It took me a while to get the hang of this bit, but once I realised what was going on, it all became clear. Well – as clear as anything ever is with Ulysses. It starts with a description of the Reverend John Conmee arriving in Dublin and making his way through the city. The rest of the episode is broken up into little set pieces, that are all happening pretty much concurrently to each other. So it feels rather like a film, cutting between short scenes involving major and minor characters of the book. Bits of it are difficult to follow, but you’ll get the general gist…
It is five to three in the afternoon and Reverend John Conmee is on his way to see Brother Swan about Patrick Dignam junior, having received a letter from Martin Cunningham. A one-legged sailor growls at him. He doesn’t give him any money, but Reverend Conmee blesses him instead. Crossing over to Mountjoy Square, he thinks briefly of servicemen whose limbs have been blown off by cannonballs and of Cardinal Wolsey. He meets the wife of Mr David Sheehy MP and they exchange polite small talk. Conmee doffs his silk cap and continues on, pleased that he has brushed his teeth today. Then, he meets three schoolboys and gives one of them a letter to post. As he walks, Conmee sees an ostentatiously dressed Denis J Maginni and the stately Mrs McGuinness. He walks through the streets, observing things, his mind wandering. As he passes a church for ‘…aged and virtuous females’ he notes that they might be virtuous, but they are also bad tempered (virtue tends to make me bad tempered, I know where they are coming from).
Conmee passes shopkeepers, publicans and policemen – they all great him. At Newcomen Bridge he alights a tram as he doesn’t like walking past Mud Island. He is disappointed that the other passengers are solemn, as he prefers ‘cheerful decorum’. The woman opposite lets out a tiny yawn. Conmee smells her perfume and notices that the man sat next to her looks awkward and has a shaky head. A tram station poster reminds him of his missionary work. He gets off at Howth Road and thinks of better, simpler times. He recalls a book he once read, thinks about the adulterous Mary Belvedere and considers ‘tyrannous incontinence’ (blimey!) Conmee looks at cabbages and clouds. Grass tickles his ankles and he hears boys playing. He takes off his gloves and reads a prayer book as he walks. A flustered young couple pop out from a bush looking sheepish and he blesses them.
*
Corny Kelleher looks at a coffin lid, before standing up and walking over to inspect it more closely. He then tilts his hat and stands in the doorway, looking out. He starts talking to a policeman, who appears to be about to divulge something of interest. Someone throws a coin out of the window.
*
The one-legged sailor makes his way up Eccles Street, growling and singing about England. He passes Katey and Boody Dedalus. Someone tells JJ O’Molloy that Mr Lambert and a visitor are in the warehouse. A stout lady gives the sailor a coin – he thanks her, then carries on singing and growling (I’m warming to this sailor, you know). Two urchins eating liquorice stop and look at the sailor’s stump. A card falls from a window as a plump, naked female arm pokes out and flings a coin onto the path. The urchins pick it up and give it to the sailor.
*
Katey and Boody Dedalus go into their kitchen and Boody asks Katey about some books she was trying to sell. Maggy is stirring something awful-sounding in a pot on the stove and wiping her brow. It seems she is boiling shirts as there is no food, except for some pea soup given to them by Sister Mary Patrick. Boody demands some soup and it is poured for her by Maggy. Their other sister Dilly has gone to meet their father. The religious flyer Bloom chucked away earlier floats down the Liffey.
*
A blonde shop girl packs a basket of groceries for Blazes Boylan. Boylan walks around the shop in his new tan shoes, sniffing things. The white hatted ‘HELYS’ men march past. Boylan checks his watch and asks for the groceries – which are for an invalid – to be sent by tram. He jingles his change and looks down the shop girl’s top. He places a red carnation between his teeth and asks to use the telephone.
*
Almidano Artifoni converses with Stephen Dedalus in Italian as tourists pass by. A tram stops and Highland soliders disembark. Someone (could be Artifoni) has a solid trouser leg. Stephen and Artifoni conclude their conversation (apologies, I don’t speak Italian so I’ve no idea what it’s about, although Stephen thanks Artifoni at the end) and Artifoni holds up a baton of rolled sheet music and trots off after a tram.
*
Miss Dunne hides a copy of The Woman in White in her desk drawer and puts some gaudy notepaper in her typewriter. She thinks she might get a different book to read – there’s too much mystery in this one. She starts typing as the HELYS men go by. She looks over at a poster of Marie Kendall and thinks that she isn’t very attractive. Miss Dunne hopes to get a new skirt and go out that evening, if she isn’t kept too late at work. The phone rings and it is Boylan. She tells him that Lenehan was looking for him and will be in the Ormond at four.
*
Ned Lambert is showing the Reverend Hugh C Love around a warehouse, which used to be a historic abbey. Love is writing a book about it and wants to come back next week to take some photographs, to which Lambert agrees. As Love is leaving, JJ O’Molloy arrives. A young woman removes a twig from her skirt. Lambert remembers an interesting thing he should have told Love, then slaps a horse. Lambert then starts sneezing and O’Molloy blames the dust from the sacks, but Lambert insists that he has a cold and continues sneezing.
*
Tom Rochford is showing Nosey Flynn, McCoy and Lenehan some sort of mechanical contraption. Then there is a random bit about lawyers, taxes and an old woman with false teeth that I have no idea how it fits in. Anyway, Flynn tries the device and likes it. Lenehan says that he will recommend the thing to Boylan when he sees him in the Ormond. Flynn seems to sniff the lever of the machine. Lenehan and McCoy leave and talk about a manhole. They pass a music hall displaying a poster of Marie Kendall. Lenehan tells McCoy about Rochford rescuing a man from a manhole, making him a hero. Lenehan wants to nip into a bookies to check the price for Sceptre the racehorse and asks McCoy for the time – it is just after three. McCoy narrowly avoids slipping on a banana peel. The viceregal cavalcade sets off. Lenehan returns with the news that the bookies are offering evens on Sceptre. He tells McCoy that he saw Bantam Lyons backing a horse with no chance of winning that someone had tipped him. As they walk on, they see Leopold Bloom browsing books on a merchant’s cart and they wonder what he might be buying. McCoy remarks that Bloom is good at finding bargains. They cross a bridge and pass Patrick Dignam junior carrying pork steaks. Lenehan begins to talk about a fancy annual dinner he attended and McCoy tries to tell him that his wife sang there, but Lenehan ignores him. He continues with his story and says that in the early hours of the morning, he took a carriage home with Bloom and Molly. During the journey, he groped Molly’s magnificent bosoms and this was evidently an exciting moment for him – ‘The lad stood to attention anyhow, he said with a sigh. She’s a gamey mare and no mistake’. Bloom was oblivious, gazing up at the stars. Lenehan is now weak from the recounting of this tale and has to lean against a wall. McCoy defends Bloom somewhat, pointing out that he is a cultured and artistic man.
*
As Bloom looks through books in a bookshop, he thinks about childbirth and Mrs Purefoy. The shopkeeper with onion breath recommends two books. On O’Connell bridge, many people watch the fancily-dressed Professor Maginni walking along. Bloom is looking for a book for Molly. He picks up one – Sweets of Sin – and reads from it. It appears to be a cheeky little number and he likes it very much. An old woman leaves the court house. The shop keeper comes through from the back, coughing up phlegm and Bloom buys the naughty book from him.
*
The man on the door of Dillon’s auction house rings his bell and looks at himself in a cabinet mirror. Dilly Dedalus waits outside on the street for her father, listening to the auction taking place. Simon Dedalus comes out and admonishes her for not standing up straight. Dilly asks him for money and, although he says that he has none, Dilly insists that she knows that he does. Mr Kernan walks boldly by, pleased with himself. Simon gives Dilly a shilling. She asks for more but he is very rude to her and walks off. She chases after him and he reluctantly gives her two pennies more. Dilly is none too pleased. Simon strides off, blaming nuns for his daughter’s insolence. The cavalcade passes by and people wave at it.
*
Mr Kernan walks along, pleased with an order he has booked for Pulbrook Robertson. He speaks with Mr Crimmins about some sort of explosion on a boat. Bob Cowley meets Simon Dedalus and they stop to talk. Mr Kernan admires himself in a hairdressers mirror – he is particularly taken with his coat and remembers when he bought it. He decides that it is important to look good and create a good impression on others. Bloom’s religious flyer continues its journey down the river. Mr Kernan continues on his way, thinking about good gin. He passes the spot where Emmett was hanged. Denis Breen leads his wife over O’Connell bridge. Kernan remembers Ben Dolland performing a ballad. The cavalcade passes by, but he spots it too late to wave.
*
Stephen Dedalus views gemstones through a shop window and thinks that they are evil. He watches an old man polishing a stone. Two old women – one with a midwife’s bag containing eleven cockles – pass by. Stephen wanders off, before stopping at a book cart. He browses the books, wondering if he will come across one of his pawned school prizes. Reverend Conmee is reading from his prayer book. A book about charms and invocations catches Stephen’s interest. His sister Dilly approaches and he quickly shuts the book. Dilly looks dishevelled. She shows him a book she bought for a penny. Stephen looks upon his sister and thinks she has his eyes and is like him in many ways. It saddens him that his sisters are living in poverty and suffering at home.
*
Simon and Bob Cowley are conversing. Cowley is worried as he has Reuben (the Jewish moneylender) after him for a debt. Cowley is waiting on Ben Dolland to help him out. Simon tells him that Dolland is always helping people out, so just be patient. Then they see Ben coming towards them in a blue coat and square hat (nifty!) Simon greets him and, rather uncharitably, says that he has bad trousers. Simon looks at him scornfully and mocks his outfit. Cowley retaliates and remarks upon the outstanding debt to Reuben. Cashel Boyle O’Connor Fitzmaurice Tisdall Farrell (the mad chap) strides past, muttering to himself. Reverend Love passes by. Cowley instructs Simon and Cowley to follow him to the sub sheriff’s office to take a look at the new bailiff. On the way, they speak again of Cowley’s debt and Dolland suggests that he pay rent to his landlord instead of settling up with Reuben.
*
Martin Cunningham, Mr Power and John Wyse Nolan pass the Ormond hotel. Cunningham tells the others about his letter to Reverend Conmee, requesting he assist the young Patrick Dignam following his father’s death. The three of them are organising a collection for the boy and Bloom has promised five shillings, which Nolan notes is very generous. Nolan tells Power that the assistant town clerk’s corns are giving him trouble. They go through the list of people who said they will donate to the collection and I think they are out and about trying to track them down. They meet Long John Fanning – the sub sheriff – and he is rather unfriendly towards them and complains about his corns. Mr Power talks to him about the recently departed Dignam, but Fanning does not remember him. The cavalcade passes by.
*
Buck Mulligan and Haines enter a cafe where Parnell’s brother is playing chess in a corner. They order scones and cakes. Haines opens up his new book and Buck mentions Stephen’s recent oration on Shakespeare. Haines is dismissive and says that Shakespeare is for unbalanced people. The one-legged sailor growls nearby. Buck laughs at Stephen and Haines again suggests that he is mentally unbalanced. Buck remarks that Stephen will never be a proper poet because he is consumed by visions of Hell. Haines tells Buck that he spoke to Stephen about his beliefs that morning and he seemed to him to have something on his mind. The waitress arrives with their food and they continue to discuss Stephen and the likelihood that he will never write anything. Buck eats a scone. Bloom’s discarded flyer continues to float down the river.
*
Our lunatic friend Tisdall Farrell is walking behind Almidano Artifoni. He walks up and down the street, stopping only to frown at a poster advertising the aforementioned religious event, and a lawn. Striding past Bloom’s dentist, Farrell knocks over a blind man, who curses him.
*
The young Patrick Dignam dawdles along Wicklow Street with his pork steaks. He is glad to be out of his house, where everyone is in mourning. He stops to look at a poster for a boxing match and wishes he could see it. He thinks about boxing. In Grafton Street he sees Boylan with his fancy shoes and a carnation between his teeth, listening to a drunk. Dignam keeps having to rearrange his collar as his shirt doesn’t fit properly. He sees some school friends and wonders if they know about his father’s death and if they will read about it in the evening paper. Dignam remembers his dad’s coffin and the last time he saw him – drunk and shouting and on his way out to the pub. He had drunkenly told him to be a good son to his mother. He hopes he is in purgatory now.
*
The viceregal cavalcade – with Earl and Lady Dudley at the head – leaves a luncheon at the viceregal lodge. It passes out the gates of Phoenix Park and through the streets of Dublin, passing all the people and places from this episode. Some brazen ladies follow after the cavalcade, singing a song – My Girl’s A Yorkshire Girl. The procession ends with a salute from Almidano Artifoni’s sturdy trousers.
Thoughts
Once you realise that this episode plays out a little like a film – cutting between short scenes featuring the characters going about their business throughout Dublin – it is actually one of the easiest sections to follow. At first I was fairly flummoxed, but when I noticed little bits repeating themselves interspersed within the sections, I quickly caught on. I’m not sure what great insights I can offer here, other than the episode begins and ends with the two journeys that link the scenes – in the opening it is the arrival of Reverend Conmee and it closes with the procession of the viceregal cavalcade. It feels like a sort of intermission, telling us where everyone is and what they are up to, perhaps to set the scene for the following episodes – but obviously I won’t know that until we get there.
We don’t see much of Bloom here, although what little we do see is revealing in that Molly is constantly on his mind as he searches for a book for her. Molly’s salacious reputation is further impressed upon the reader by Lenehan’s recounting of his groping of her and the suggestion of romance with Boylan when he places a carnation between his teeth. Interestingly, the religious flyer Bloom discarded earlier is constantly referenced – its journey down the river and therefore through the city perhaps representing some sort of continuity and biding together of the many threads of the story.
The desperate situation of the Dedalus family is expanded upon and the contrast between father Simon’s indifference and brother Stephen’s concern for the girls is poignant. We do learn a little more about many of the characters – both central and minor – and once again, the city itself takes on its own unique role. All in all, this is a wonderful diorama of Joyce’s Dublin at around three o’clock in the afternoon and leaves the reader curious as to what everyone (not just the main players) will get up to next.
Favourite Lines
‘He walked by the treeshade of sunnywinking leaves…’
I thought this was beautiful and captures the moment perfectly.
‘Boody stamped her foot and threw her satchel on the table.
– Bad cess to her big face! She cried’
I’m going to make a note of this for the next time I fancy throwing a strop.
‘He gazed over Stephen’s shoulder at Goldsmith’s knobbly poll.’
I don’t know what a knobby poll is, but I think I like it.
‘Down, baldynoodle, or we’ll wool your wool.’
A threat if ever I heard one.
Lucy Brazier 