Meet Leopold Bloom!

The protagonist of Joyce's novel -- and the counterpart for the hero Odysseus -- is none other than Leopold Bloom, a middle-aged Jewish advertising man whose wife is about to have an affair. How can this somewhat neurotic nobody be the embodiment - or, more precisely, the reincarnation - of perhaps the greatest literary hero of them all? Be patient, boys. You shall see.

The first chapter is titled "Calypso" after the goddess on whose island Odysseus is imprisoned for seven years. The first thing to make clear is that this chapter and the next two take place simultaneously with the three earlier Stephen chapters: 8:00, 10:00, and 11:00 a.m. Note also that while Stephen is a young, heady intellectual, Bloom is very much attuned to his bodily needs and to sensual/fleshly pleasures. Bloom's family situation is less than stellar: his sexy wife Molly is about to have an affair with Blazes Boylan; his daughter Milly has just turned 15 and is beginning to emerge sexually; and 11 years ago his son Rudy died at 11 days old. Finally, note Joyce's excessive realism: while Shakespeare, Dickens, and many other writers went pretty far in terms of accuratelycapturing human experience and behavior, only Joyce goes so far as to portray his lead character not only taking a crap, but thoroughly enjoying it.

The second chapter of Part II is titled "Lotus-Eaters" after the brief encounter Odysseus and his men have with an island of people addicted to the stupifying, narcotic effects of eating Lotus leaves. Odysseus's men are tempted to remain there (who wouldn't be?), but Odysseus succeeds in forcing them back to his ship. Similarly, in this chapter Bloom is tempted toward a narcotic state of forgetfulness (especially with respect to his wife's impending infidelity), only to be constantly jolted back into the painfulness of reality. Thus, the flower imagery of the chapter is counteracted by images of pain and suffering, culminating in Bloom's assessment, "No roses without thorns" (78).

Finally, a word on Joyce's famous stream-of-consciousness style of narration. While Bloom does not narrate the novel in first person, we do get his thoughts throughout the novel. The thing to keep in mind is that Joyce gives us Bloom's thoughts as they occur, with no expository information whatsoever. Another way of saying this is that we don't get any information that Bloom himself is not thinking at the time. One classic example of this: "Potato I have" (57). A few hundred pages later, we will finally understand what the hell this sentence means ... but Bloom doesn't let us in on its full meaning because he's not thinking of it at the time.