Book Two Episode Ten: The Wandering Rocks

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Here Comes Everybody


We have now arrived at the midpoint of the novel and you my be wondering what the point of this particular episode is (or more likely your wondering what the point of the whole book is, but we'll get to that). This is one of only two episodes in the book which does not concern itself directly or extensively with either of the main characters. True, we do encounter both Bloom and Stephen in "The Wandering Rocks" but they are given equal or in some cases lesser airtime than some of the other personages whom we meet, and if it seems as though you are meeting everyone who might live in Dublin circa June 16th 1904, you may not be far off. There appears to be an endless processional of people in this episode.


For some of you this may be a rather dull episode to read through, and I won't pretend it's the most exciting episode in Ulysses, but I suspect that at least it should not be a difficult read for you. Like every other episode in the book "The Wandering Rocks" serves its purpose in fulfilling the greater objective(s) of Ulysses -- which have not yet been made evident to you.


Narratively the episode is more or less straight forward with clear third person descriptions and a bit of interior monologue to weed through. Interestingly, we are treated to a rare glimpse into the thoughts of characters other than Bloom and Stephen. We get a pretty extensive ride along with the superior, the very reverend John Conmee S.J. We also get a good chunk of the mental meanderings of Patrick Aloysius Dignam, son of the late Patrick (Paddy) Dignam, as well as Tom Kiernan, who seems to think very highly of himself. None of these IMs should give you any problems as far as navigating the text, although you may wonder why you are being subjected to them. I have my own theories about why they are here, but I won't burden you with my conjecture. I'll let you make sense of things yourself.


Didn't that happen already?
If, at times, you think you are rereading something you just saw two pages before, you're not crazy*. One the stylistic elements of the episode is the repetition of action within different vignettes. I mean, how many times do we encounter Eugene Stratton and Marie Kendall, or have that disk shooting down the groove to ogle us? Once again, I'm not going to be a spoil sport and tell why these repetitions exist, but I do want to draw attention to them so that their existence doesn't escape your awareness. It's vey easy for particulars to get lost in the density of the text during a first read, even when they're rather obvious. While I'm on the subject of narrative structure I'll also throw out that there's an interesting bookending to this episode. Let me know if you catch it and what your thoughts are on it. Hint: it relates to one of the many themes of the novel.


*well, you may actually be crazy, but these particular repetitions you are experiencing are not proof of that


The pause that refreshes
Since we're at the midpoint of the book (at least episode-wise) this might be a good time to review what we have read. After all, if you're simply plowing through the reading without reflecting then you're likely not getting much out of the reading. We did this a little a couple of entries ago, but let's try it again focusing our attention on Stephen and Bloom.


So, what do we know about Stephen up to this point? Well, we know he's quite learned, thinks in complex, abstract, almost poetical ways. He is an aspiring writer. He isn't the happiest person you might encounter. He seems to be haunted by the thought of his dead mother, and fairly unimpressed by his father (who art not in heaven), Si Dedalus. He also seems to have exiled himself from both his family and his friend and flat mate Buck Mulligan. (I should also point out for those who don't know, that exile is one of Stephen Dedalus' three defense weapons of choice, the other two being silence and cunning [see this excerpt the final conversation with Cranley in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man]). Up to this point Stephen has just been wandering aimlessly around Dublin.


As for Bloom, we know that he is an ad canvasser for the Freeman Journal, married to Marion (Molly) Bloom (née Tweedy), and that he lives at 7 Eccles street. He is a Jew (on the spear side) though not practicing. He's relatively well educated, but not exactly a genius, possessing a better than average knowledge of music and apparently knows his astronomy, among lots of other random knowledge. He is rumored to be a Freemason though this is only conjecture on the part of some of the other citizens. We also know that Bloom is a father, having one daughter with Molly (Milly Bloom, newly turned 15) and one son (Rudy) who died eleven days after he was born. Thus Bloom is a father, but not the father of a son. Perhaps most importantly, we know that Bloom's wife is going to have an affair at or around four o'clock with one Blazes Boylan, and we know that Bloom knows of this affair.


This is just a fraction of what we might list about Stephen and Bloom, but they should serve as solid, basic facts to work from. I was somewhat selective about what I included, trying to insure that some of the most important facts about our heroes were present.


Other important things to consider
So, what else? Outside of Bloom and Stephen, what other facts can help us piece the story together? Well, I am of the opinion that there are no irrelevancies in Ulysses, and that everything provided is useful in understanding the story. However, while trying to build a broad understanding of the story, it is best to focus on the bigger facts first. Maybe the biggest fact outside of the principle characters is the fact of Dublin itself. Dublin, Ireland, Irish-ness and all that that means to the citizenry, our heroes, and Joyce are a constant theme of the novel. Ulysses is an Irish novel in the most literal sense.


Not far behind are the themes of fatherhood (that legal fiction according to Stephen), religion (often via the holy trinity), and the English 'occupiers' (as contrasted against a free Ireland). And of course there are those Homeric parallels. To be sure, there are so many more things that go into the mix, but these should help us begin the process of piecing together what we currently know.


Okay, I realize this is a complicated mix of elements so let me try an experiment with you. Taking into consideration what you already know, how do you see this story playing out? Conjecture as to how this thing wraps up. Write an ending to this story. Don't read any further until you do so. It doesn't have to be long, just a simple (though educated) guess at how and why these two lone men meet, and what is accomplished by their meeting.

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Done? Okay.
Whatever you came up with, you're wrong. But that hardly matters. What matters is you're thinking about the story. You are actively engaging with the information, and that is vital to gaining some understanding of what you are reading. From this point on you should be regularly trying to venture a guess as to where this story is leading. I suggest doing it after each episode, assimilating the new information into your thinking. A the episodes get progressively longer and more difficult from here (yes, that is possible, believe me) this will not be an easy task, but it will hopefully help provide some context for you.


Raw Notes


The mid point. The omphalos? A day in the life of dear, dirty Dublin. The meanderings and doings of the city. Orchestrated waltz of the Dublin citizenry.

• "He can never be a poet. The joy of creation..."

• "Does he write anything for your movement? —Ten years, he said, chewing and laughing. He is going to write something in ten years."

• "If I had served my God as I have served my king..."

• "a generous white arm from a window in Eccles street flung forth a coin."

• "...A skiff, a crumpled throwaway, Elijah is coming, rode lightly down the Liffey..."

• "Too much mystery business in it. Is he in love with that one, Marion?"

• "The way she's holding up her bit of a skirt."

• "The gates of the drive opened wide to give egress to the viceregal cavalcade."

• "A darkbacked figure scanned books on the hawker's cart.

• —There he is, Lenehan said.

• —Wonder what he's buying, M'Coy said, glancing behind. —Leopoldo or the Bloom is on the Rye, Lenehan said."

• "He's a cultured allroundman, Bloom is, he said seriously. He's not one of your common or garden... you know... There's a touch of the artist about old Bloom."

• "Who has passed here before me?"

• "Do others see me so?"

• "She is drowning. Agenbite. Save her. Agenbite. All against us. She will drown me with her, eyes and"