Stopped at "... committed his remains to the grave."
16.1528 (Gabler), p. 762 (Penguin).
Bloom's internal monologues - and Stephen's silence - continue in the cabman's shelter. Most of the episodes we read today are related to Parnell and his downfall.
16.1528 (Gabler), p. 762 (Penguin).
Bloom's internal monologues - and Stephen's silence - continue in the cabman's shelter. Most of the episodes we read today are related to Parnell and his downfall.
(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stewart_Parnell)
These are triggered by the cabman: "One morning you would open the paper, the cabman affirmed, and read: Return of Parnell", who says that he (Parnell) had simply absconded somewhere. The coffin they brought over was full of stones. ... And so forth and so on. These statements set Bloom to think about the inadvisability of Parnell's return. He wonders: Something evidently riled them in his death, reminding the reader of Parnell's saying, "Don't throw me to the wolves", about which Joyce had commented: "They did not, because they tore him apart themselves." Bloom goes through - in fact not just once but twice on these pages - about Parnell's personality (a born leader of men which undoubtedly he was and a commanding figure, a six footer or at any rate five feet ten or eleven in his stockinged feet....), how he was betrayed by his own followers, and how he - Bloom - was the person who had handed Parnell his silk hat when it was knocked off his head, and how he - Parnell - had said, "Thank you"! Bloom is as usual mixed up in his thoughts. The first time he thinks of the case of the silk hat, he remembers Parnell telling him, "Thank you!" and the next time he remembers the incidence, it becomes "Thank you, sir!" Thus Bloom does not even remember what exactly the great Parnell said to him! Thinking of the case of Parnell naturally leads to thoughts of Katherine O'Shea, the affair with whom was the cause of Parnell's downfall. He mentions to Stephen, who has been silent all through, that she was Spanish too. Stephen goes off on a tangent, mentioning The king of Spain's daughter, Spanish onions etc. Bloom, naive as he is, takes the fact of Katherine O'Shea being the daughter of the king of Spain seriously. This clue of Spain leads his thoughts to his wife, whose picture showing her opulent curves he produces from his pocket and shows it to Stephen.
Loose parallels are drawn between Katherine O'Shea's cottonball of a husband and Bloom as well as between Katherine O'Shea and Molly and between Parnell and Boylan (who is just hinted at and remains unmentioned). Thoughts of Molly remind Bloom of that very morning, when he had brought her tea to her bedside and she had asked him about the meaning of met him pike horses.
Thus in these pages, we get to have a good peep into Bloom's mind though we have absolutely no idea of what is going in the mind of his companion, Stephen.
