While sitting in class, Stephen thinks of his custom of walking around and around in smaller circles through the city until he is brought to the brothel quarter. Even while he purposely seeks to satisfy his lust, he is still wounded and shamed by much of what he perceives there. He works equations and, like the stars and stardust he relates them to, his soul has become cold and indifferent. Stephen tells himself that false homage to God cannot atone for sin as grievous as his. He knows he is a hypocrite who plays the role of a believer though he does not believe. His deception does not trouble him. What keeps him from confessing his unworthiness and walking out of the chapel is the Virgin Mary; the wish to "be her knight".....
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