Ulysses/Lestrygonians

Lestrygonians is a food chapter. Personally, it's one of my favorites.

This episode takes place around 1 PM.

Summary

Odyssey Parallels

The Lestrygonians were a group of cannibals, whom Odysseus's crew had to defend themselves against. This chapter is, accordingly, filled with language of food - particularly, carnivorous language. Cannibalism takes many other forms in the chapter, down to the very phrases Joyce uses ("Coarse red: fun for drunkards: guffaw and smoke. Take off his white hat. His parboiled eyes.") A blind prophet also makes an appearance.

Knives (the scene in Burton's restaurant), blood ("Hot fresh blood they prescribe for descline. Blood always needed. Insidious. Lick it up, smoking hot, thick sugary. Famished ghosts." - an obvious and direct reference to the Hades scene in the Odyssey, where the blood is mixed with honey, and the ghosts that feed upon this blood can recognize Odysseys), meat ("Stink gripped his trembling breath: pungent meatjuicde, slop of greens. See the animals feed." "Potted meats. What is a home without Plumtree's potted meat? ...Dignam's potted meat. Cannibals would with lemon and rice.") and mixed sexual/carnivore language make other appearances int he chapter - it is full of Bloom's thought of Molly, nearly all of which are sexual in nature (Bloom's thoughts cover "Molly tasting it, her veil up," "Molly got over her [childbirth] lightly," his letter from earlier that morninng, "you poor little naughty boy," the silk stockings and petticoats on display at stores, "creaking beds," the "colour of [Molly's] new [purple] garters," etc.)

When Bloom goes into the Burton restaurant for lunch but leaves in disgust instead, it's like the culminating scene in The Odyssey where the Lestrygonians, steeped in the colors of their trade, are impinged upon inadvertently by Odysseus and his crew. They're all in the midst of a horrible feast, one that nearly causes Bloom (who shows signs of being somewhat OCD) to lose his appetite.

Later in the chapter: "tour round the body, changing biliary duct, spleen squirting liver, gastric juice coils of intestines like pipes."

Major Themes

Lestrygonians is an excellent chapter to jump to, because of the way it weaves together so many different things that make Ulysses groundbreaking: the parallels with the Odyssey are easy to understand, the action is understandable and easy to follow, and Bloom's internal stream of consciousness touches on virtually every important theme in the book. Additionally, this chapter gives us some useful information about Bloom (for example, that he is a Freemason).

Spilled food and bread crumbs make an appearance, as they did in Chapter 6 (the crumbs under Martin Cunningham's lap, in the carriage, the "black ship," on the way to the funeral, the "underworld"). This time, they're on Mrs. Breen's clothing (she is an old girlfriend of Bloom's and his preoccupation with her body and appearance draws his attention to the crumbs). The blind man crossing the street: "Stains on his coat. Slobbers his food, I suppose. Tastes all different for him. Have to be spoonfed first."

Preoccupation with Molly:

• Thoughts of Molly as mother
  • Rudy, Milly, bath time
  • Childbirth, nursing, rearing
• Thoughts of Molly as wife
  • Sexual nature, garters, fantasies
  • Other women, filling Molly's role
• Thoughts of a jealous/paranoid husband
  • Penrose - looking in on Molly while she was nursing
  • Blazes Boylan (brought up by Nosey Flynn, Nosey numskull, fitting name)
• Cyclical
  • Each leads into the other - fantasy of particular night leads to memories of family leads to anxieties leads to escape through fantasy