Bello's wild ride

“I’m talking about injustice” (332). This is one most of the most heroic things Bloom has said, implying that he is in favor of eliminating injustice altogether. His empathy is significant in looking at the interaction between Bella and Bloom. One of the most abrupt, yet significant, “hallucinations” in this chapter is when Bloom becomes a woman. On 530 I think this transformation occurs when Bella’s “heavy face, her eyes strike him in the mid brow. His eyes grow dull, darker and pouched, his nose thickens.” Within these few lines we see something change about Bloom’s countenance, but nothing particularly effeminate is named. Rather one could say that his widening nose is like an African American, or maybe the darkening of his eyes makes him more Jewish (according to Deseay). This would then make him more like a “bond-slave” (531). After “Bella” becomes “Bello” in the stage direction, but Bloom still calls her empress. Bloom’s submissiveness becomes womanish as he admires Bello’s size. Not only has Bloom transformed into a woman, but also Bello, like Circe, turns Bloom into a pig. In these lines Bloom’s empathy for animals and women take a different appearance, for he arguably wants to be treated like them. When Bello is riding Bloom “he bends sideways and squeezes his mount’s testicles roughly” (534). So during this part of his punishment Bloom is a man again. But he does cry “not man…woman” (535). It is in the next few lines Bello says Bloom will have to be dressed like a whore to be a woman. Here Bloom says, “I tried her things on only once, a small prank” (536).
At this moment Bloom’s sins of the past speak to him. I read this moment as Bloom being his own enemy, because he realizes how he rudely ogles women dressed this way. The next idea explored is marriage. Rather than becoming Bello’s wife Bloom becomes his property. So at this moment one sees how live-stock, slaves, and wives are the condescended. And on 540 when Bello presents Bloom like a horse for sale, the language resembles some sort of slave auction. Also Bloom’s lactation is advertised, emphasizing how women are like slaves to procreation.