Long John Fanning’s assistant Alf Bergan drinks with the citizen, Joe Hynes, the debt-collecting narrator, and several other men in Barney Kiernan’s pub during “Cyclops.” His antics provide plenty of comic relief and local Dublin flavor. Alf laughs at Denis Breen’s pointless legal crusade over the “U.P.” postcard (which Alf himself might or might not have sent). He also reads his friends the application letters that several men (including the barber Rumbold) have sent to inquire about a job as an executioner. Most outrageously, Alf claims to have just seen Paddy Dignam in the street, and he’s astonished when the other men explain that Paddy Dignam is dead.
Alf Bergan Quotes in Ulysses
The Ulysses quotes below are all either spoken by Alf Bergan or refer to Alf Bergan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Episode 12: Cyclops
Quotes
—I’m talking about injustice, says Bloom.
—Right, says John Wyse. Stand up to it then with force like men.
[…]
—But it’s no use, says he. Force, hatred, history, all that. That’s not life for men and women, insult and hatred. And everybody knows that it’s the very opposite of that that is really life.
—What? says Alf.
—Love, says Bloom. I mean the opposite of hatred.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Ulysses LitChart as a printable PDF.
Alf Bergan Quotes in Ulysses
The Ulysses quotes below are all either spoken by Alf Bergan or refer to Alf Bergan. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Episode 12: Cyclops
Quotes
—I’m talking about injustice, says Bloom.
—Right, says John Wyse. Stand up to it then with force like men.
[…]
—But it’s no use, says he. Force, hatred, history, all that. That’s not life for men and women, insult and hatred. And everybody knows that it’s the very opposite of that that is really life.
—What? says Alf.
—Love, says Bloom. I mean the opposite of hatred.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
