Bloom's insecurities are only heightened by his foreknowledge of Molly's infidelity. The 'Hades' chapter of Ulysses recounts the burial of Paddy Dignam in Glasnevin Cemetery and it is at this point that Joyce begins to develop his theme of Bloom as a Jewish outsider in an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic society. He relishes eating a slightly burned kidney and has a penchant for voyeurism. We also learn that Bloom is preoccupied with food and sex. In 'Calypso' and 'Lotus-Eaters,' the reader learns that Bloom is a servile husband who prepares breakfast and runs errands on behalf of his wife Molly, who remains half-asleep. The opening chapters of Part II ('Calypso' and 'Lotus-Eaters') begin the day anew, charting the early morning rituals of Leopold Bloom, who must later attend the funeral of his friend, Paddy Dignam. The opening three chapters, 'Telemachus,' 'Nestor' and 'Proteus,' track the early morning hours of Stephen Dedalus who eats breakfast, teaches at a school in Dalkey and wanders Sandymount Strand. Instead, his friends patronize him and take advantage of him.

Stephen lives in Martello Tower with Buck Mulligan and a British student, Haines, and Stephen's introverted personality prevents him from asserting himself. Stephen has literary ambitions but his desire to write Ireland's first true epic is tempered by his fear that the island is too stultifying for him to be a success. The initial depictions of Stephen indicate that he is guilty because he has separated from the Catholic Church and refused to pray at the side of his mother's deathbed despite her pleading. Dedalus is an academic and a schoolteacher and he has left Ireland for Paris but he was forced to return upon hearing news that his mother was gravely ill. Stephen Dedalus is the central character of the novel's first three chapters, which constitute Part I of Ulysses. Ten years ago, Molly gave birth to a son, Rudy, but he died when he was eleven days old and Bloom often thinks of the parallel between his dead son Rudy and his dead father Rudolph, who killed himself several years before. The Blooms have a daughter named Milly (age 15) who is away, studying photography.

While Joyce develops the character of the young student, most of the novel is focused on Bloom.īloom's wife Molly is a singer and she is having an affair with her co-worker, Blazes Boylan, and early in the morning of June 16, Bloom learns that Molly intends to bring Boylan into their bed later that afternoon. While Bloom is Joyce's 'Ulysses' character, the younger hero of the novel is Stephen Dedalus, the autobiographical character from Joyce's first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Joyce's novel is set in Dublin on the day of Jand the protagonist, Leopold Bloom, is a middle-aged Jew whose job as an advertisement canvasser forces him to travel throughout the city on a daily basis.

Ulysses by james joyce