Chapter 2 Summary

It is summer vacation for Stephen, and he has joined his family where they are living on Carysfort Avenue in Blackrock, where they have moved. Stephen spends weekdays with his uncle Charles, carrying messages between his home and the shops of the town. After these errands, uncle Charles and Stephen go to the park where they meet Mike Flynn, who supervises Stephen's runs around the track. On the way home from the park, Uncle Charles often visits a chapel and reads from a well-worn prayer book. The reader learns that uncle Charles has squandered a fortune in Cork.

On Sundays, Stephen, his father, and uncle Charles take long walks together: the older men talking mostly of politics and family legends, while Stephen listens attentively, learning new words, figuring their meanings, and secretly making himself ready to enter into the part he would play...