alus, Dante, and religion impose on Stephen are reasons for the suppression of his natural desires (84). They reinforce the sound, old ways rather than the fury, or eccentric ideas of life and they uphold what is trite and commonplace instead of what is new and risky (Ben-Merre 15). When Stephen is six years old he says that he wants to marry his neighbor, a young girl as well, named Eileen and he is chastised for saying this by Dante and Mrs. Dedalus because Eileen is a Protestant and that it would be a sin. They demand that he apologize for his innate feelings and if he fails to do so they teasingly threaten him that an eagle would come out of the sky and claw out his eyes. Many of these things said to Stephen had an unintended effect that made his conscience aware of false consequences for liking girls, such as blindness, castration, and punishment by the church, depending on how a child interprets such symbolism. These two women who served as Stephen's first exposure had already gained a range of control over Stephen's conscience. They had successfully caused Stephen to become aware of the barrier to women that was concocted of religion and social diversity, thus making him apprehensive towards the other sex and having feelings of guilt toward them (14). These women will influence the social tendencies that
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