Mourning

Forms

[in] mourning, mourns, mourners, mournful, Mourne, mournfully, morning

Related Terms

grief, grieving, black, sorrow, clad, day, early, wake

Explication

The word “mourning” gains prominence beginning in episode six with the narration of Patty Dignam’s funeral, and the word is predominantly used to describe individuals who are “in mourning,” wearing the black attire typically associated with funerals in the Western tradition. After Dignam’s funeral, for example, his son walks along the street and wonders, “do they [the schoolboys] notice I’m in mourning” (U. 10. 1159). In this context, the word connotes an external representation of grief that may or may not match up with internal feelings. Bloom, for example, dresses in black to give the appearance of mourning Dignam’s death, but his wandering thoughts during the funeral indicate that he may not actually be grieving.

Joyce also employs the word as a noun: “the mourners knelt here and there in prayingdesks” (U. 6. 322) at Patty Dignam’s funeral, and “the mourners split and moved to each side of the hole, stepping with care round the graves” (U. 6. 800) at his burial. In these instances, we can infer that the “mourners” are also “in mourning,” wearing black as a physical embodiment of their inner grief. The noun derivative does not allow for individuals to exist outside of their grieving state.

In looking at the homophone “morning” and its connection to “mourning,” it is notable that Bloom dons his black clothing at the beginning of the day, in the “morning”, to attend Dignam’s funeral. Given that Ulysses takes place over the course of only one day, it is implied that Bloom is “in mourning” for the duration of the novel; although worn situationally for Dignam, Bloom’s black attire can be seen as a persistent reminder of his unmitigated grief regarding the death of his son, Rudy.

“Morning” appears 121 times in Ulysses, primarily as a temporal marking to either define the present moment (Stephen says, “Good morning, sir” [U. 2. 426], for example), refer back to it once it has past (in later episodes, it is common to see the phrase “this morning”), or to refer to the coming morning. As Molly says in Penelope, “Ill get up early in the morning” (U. 18. 1498), highlighting the fact that, in contrast to the state of being “in mourning,” which has the potential to be perpetual and without break, “morning” itself is part of a cycle, beginning again each day.

Molly gives us further perspective on Bloom’s mourning when she describes her own “mourning” for Rudy as past tense and unnecessary (“11 years ago … what was the good of going into mourning” [U. 18. 1306]) and then implies that Bloom is overly devoted to the process of grieving (“hed go into mourning for the cat” [U. 18. 1306]). In a subsequent passage that highlights a perhaps fundamental difference between Molly and Bloom, Molly fantasizes about “a nice semitransparent morning gown” (U. 18. 1496) that stands in stark opposition to the black “mourning” apparel Bloom had put on that very morning. Molly’s acknowledgement of both “in mourning” and “morning” itself as non-permanent states from which individuals can come and go hints that perhaps Bloom’s perpetual state of mourning is unnatural, contrary to the Natural Order that facilitates a constant transition between various states of being.

Definitions and Examples

Mourning

1. , Anxiety, sorrow, etc. The action of feeling or expressing sorrow, grief, or regret; sorrowing, lamentation; an instance of this.

 

1. in mourning: sorrowing or grieving for the death of a person, esp. in the period of the conventional or ceremonial manifestation of sorrow. Also Wearing clothes or covered with the draperies customarily indicative of bereavement. Cf. sense.
   6. “Mr Bloom at gaze saw a lithe young man, clad in mourning” (6. 40)

 

• mourning coach  (a) a coach of black colour used by a person during the whole period of his or her mourning (now hist.);  (b) a closed carriage, usually black, used to convey mourners on the occasion of a funeral;  †(c) a coach for conveying a corpse; a hearse (obs.).
  6. “A mourning coach. Unmarried. Black for the married” (6. 322)

 

1. n., a person who mourns, laments, or grieves; one who mourns the death of a friend or relation; a person who attends a funeral out of respect or affection for the deceased. Also fig.
   6. “The mourners knelt here and there in prayingdesks” (6. 584).

Morning

1. , Originally: the time of the approach or beginning of ‘morn’; the period around sunrise. In later use usually: the early part of the day, esp. from sunrise until noon or lunchtime.
   1. “A yellow dressinggown, ungirdled, was sustained gently behind him on the mild morning air” (1. 2-3)

 

1. this morning: the morning of today
   8. “Funeral was this morning” (8. 220)

 

• , designating clothing intended to be worn in the morning or daytime
  18. “a nice semitransparent morning gown” (18. 1496)

 

Related Topics

Funerals

Clothing

Day vs. Night