religion

Here Stephen is comparing the umbilical cord to telephone lines. He imitates a phone call to Adam and Eve in the biblical Eden, demonstrating both the interconnected nature of human existence (paralleling how all humans are derived from Adam and Eve with the contemporary connections made through the telephone) and the extent of Stephen's creative imagination.

That is, Buck Mulligan is not very monk-like. In "The Dead," the Protestant Mr Browne is bewildered by the expressions of piety engaged in by the monks at the Mount Melleray monastery.

A reference to the Pater Noster, the original line reading 'lead us not into temptation'. Here it has potentially licentious connotations referring to how the aunt (apparently) seeks to keep Buck away from attractive women, and therefore continues his mocking of religious ritual.