I've been stabbed

In terms of Bloom’s, and also Stephens, heroism this is one of the most significant chapters of the book. The reason why is he has now reunited with his son (metaphorical), like Odysseus does before he retook his family and home. Although, unlike in the Odyssey, Bloom does not conspire with Stephen to remove usurpers. There are some moments in this chapter that do relate to Bloom confronting Blazes and Molly. For example we learn that Bloom would not want to physically attack Blazes or Molly, for “criminal propensities had never been an inmate of his bosom in any shape or form” (642). The interaction between Bloom and Stephen looks most like the one between Odysseus and Telemachus when they talk “about sirens, enemies of man’s reason, mingled with a number of other topics of the same category, ursurpers” (665). But one of the strangest schemes that Bloom comes up with in this chapter is to manage a tour with Stephen. Seeing that this is what Blazes is doing for Molly, I find it hard not to read this as a sexual lust for Stephen. The intensity of this lust is minimal, but apparent. I’ve been reading a lot of Freud lately and can’t help apply a psycho-analytical reading to this whole affair. Bloom identifies with Stephen, meaning that at many points Bloom hopes to be similar to Stephen.

At the same time Stephen is Bloom’s object of affection. Since the loss of his son eventually led Bloom to stop copulating with Molly, Bloom must associate fatherhood and sexuality. When Bloom describes the Aztec he says sitting in the street Bloom “indicates on his companion the brief outline, the sinews, or whatever you like to call them, behind the right knee” (636). This seems like a part of the body that Bloom would have noticed on many women. Also later on Bloom tells Stephen, “lean on me,” a very affectionate request. So with the tour that Bloom is planning he is ambivalently trying to win Molly back. In terms of experience this tour could be very pleasant. Bloom assumes that Stephen has his father’s voice, and he would be able to travel (something he says he never really did). Again, this also looks like Bloom coming on to Stephen the way Blazes has with Molly. This could be read as Bloom redirecting his love for Molly. But considering that Stephen is both Bloom’s object of affection and identification helps explain the intensity of his psychological journey.