Molly Bloom

Finally, we get to Molly. The final chapter of the novel - the famous Molly Bloom soliloquy -consists of eight unpunctuated, stream-of-consciousness sentences sprawled across some 45 pages. Following the unnatural, dry, impersonal "catechist" who narrates "Ithaca," Molly's narrative couldn't be more natural, personal, and lyrical. The chapter flows, as does Molly's urine and menstrual blood, as well as Boylan's semen. Molly is infinite: look for the #8 throughout (her birthday, for example), associated with Molly; she's lying down, so "8" becomes the symbol for infinity. Molly is contradictory and illogical, the embodiment of the open form and the perpetual nature of Ulysses. The chapter begins and ends with the same word: "Yes," the ultimate in affirmation. That is, she says "Yes" to life, in all its complexities and mysteries. If Bloom is the Father and Stephen is the Son, then Molly is the Holy Spirit, breathing life into the novel. This section concludes in the early morning hours following the longest day in literary histroy. After writing his "day" book, Joyce will spend the next 17 years composing his "night" book, Finnegans Wake. (If Ulysses is written largely in stream-of-consciousness, then the Wake is written in stream-of-unconsciousness.)