Still Life

Ulysses Temper is a central protagonist in this novel. His name evokes the symbolism of Odysseus, the hero of Ancient Greek literature. In Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey, Odysseus is on a Hero’s Journey in which he leaves home, undergoes several missions to grow into a hero, and returns home transformed. In the novel, Ulysses, (the Latinized version of the name Odysseus) also undergoes a Hero’s Journey. He leaves London during the war, returns home changed, and undergoes another journey to create his new home in Italy. Ulysses is a compassionate, kind man who endures his loneliness and postwar trauma privately. He craves love but doesn’t pursue it. Instead, he lives for his chosen family.

Ulysses’s empathy and compassion are emphasized when he adopts Alys. Alys is not his biological daughter, but he is such a paternal and kind figure in her life that Peggy asks him to take on Alys full-time. Ulysses and Alys become father-daughter in all ways but biology, and his unconditional love for Alys transcends conservative and stereotypical norms of family life. Ulysses readily accepts other people for everything that they are. He has no problem with diverse forms of sexuality and love, is constantly patient with Peggy’s ups and downs, and embraces the new members of his pensione family.