We reached "...about him though" (Gabler
18.1367, Penguin p. 923)
We read
Molly's 7th (and second but last) 'sentence' today, which begins with her
wondering about her monthly periods (set on early again) and whether she should see her doctor. This triggers
thoughts about her last visit, when he had overwhelmed her with technical terms
about female ailments and her body: she was confused by his use of the term "vagina", by what she remembers as "omissions" (when he
probably meant "emissions"), but also by his euphemisms or avoidance
of direct reference: "could you pass it easily
pass what I thought he was talking about the rock of Gibraltar the way he put it" (18.1163). This was a time when, by contrast, Bloom was
writing her romantic letters (himself borrowing lines from Keats to talk about
the beauty of her body: "it is a thing of beauty and
of joy" (18.1178)), which takes her back to memories and thoughts about
Bloom's wooing her, his talks, his interests, his promises, the various jobs he held
(and lost), their numerous moves later. It is here that we also read
of Bloom's (supposedly) once having asked about being served breakfast in bed -
which seems unlikely, however, and it remains unclear throughout the book
whether he ever did say anything along those lines.
Molly is also using a (rather uncomfortable) chamber pot at the moment, she thinks about the odd position of Bloom's sleeping habits with her (they usually lie
head to foot), and his foetal position reminds her of Aristotle's Masterpieces (which she remembers as
"Aristrocrat's Masterpieces" (18.1238)) and the pictures of
deformities it shows and that she clearly disliked. The subject of the bed is then brought into more focus and is developed against a Homeric backdrop: Bloom thinks their bed a
special one, and one they got at a cheap price, too ("he
thinks father bought it from Lord Napier that I used to admire when I was a little girl because I
told him" (18.1213), but he is wrong. In Homer, the bed is an important
motive since it becomes the issue around which Odysseus identity is finally proven
(only he knows that the bed is built into a tree and cannot be moved). That is,
Odysseus knows the secret of the bed; but in Joyce's Ulysses, Bloom does not
know the secret of the bed, which provides what Fritz Senn's called a Homeric
reference "in reverse".
Eventually, Molly hears the church bells strike 2 a.m. Her
thoughts travel quickly from here and to various subjects (Bloom's making eyes
at women, Dignam's funeral as reported in the papers, his wife and children,
Fanny M'Coys pretensions as a singer, on the spendthrift men that make fun of
Bloom, on Bloom's frugality, on Simon Daedalus's small flirtations with her, on
his son Stephen etc.). Memories of seeing Stephen in the past (e.g. on the way to Rudy's
funeral eleven years ago) bring on fantasies about Stephen in the present and about
him as a potential lover for Molly. She thinks back to reading the cards in the morning
and what they might have promised for the future (they had indeed brought
"promise of a young stranger" and a "rise in society"),
encouraging her thoughts about engaging with the young poet, who, presumably,
would need a female subject to write about and for which she thinks she would
make a perfect model: "Ill
make him feel all over
him till he half faints under me then hell
write about me lover and mistress publicly too
with our photographs
in all the papers when he becomes famous" (18.1363).
The
fantasies stop short at thoughts reality, however, with "0
but then what am I going to do about him
though" i.e. Boylan.
General info: We may be able to finish the book next week (15 April) and, possibly, watch the film the following week, for those who are interested. Details will be announced.
