Though Stephen originally drinks in all of his father's advice as certain facts, as he matures, he begins to see his father as a hypocrite with only empty words in a hollow-sounding voice. After Mr. Dedalus loses his job, Stephen becomes all too aware of his father's many other failures. How could his father constantly urge him to be a gentleman and good Catholic above all things when he cannot even earn a living anymore? .
Just as Stephen does not question his family relationships at first, he views religion initially not as a spiritual guide, but more as a set of rules that are just to be followed and not questioned. Typically for the time in Ireland, religion is stressed by both his family and community, or school. For instance, when Stephen is at Clongowes he is told that if he does not say his prayers and is not in bed by the time the gas is lowered, he will go to hell (16). However, as Stephen grows older, he begins to wonder, and even becomes a little skeptical of, what others, such as his Uncle Charles, pray so seriously for (64). .
Ultimately, the only time Stephen finds solace is when he is lost inside his imagination. He no longer cares for the empty words of his father, peers, and community - they are but interruptions to his fantastical daydreams, or "pursuit of phantoms- that have begun to occur quite often (88). At the close of his first term in the college, Stephen not only resents the outside influences of family, friends, and community, but feels that they are holding him back from something greater: .
His sensitive nature was still smarting under the lashes of an undivined and squalid way of life. His soul was still disquieted and cast down by the dull phenomenon of Dublin. He had emerged from a two years' spell of revery to find himself in the midst of a new scene, every event and figure of which affected him intimately, disheartened him or allured, and whether alluring or disheartening, filled him always with unrest and bitter thoughts.
