Calypso

As Calyspo opens, the reader is immediately aware of a shift from the scattered, metaphysical view of Stephen's Dublin to the visceral world of Leopold Bloom. Much of the chapter details Bloom's eating habits, particularly his fixation on various meats. Rather than portray him as a glutton, Joyce seems to characterize Bloom with a sort of desperation and his consumption seems to reveal an underlying insatiability. Missing from the chapter is a sense of momentum, rather the section, and Bloom by proxy, seems stationary, if not stagnant.

This sense of wanting for more and the inability to attain it is most evident as Bloom reflects on an advertisement for am agrarian Zionist settlement and the various produce that might be grown there. He dismisses the advertisement, though not without some reluctance, stating: “Nothing doing. Still an idea behind it.” On the next page he thinks of the same land, that of his Jewish ancenstry, as “a barren land...the grey sunken cunt of the world.” In these contrasting images, the reader is allowed a window into Bloom as a man who is not conflicted, in the manner Stephen is conflicted, but who's world is very much solidified and unchanging.

The nature of Bloom's static existence is further explored as he describes the concept of “Metempsychosis” to his wife. There is certainly an irony in the description of the transience of souls from a man so firmly rooted to the physical world and its indulgences. Although he grasps the concept, the reader is acutely aware of the fact that Leopold Bloom was never anything but himself. Also, reflecting on the theme of reincarnation, Joyce's personification of the cat seems especially clever (not to mention the themes of communication with both the cat and Mrs. Bloom).

Ultimately, Bloom, while a strong character, comes across as somewhat ineffectual as his most victorious moment in Calypso comes while he is sitting on the toilet.