Shuttered cottage

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This is one more instance, then, of Stephen composing little dramatic vignettes out of memory and imagination, just as he does in Telemachus when a remark by Mulligan conjures up a scene of hazing at Oxford, or in Nestor when portraits of horses bring back a scene at a racetrack. There will be many others in Proteus.

In this case, he imagines his relatives peering out from behind shuttered windows, looking to see if a bill collector ("dun") is at the door. Doing his legal work at home in bed, the half-naked Richie orders his son Walter about like a military subordinate, orders Stephen to sit down in a room that has no chair in it, gives orders for his wife (who is busy bathing a baby) to bring whiskey for the visitor, offers him food that the house does not contain. This is not gracious or elegant entertainment.