6.Hades

The annotation supplies us with some peripheral information: The time is 11 am, and we are in Prospect Cemetery, Glasnevin. In this episode Odysseus recounts his adventures to the land of the Cicones, The Lotus-Eaters, and the Cyclops. Circe advises him to go down to Hades and consult the blind prophet Tiresias. Later Odysseus is told by Tiresias that Poseidon is preventing him from reaching home. At the close of this episode Odysseus returns to Circe’s island.
This section- Hades- was for me the most Odyssey like so far. It could be a coincidence, but the connections that (I believe) are there seem all too appropriate. For instance they cross a body of water- to get to Hades one must cross the river Styx. also there is a reference to ‘lowered blinds of the avenue,’ which is annotated as a custom of lowering shop blinds during a funeral procession, but this reminds me of shades, another word for blinds, and shades is another word for shadows- of the underworld perhaps. These buildings with blinds drawn bring to mind the image of watching- witnessing and memory. Blamire’s points out that there is an emphasis on nails and hands and that this suggests Bloom’s private crucifixion, since the reference is sparked by Blazes Boylan, This image is also mentioned in the first page of this section when Bloom is musing that after death hair and nails still grow, and perhaps they should be cut and saved. Later when Bloom is trying to recall the words from Don Giovanni ‘vorrei e non vorrei’ he remembers them incorrectly. This starts a trend throughout the chapter, later he reverses the priest’s prayer and remembers it as ‘Dominenomine’ when it is really ‘il nominee Domine.’ A great deal of the words in this have a very lyrical sing-songy quality to them – and it also has a great deal of references to Operas that Bloom is recalling. This musicality is not unlike church bells.
Here Bloom is slowly being exposed, but ironically he is not the one revealing the details. We find out how Bloom lost his father, and the connections to Stephen multiply page by page. Firstly Simon Dedalus is with him, secondly they both fatherless in one way or another, and thirdly, and this may be a dissimilarity but non the less links them because they are directly opposite, Bloom s religious and Stephen seems to be spiritual in a different way. Where Stephen avoids a bath and water (baptism) like the plague Bloom enjoys his bath with his soap and carries it as a sort of talisman to ward off evil.