12.The Cyclops

In this episode of the Odyssey Odysseus describes his adventures with the one-eyed Cyclopes. Poyphemus traps Odysseus and his crew and sets out to devour them at a rate of two a day. On the second day he plies him with wine. In the course of the drinking bout Odysseus announces that his name is “noman”, and when the drunken Cyclops is asleep Odysseus blinds him. Once free Odysseus makes the mistake of revealing his identity. The time is 5pm; the scene is the Tavern, Barney Kiernan’s pub.
In a text so obsessed with perspective this of all the episodes preceding it is the most persepectival. In this episode of an experimental narrative that Joyce has weaved we are not in Stephen or Bloom’s head, though we are still in an unidentified narrators’ head it is a very different experience. As readers we have become acquainted with the characters through Joyce’s unique technique and manipulation of perspective. This episode is not necessarily a break sine the style is still Joyce’s, but schematically it differs. We don’t know this narrator, his agenda, how he fits into the story or where he comes from. He is essentially a more personal third person narrative. Like the man in the mackintosh he is an unknown quantity in a world that has been carefully crafted. This is a chance to see Bloom mores closely than before. Now that we know Bloom and his situation with Molly, Blazes, his son, his religion, and other details of his life and personality this episode is a chance to yet again break down the fourth wall and get the whole picture. On the way to the funeral Bloom is in a carriage with Simon Dedalus and we see how awkward he can be. He is an outcast- a Jew, when they pass a money lender Dedalus remarks ‘we’ve al been there’ and then realizes Bloom probably hasn’t, Bloom proceeds to make an inappropriate joke, and here in the bar when confronted with an uncomfortable social situation he tries to avoid it and talk his way out of it, or in another direction. The reader’s heart goes out to bloom when he is discussing the widow Dignam’s advisors and says “for the wife’s admirers.” (313) This wife theme is picked up again on 324 where the citizen remarks, “-A dishonoured wife, says the citizen, that’s what’s the cause of all our misfortunes.” (324) When they are discussing the funny situation of the hanged-man, a humorous conversation among drinking men, Bloom interjects with a scientific explanation:
“-that can be explained by science, says Bloom. It’s only a natural phenomenon, don’t you see, because on account of the…” (304) Then this commented on in a general way, how the group reacts to Bloom: “And then he starts with his jawbreakers about phenomenon and science in this phenomenon and the other phenomenon.” (304) And later when Blazes is brought up in front of Bloom he yet again tries to change the subject: “-What I meant about tennis, for example, is the agility and training of the eye.” (318) Here many themes converge. Sight in manifold ways and uses of the eye, his situation with Molly, and athleticism and sports, which like the race is culturally important. Race e also brings Bloom’s jewishness back into the picture, which is commented on more viciously in the tavern. “-He’s a bloody dark horse himself, says Joe.” (335) The ‘Gold cup’ at the race further ties this with Molly, or women in general. The cup is the ultimate symbol of the female- the chalice, which was referenced in the Sirens episode as well. Drinking, as much a sport as racing, or wrestling, involves drinking out of what else, but a cup, or chalice.
The tone in this episode is interesting it is a mix of newsroom banter, bar chatter, and what Blamires describes as “the legal, the epic, the scientific, the journalistic, and so on.” (118) The tone switches along with the focus on p 314 “…entrust to me consoled by the reflection that, though the errand be one of sorrow, this proof of your confidence sweetens in some measure the bitterness in the cup.” (314) Content wise there is a thematic link between the views, perspectives, and one-sidedness of some of the characters in this scene that correspond to the Cyclops. The citizen is the closest approximation of the Cyclops who only sees one side of a story.
Amid the very splintered foci and voices in this scene clusters of themes peter out. The use of sound recurs and in this scene they build around an animalistic motif. Like the chicken noises on 315.