Today we completed episode 8, and started on episode 9. Therefore this post will be in two parts: PART A deals with the last pages of episode 8. PART B will introduce the beginning pages of episode 9.
Mr. Bloom has had lunch at Davy Byrne's and is walking down Duke Street. (Click here for the route of Bloom's wanderings.) He sees an young, blind man. Bloom, the ever sympathetic man, wants to help him, and asks him, "Do you want to cross?.... You're in Dawson street,...Molesworth street is opposite."
He touched the young man's elbow gently, then took the limp seeing hand to guide it forward. (The cane that the blind person carries in his hand makes his hand a seeing hand.) Wanting to start a conversation but not wanting to seem to be condescending, Bloom makes a remark about the weather, but gets no response. Bloom feels sorry for the young man, and wonders how on earth he knows where anything is. Queer idea of Dublin he must have, tapping his way round by the stones. Bloom admires that the blind people learn to do so many things like read with their fingers, tune pianos. He wonders about their sense of touch, smell,... asking himself how the blind know that black hair is black, white skin is white. To test his own senses, Bloom touches his hair, skin of his right cheek, and his belly. Naturally he knows that sliding his hand between his waistcoat and trousers to feel his belly must seem strange to the passersby, and hopes that they think, "might be settling my braces."
Though the young man has by now moved on to Frederick street, Bloom continues to think of him. Terrible. Really terrible. What dreams would he have, not seeing... Where is the justice being born that way. That thought reminds Bloom the news of the tragedy he had read that day. (The Freeman's Journal, 16 June 1904, carried the story on page 5: "Appalling American Disaster... Five hundred persons, mostly children, perished today by the burning of the steamer General Slocum, near Hell Gate, on the East River.... Gifford, 8.1146-47). Where is justice in such things? Karma? The thought of Karma brings back to his mind Molly asking him that morning the meaning of the word metempsychosis, a word she pronounced as met him pike hoses.
Molly and Boylan occupy Bloom's thoughts. He does try to banish these thoughts, often without much success.
Seeing Sir Frederick Falconer going into the freemason's hall (on Molesworth street), Bloom tries to imagine what judges speak of when they meet. Then he sees a poster announcing the opening of a bazaar, Mirus bazaar, to raise funds for Mercer's hospital. He remembers that Handel's The Messiah was first performed in Dublin as a benefit concert, also to raise funds for the same hospital.
Oh yes, before Bloom had taken the elbow of the young stripling to help him cross the road, he had passed Drago's ( a Parisian perfumer and hairdresser) on Dawson street, and recalls seeing his (Boylan's; though haunted whole day by memories of Boylan, Bloom does not name him on these pages) brilliantined hair that morning. He sees Boylan once again, as he (Bloom) reaches Kildare street. He actually wants go to the National Library, which is to his left, to check up he design for the advertisement. But as he catches the sight of the straw hat, tan shoes, and turnedup trousers, Bloom gets very flustered, very agitated. He turns therefore to the right, and go to the National Museum instead. Bloom does not want to be seen by Boylan. Feigning as if he is preoccupied, Bloom fumbles in his pocket, and takes out the brochure of Agendath Netaim (see episode 4), handkerchief, a copy of the Freeman, a potato, his purse, and then finally the soap he had bought earlier. Even in such a state, (breath coming in short sighs, heart racing,) he notices and appreciates the cream curves of the stone of the National Museum, whose architect, he thinks to be Sir Thomas Deane. By the time his hand find the soap in his pocket, Bloom reaches the gates of the museum.
He is Safe!
Thus we come to the end of the episode in which there are multiple references to food. In between feelings of hunger, passing many eating places, having lunch, Bloom is assailed by thoughts of Molly and Boylan. The episode also underscores various facets of Bloom - as a caring, empathetic person, as a person who always seeks for explanations to his questions, as a person who is an outsider in Dublin's society.
Mr. Bloom has had lunch at Davy Byrne's and is walking down Duke Street. (Click here for the route of Bloom's wanderings.) He sees an young, blind man. Bloom, the ever sympathetic man, wants to help him, and asks him, "Do you want to cross?.... You're in Dawson street,...Molesworth street is opposite."
He touched the young man's elbow gently, then took the limp seeing hand to guide it forward. (The cane that the blind person carries in his hand makes his hand a seeing hand.) Wanting to start a conversation but not wanting to seem to be condescending, Bloom makes a remark about the weather, but gets no response. Bloom feels sorry for the young man, and wonders how on earth he knows where anything is. Queer idea of Dublin he must have, tapping his way round by the stones. Bloom admires that the blind people learn to do so many things like read with their fingers, tune pianos. He wonders about their sense of touch, smell,... asking himself how the blind know that black hair is black, white skin is white. To test his own senses, Bloom touches his hair, skin of his right cheek, and his belly. Naturally he knows that sliding his hand between his waistcoat and trousers to feel his belly must seem strange to the passersby, and hopes that they think, "might be settling my braces."
Though the young man has by now moved on to Frederick street, Bloom continues to think of him. Terrible. Really terrible. What dreams would he have, not seeing... Where is the justice being born that way. That thought reminds Bloom the news of the tragedy he had read that day. (The Freeman's Journal, 16 June 1904, carried the story on page 5: "Appalling American Disaster... Five hundred persons, mostly children, perished today by the burning of the steamer General Slocum, near Hell Gate, on the East River.... Gifford, 8.1146-47). Where is justice in such things? Karma? The thought of Karma brings back to his mind Molly asking him that morning the meaning of the word metempsychosis, a word she pronounced as met him pike hoses.
Molly and Boylan occupy Bloom's thoughts. He does try to banish these thoughts, often without much success.
Seeing Sir Frederick Falconer going into the freemason's hall (on Molesworth street), Bloom tries to imagine what judges speak of when they meet. Then he sees a poster announcing the opening of a bazaar, Mirus bazaar, to raise funds for Mercer's hospital. He remembers that Handel's The Messiah was first performed in Dublin as a benefit concert, also to raise funds for the same hospital.
Oh yes, before Bloom had taken the elbow of the young stripling to help him cross the road, he had passed Drago's ( a Parisian perfumer and hairdresser) on Dawson street, and recalls seeing his (Boylan's; though haunted whole day by memories of Boylan, Bloom does not name him on these pages) brilliantined hair that morning. He sees Boylan once again, as he (Bloom) reaches Kildare street. He actually wants go to the National Library, which is to his left, to check up he design for the advertisement. But as he catches the sight of the straw hat, tan shoes, and turnedup trousers, Bloom gets very flustered, very agitated. He turns therefore to the right, and go to the National Museum instead. Bloom does not want to be seen by Boylan. Feigning as if he is preoccupied, Bloom fumbles in his pocket, and takes out the brochure of Agendath Netaim (see episode 4), handkerchief, a copy of the Freeman, a potato, his purse, and then finally the soap he had bought earlier. Even in such a state, (breath coming in short sighs, heart racing,) he notices and appreciates the cream curves of the stone of the National Museum, whose architect, he thinks to be Sir Thomas Deane. By the time his hand find the soap in his pocket, Bloom reaches the gates of the museum.
He is Safe!
Thus we come to the end of the episode in which there are multiple references to food. In between feelings of hunger, passing many eating places, having lunch, Bloom is assailed by thoughts of Molly and Boylan. The episode also underscores various facets of Bloom - as a caring, empathetic person, as a person who always seeks for explanations to his questions, as a person who is an outsider in Dublin's society.
