Recognition · No. 13
Molly got the last word. The day belongs to Bloom.
Most readers arrive with two names. Stephen Dedalus, because the book opens on his tower. Molly Bloom, because the last word is yes and the ban made that word the one people repeat. That is the shorthand. It is not who James Joyce spends the Thursday on.
Leopold Bloom fries a pork kidney and pours milk for the cat. A letter in a bold hand is addressed to Mrs Marion Bloom. She says it is from Boylan and tucks it under the pillow. He is not shown it. In the funeral carriage he thinks that if little Rudy had lived there would have been a boy walking beside her. At the Ormond he sits where he can hear and not be seen, while Boylan's shoes creak on the bar floor and then leave. In Barney Kiernan's the citizen asks whether you call that a man. From the jaunting car Bloom says Christ was a Jew like him. The citizen throws a biscuit tin. In Nighttown, after Stephen is knocked down, Bloom stays and calls a name the lane does not hear. Rudy. At 7 Eccles Street the latchkey is in the trousers from the day before yesterday. He climbs the railings. Stephen will not stay. In the bed Bloom finds the imprint of a man's body that is not his, and flakes of potted meat. He will not kill, or duel, or divorce tonight.
The recognition is not that the yes is a lie. Molly remembers Howth, a seedcake passed from her mouth to his, and the day he asked her to say it. The culture kept her word, Stephen's tower, and Boylan's appointment. Joyce named the man who bought the kidney and came home.
What most readers assume
“Ulysses is the hardest book in English: a banned puzzle you pretend you have finished. It belongs to Stephen Dedalus on the tower, and it is famous because Molly Bloom says yes. The rest is stream of consciousness, a test for readers who want the credit without walking the Thursday.”
What James Joyce actually stages
Most readers name Ulysses for Stephen on the tower, or for the yes at the end. The Thursday belongs to Leopold Bloom: a pork kidney, a letter addressed to Mrs Marion Bloom, a boy who is not beside her, and a bed he climbs into after another man has left. The recognition is not that Molly's word is false. It is that we kept the yes and dropped the man who walked the day.
Ulysses · James Joyce
The popular summary keeps the yes. The book names the man who bought the kidney and came home.
Today the credit goes to the last word people quote, the difficult reputation, and the young man the opening seems to promise. The book names Bloom through a kitchen, a letter he is not shown, a boy who is not there, a tin thrown after a man the pub will not call a man, and a bed he enters last.
Common Questions
Search questions this recognition installment answers about Ulysses.
Who gets named in Ulysses?
Not only Molly, and not only Stephen. The book opens with Stephen, who paid the rent and will not stay for cocoa. The last word is Molly's yes, after she remembers Howth and the seedcake. The Thursday is Leopold Bloom's: the kidney, the letter addressed to Mrs Marion Bloom, the name Rudy in a lane that does not hear it, and the bed he climbs into anyway.
Why does recognition matter in Ulysses?
Because the famous names are real, and they are not the day. Stephen is the artist the first pages follow, Molly's yes is the line the ban made easy to repeat, and Boylan is the appointment everyone can point to. Bloom is the one who is not shown the letter, sits where he can hear and not be seen, and still comes home.
Why do people remember Molly's yes and skip Bloom?
The last word is easy to lift out, and the ban made it famous. Bloom's day does not compress: a pork kidney, a funeral, a biscuit tin, a forgotten latchkey, flakes of potted meat in the bed. The yes is in the book. The man who walked the Thursday is the one the summary drops.
Why does Ulysses open with Stephen Dedalus?
Readers of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man expect the book to stay with him. It opens on the tower, with the rent he paid and the mother he would not kneel for, then leaves that roof. Stephen teaches, walks the strand, and will not stay the night at Eccles Street. The opening gives him the first name, and it does not give him the day.