Associations
One of the common motifs in the novel is the associations Stephen makes and how certain things he sees, smells or hears make him think about various things that happen in his past. For example, Stephen decides to return to London only after he smells a familiar smell while walking in a park in another country and he decides to stay in London only after he hears a train and remembers about his childhood.
Colorless clothes
When Stephen thinks about his past, he pictures himself dressed in colorless clothes and as being a shy and slightly awkward boy. The colorless clothes are an important element here because it is used a symbol to make reference to the society in which Stephen lived in. just like Stephen’s clothes were colorless, the society in which he lived in was extremely bland hard to deal with especially as a young boy.
Symbol for class division
Another important symbol are the belts the boys have in the novel. Stephen talks about the belt he had and the belt his good friend Keith had and how different they were from one another. The belts were usually part of schoolboy’s uniform and thus Keith’s belt signaled the fact that he was from a wealthy family and thus that he could afford to attend a good school. Stephen on the other hand could not and his belt was a visual reminder of that. Because of this, the belts are used as a symbol to make reference to the class division that existed in England during the time when Stephen was a young boy.
Allegorical street
The street on which Stephen lived as a young boy is used here as an allegory to describe the whole British society during the Second World War. In comparison with other areas in London, the people living on the street are not all members of the same social group. Instead, they all come from different social classes and have different ambitions in life. For example, Stephen’s family can be characterized as being middle-class while Keith’s family is upper-class. There are also families inside the community who are extremely poor and who are avoided by everyone else inside the community. The people on the street show just how classes used to interact with one another in Britain and how important it was for them to have a class division. Because of this, the street on which Stephen lives can be seen as being allegorical.
What is reality?
Another common motif in the novel is the idea that Stephen’s memories are unreliable. On more than one occasion, Stephen struggles to remember the order in which events took place and also he questions the veracity of his own memories. This sense that nothing is real is also important because it makes the reader aware of the fact that some plot twists may appear later in the novel.
