped by basic vocabulary. The difference between them and a struggling undergraduate is not their knowledge of the dictionary, but their comfort with ambiguity. They have learned to let the words wash over them rather than trying to pin every single one down like a butterfly in a display case.
If you find yourself reading a page and realizing you have no idea what just happened, that is okay. Go back, read it again, and look for the emotional core of the passage. What is the character feeling? Are they anxious, excited, bored, or contemplative? Once you identify the emotion, the specific meaning of words like monks becomes secondary to the mood of the scene.
Always remember that your goal as a reader is to engage with the text, not to conquer it. If you find a word that doesn't make sense, mark it, move on, and see if it makes more sense in the context of the whole chapter.
Practical Strategies for Decoding Modernist Literature
When you are dealing with a text that intentionally obscures meaning, you need a strategy that keeps you moving forward without losing your confidence. First, keep a "context journal." Instead of writing down every word you don't understand, write down the page number and the general theme of the section. Often, the meaning of a difficult word will reveal itself twenty pages later when the author returns to the same motif.
Second, don't be afraid to use a guide, but use it sparingly. There are many annotated versions of Ulysses that provide historical and literary context for specific phrases. Use these as a map, not as a crutch. If you go straight to the annotation for every sentence, you will lose the experience of reading the book as a work of art. Read the text first, let your mind react to it, and then check the notes to see if your intuition was close to the mark.
Finally, talk about the text with others. Literature is a social activity. When you discuss a confusing passage like the one about the mystic monks with a classmate, you will find that everyone has a slightly different take on it. These conversations are where the real learning happens. You might find that your perspective as a non-native speaker actually allows you to see things that native speakers miss because they are too used to the "rules" of the language.
The takeaway is to embrace the confusion as part of the learning process, knowing that every reader of Joyce has been exactly where you are right now.
Resources for Going Deeper
If you want to continue exploring the world of James Joyce and modernist literature, there are several ways to deepen your understanding without getting bogged down in academic jargon. You don't need a PhD to appreciate the layers of meaning in these texts.
Look for "Reader's Guides" to Ulysses: These are specifically designed for students and provide chapter-by-chapter summaries that help you keep track of the plot and the shifting perspectives.
Search for "Joyce Literary Criticism" in academic databases: Look for introductory essays that focus on the "stream of consciousness" technique. These will explain why authors like Joyce, Woolf, and Faulkner chose to write this way.
Find audio recordings of the text: Listening to a professional actor read Ulysses can be transformative. Hearing the cadence, the pauses, and the emphasis makes the meaning of the words much clearer than reading them silently on the page.
Explore the history of the "Omphalos": Search for the symbolic meaning of the omphalos in Greek mythology and how it has been used in Western literature. Understanding the symbol will make Stephen’s internal monologue much more accessible.
Join a reading group: Even if it's just two or three friends, discussing a difficult book makes the process less solitary and more rewarding. You will find that your collective insights are far greater than your individual ones.
By using these resources, you can shift your focus from the anxiety of not understanding every word to the excitement of discovering the deep, complex world that Joyce created. Keep reading, keep asking questions, and don't let a single word stop you from enjoying the journey.
Originally published on EduPath Hub.
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