30 pages • 1 hour read
James JoyceA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
While HCE sleeps, his identity becomes a blur. Even his name is reduced to a set of initials as Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker becomes HCE. Throughout the novel, the narrative returns to these initials. Even in the opening line, the phrase “a commodius virus of recirculation back to Howth Castle and Environs” (3) leads the reader back to HCE as well as a geographic location. One of the plays on the HCE initials is Here Comes Everybody, which also refers to the complexity of HCE’s identity. Rather than a person, a character, or a string of three letters, HCE is presented as a layered series of identities that combine to form a blurred, complicated individual who functions as the novel’s protagonist. The search for the truth behind HCE’s identity propels the novel forward, exploring ancient myths, local rumors, criminal court cases, and the interactions with his family. As he dreams, Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker struggles to understand himself. Rather than an individual, he realizes that he is an amalgamation of many different identities that existed long before he was born and will exist long after he dies. HCE is part of a cycle of identities that repeats forever.
By James Joyce
An Encounter
An Encounter
James Joyce
A Painful Case
A Painful Case
James Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce
Araby
Araby
James Joyce
Clay
Clay
James Joyce
Counterparts
Counterparts
James Joyce
Dubliners
Dubliners
James Joyce
Eveline
Eveline
James Joyce
Ivy Day in the Committee Room
Ivy Day in the Committee Room
James Joyce
The Boarding House
The Boarding House
James Joyce
The Dead
The Dead
James Joyce
The Sisters
The Sisters
James Joyce
Two Gallants
Two Gallants
James Joyce
Ulysses
Ulysses
James Joyce