16. Eumaeus

In the course of book 13 Odysseus returns to Ithaca. He is in serious danger of suffering Agamemnon’s fate (being murdered on arrival). Odysseus tests Telemachus’s filial commitment and then reveals himself. Reunited father and son plan an approach of the besieged house.
The time is 1AM; the scene is the cabman’s shelter under Loop Line Bridge. This is the first time that we really see Stephen and Bloom together. They may have bumped into each other on the stairs at the press office, and at the end o Circe they actually talk and Bloom offers to safeguard his money. But it is here in Eumaeus that they go off together. This episode is nice because there are no real person to person match ups other than Stephen and Bloom, and perhaps The cab man’s shelter is meant to be Eumaeus’s hut, and Skin The Goat is meant to be Eumaeus, but there are no far fetched stretched like we have seen in other chapters. Blamires describes the chapter as having a “flabby, weary, rambling style, aptly suggestive of the vague, the sleepy, inert mood of the early hours.
In the first few pages of this chapter Joyce sets up a role reversal- Bloom is Sober and has presence of mind, whereas Stephen’s mind is wandering. However Stephen is still more focused on the high- brow and the mind when they discuss music (and Ibsen), and Bloom on the corporeal (body) and middlebrow (he is also distracted by the smell from Rourke’s Bakery).
When The Italians are haggling over money, and Bloom remarks on the beautiful Italian language Stephen point out that they were in fact haggling over money and that “Sounds are impostures, names meaningless” This only adds to the overall theme of language, in an earlier chapter Stephen remarks at the uselessness of language, but the name is a particular- tied to identity, fitting at the near close of a quest. The fact that this is the second to last chapter in Ulysses carries a certain weight- it is inevitable that certain things will have to happen, for instance Bloom and Stephen will have to spend more time together. And over the course of the chapter Bloom becomes more and more fatherly to Stephen, giving him advice and at the close of this episode paying for his drink with what is said to be “The last of the Mohicans.” This comment is in parenthesis, which in and of itself is a very interesting topic in this particular chapter
It seems as though throughout the episode Molly’s presence is echoed and emphasized either through themes r references: Stephen sings, Bloom shows Stephen her picture, Boylan is mentioned, Molly is mentioned specifically, Bloom ponders the voglio again, etc… She seems to waft throughout as they get closer to her house. And in terms of naming she is Molly or Marion Tweedy NOT Mrs. Bloom or Molly Bloom.

General Themes
• The wander (sailor)
• The homecoming
• The father
• Father’s and sons: Odysseus + Telemachus, Bloom + Stephen, and Murphy + Danny
• Wives/Mother waiting at home: Penelope, Molly, the sailor’s wife
• Stephen and Bloom share a common thought when the Phoenix Park murders are mentioned- thy both think that it is rash in the present company.
• Bloom is feminized once again when he admits to washing Molly’s undergarments, which like serving breakfast is seen as a more female role.
• Stephen says that the trading of bodies is less evil in his eyes than trading in souls- as the church does.
• The idea of a talisman- a way to ward of evil returns with the sailor, who says that he has a special security due to s pious metal he wears, much like Bloom’s potato
• Skin –The-Goat brings back the theme of the usurper, when he discusses the English treatment of the Irish. This renews the comparison of Bolyan to the English
• Stephen brings back the correlation between Christ and Bloom. Bloom the 20th century messiah. Sums up the religion of the tolerant, liberal, pacific, 20th century man. Violance achieves nothing- if this is his philosophy it might account for the reason he hasn’t done anything about Molly and Boylan
• Blamires thinks that when Bloom states that ‘Both belong to Ireland the brain and the brawn’ that indeed it is a trinity: Brain, brawn, and BREAD. There are a number of references to bread in many different contexts.
• Eyes come up a lot in this chapter,
• Bloom thinks of clothing and advertising and then focuses on young men without advantageous family backgrounds, which perhaps stirs pf ro him the image of Rudy in Eton kit.
• Crude humour at the expense of Kitty O’Shea and her ineffective husband echo Bloom and his ineffectualness.
• This is the first time that the trinity in question involves Bloom (the father), Stephen (The son), and Molly (A mother figure)
• Stephen’s resemblance to his mother, and perhaps his father’s vocal talents, this is a less flattering view of Bloom who is thinking of how he can capitalize on Stephen’s various talents.