HCE’s fall results in his breaking into two halves, two “sons,” each with some of the qualities of the Father. Shem and Shaun are the introvert and the extrovert; the poet and the politician; the blasphemer and the priest; the oppressed and the oppressor; the shunned and the celebrated. And so on. They are the “contrary” forces that William Blake writes about.

They battle each other in conflicts that represent the wars of history and all interpersonal conflicts ever (which correspond to the brawl at Finnegan’s Wake in the song). But at the end of the day, they’re just two little boys scuffling.

Two early and significant explorations of the brothers occur in I.6 and I.4, the former a diatribe from Shaun about his brother, and the latter a description of a fight between early versions of the brothers before they fully divide from the father.

This post will examine the passage in I.6, and a future post will look more closely at the passage in I.4.