“-I told them all at dinner about it and Father Dolan and I and all of us we had a hearty laugh together over it. Ha! Ha! Ha!” (Joyce 76).
Joyce, J., & Deane, S. (2003). A portrait of the artist as a young man. Penguin Books, pp 76
I find it interesting to see the provincials’ words being spoken by Mr. Dedalus as it seems to separate Stephen from the authority figures in his life. Seeing this moment through Stephens’s point of view emphasizes his isolation as he witnesses the adults around him making light of a painful memory.