We read as far as "... sailing about." (Penguin 719.21), (Gabler 16.421)
Bloom is on his way home. It is 1 am. Bloom is taking Stephen along as he had apparently witnessed what had occurred at the Westland Row station, when Mulligan and that English tourist friend of his (Heines) had euchred their third companion (Stephen), leaving him with no place to go to at that late hour. Walking to Sandycove was out of the question at that time. On the way to the cabman's shelter, where they might hit upon some drinkables in the shape of a milk and soda or a mineral to satisfy Stephen's thirst, Corley, aka Lord John Corley, appears singing a litany of poverty.
Bloom is on his way home. It is 1 am. Bloom is taking Stephen along as he had apparently witnessed what had occurred at the Westland Row station, when Mulligan and that English tourist friend of his (Heines) had euchred their third companion (Stephen), leaving him with no place to go to at that late hour. Walking to Sandycove was out of the question at that time. On the way to the cabman's shelter, where they might hit upon some drinkables in the shape of a milk and soda or a mineral to satisfy Stephen's thirst, Corley, aka Lord John Corley, appears singing a litany of poverty.
On getting a halfcrown coin by Stephen, Corley thanks him, saying. "You're a gentleman". This is in contrast to what Mulligan had told Stephen that - rather the previous - morning: "He (Heines) thinks you're not a gentleman" (Penguin, p.2). Corley moves off but not before asking Stephen to put in a word about a possible job (even as a sandwichman) to his 'friend', whom he had seen a few times in the Bleeding Horse with Boylan. Whether Bloom would frequent such a pub, that Gifford mentions as being somewhat outside of Bloom's geographical patterns and rather low on the social scale, (Gifford 16.198) is anybody's guess. That too in the company of Boylan.
We have here another example that, as Fritz Senn stresses upon, is typical of this episode in which it is often difficult to say what is true and what is not. The grandiloquent style used by Joyce in this episode comes home in the manner in which Joyce describes what Bloom, standing in the background, thinks of Corley and Gumley. (Mr Bloom in the meanwhile kept dodging about in the vicinity.... /Penguin 711. 34). In fact the pages we read today are teeming with similar examples.
Bloom continues to try making a conversation with Stephen, often resorting to French words, often in a style that is supposed to match Stephen's intellectual way of thinking and discoursing. These attempts end up being real Bloomean! For instance, Bloom's observation, "Everyone according to his needs or everyone according to his deed", is in fact his version of the saying by Karl Marx. At the same time, he is still the caring elder when he asks Stephen, "... why did you leave your father's house?" Stephen's answer, "To seek misfortune..." is met with diplomacy by the older man. He also warns Stephen not to repose much trust in that boon companion of his. To this there is no response forthcoming from Stephen, whose thoughts, triggered by Bloom's comments on his father, are occupied by his family.
Eventually the two reach the cabman's shelter near Butt Bridge. Close by, near a men's public urinal, a group of Italians are heatedly arguing. (The translation of the argument as given by Gifford (16.314) is reproduced below.*). As they enter, Bloom whispers to Stephen that the owner of this unpretentious wooden structure is none other than the once famous Skin-the-Goat Fitzharris, the invincible, though he could not vouch for its truth. The argument going on outside continues. Bloom is impressed by the musicality of the language but his attempts to say few words in Italian fail. Stephen, who understands Italian, tells him that the argument was over money. 'Sounds are impostures,' he continues, '... like names.' Stephen's mentioning 'Murphy' as one of the names he recites, brings into the conversation a sailor, one of the many hoi polloi, who had taken shelter in the cabman's shelter.
We have here another example that, as Fritz Senn stresses upon, is typical of this episode in which it is often difficult to say what is true and what is not. The grandiloquent style used by Joyce in this episode comes home in the manner in which Joyce describes what Bloom, standing in the background, thinks of Corley and Gumley. (Mr Bloom in the meanwhile kept dodging about in the vicinity.... /Penguin 711. 34). In fact the pages we read today are teeming with similar examples.
Bloom continues to try making a conversation with Stephen, often resorting to French words, often in a style that is supposed to match Stephen's intellectual way of thinking and discoursing. These attempts end up being real Bloomean! For instance, Bloom's observation, "Everyone according to his needs or everyone according to his deed", is in fact his version of the saying by Karl Marx. At the same time, he is still the caring elder when he asks Stephen, "... why did you leave your father's house?" Stephen's answer, "To seek misfortune..." is met with diplomacy by the older man. He also warns Stephen not to repose much trust in that boon companion of his. To this there is no response forthcoming from Stephen, whose thoughts, triggered by Bloom's comments on his father, are occupied by his family.
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| The cabman's shelter near Butt Bridge. Source: Wikipedia |
When Stephen, unheeding Bloom's warning pressure on his boot, says that his name is Dedalus, the sailor, W. B. Murphy, of Carrigaloe, starts off recounting how he had met Simon Dedalus, who toured the wide world with Hengler's Royal Circus, whom he had seen shoot two eggs of two bottles at fifty yards over his shoulder. Another evidence for what Fritz Senn had said earlier in the evening: 'It is often difficult in this episode to say what is true and what is not.'
* "Whore of a Blessed Virgin, he must give us the money! Aren't I right? Busted asshole! Let's get this clear. Half a sovereign more... So that's what he says, however! Half. Blackguard! His filthy dead (ancestors)! But listen! Five more per person..."
