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Marion (“Molly”) Bloom
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:
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Alf Bergan Character Timeline in Ulysses
The timeline below shows where the character Alf Bergan appears in Ulysses. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Episode 12: Cyclops
...deaths, and marriages. While the men drink, Bob Doran is passed out in the corner. Alf Bergan enters the bar and points to something outside the door. It’s Denis Breen with...
(full context)
Alf pulls out a stack of letters and declares that he just saw Willy Murray chatting...
(full context)
...inside the bar and asks Terry for Martin Cunningham. Meanwhile, Joe Hynes reads one of Alf’s letters: a barber named Rumbold writes to the Dublin High Sheriff about a hangman job,...
(full context)
...narrating this episode to speculate that “those jewies does have a sort of queer odour.” Alf talks about how hanged men get erections, and Bloom responds by scientifically explaining why this...
(full context)
...excitedly about Irish nationalist revolutionaries. Bob Doran starts rambling and playing with the dog Garryowen; Alf barely saves him from falling off his stool. Bob also starts eating the crumbs out...
(full context)
Joe and Alf chat about Nannetti running for mayor, and Joe remembers seeing him at the meeting about...
(full context)
...next month.) The citizen concludes that Ireland’s trouble is “a dishonoured wife,” and in response, Alf brings over a magazine of “smutty yankee pictures” from the bar counter and shows the...
(full context)
...British. But the narrator thinks the citizen is spewing nonsense. The men order more drinks. Alf Bergan points out violent stories in the newspaper, one about a headbutting match and another...
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...Martin if Bloom really does support the nationalists, and Martin says he does. But Lenehan, Alf Bergan, J.J. O’Molloy, and the citizen don’t believe this, and when Martin explains that Bloom’s...
(full context)
Episode 15: Circe
...Breen instead of him. Suddenly, Denis shuffles past as one of the Hely’s sandwichboard advertisers. Alf Bergan follows him, points, laughs, and says, “U. p: up.” Breen offers Bloom a kiss...
(full context)
