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Episode 11: Sirens
Themes
and Colors
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Ulysses, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Alienation and the Quest for Belonging
Literature, Meaning, and Perspective
Love and Sex
Fate vs. Free Will
Religion, Atheism, and Philosophy
Irish Identity and Nationalism
Summary
Analysis
The unnamed Dubliner who narrates this episode of the novel is busy chatting with a police officer on a street corner when a passing chimney sweep’s brush nearly stabs him in the eye. The narrator furiously turns around, then sees his buddy Joe Hynes and strikes up a conversation. Hynes asks what the narrator is up to, and the narrator explains that he’s come to collect a debt. The debtor is Geraghty, a plumber who stole tea and sugar from a merchant, then refused to pay his fine and started threatening to sue the merchant for operating without a license. For a paragraph, the narrative shifts into the formalistic voice of a legal contract.
In the Odyssey, the stupid one-eyed brute Polyphemus traps Odysseus in a cave and eats several of his men. Knowing he’s next, Odysseus blinds the cyclops with a wooden stake and escapes with his herd of sheep. This episode takes its parallels to the Odyssey more seriously than most of the others in the book. The first sign of this is when the chimney sweep nearly pokes out the narrator´s eye (which references Odysseus blinding Polyphemus). The narrator and (to a greater extent) his friend “the citizen” represent the giant cyclops because they are extremely arrogant and view the world in a one-eyed way, from just a single perspective. Joyce contrasts this with Bloom’s cognitive flexibility, or his ability to assess multiple points of view and accept disagreement. (The astronomical concept of parallax also represents how triangulating between different perspectives can provide the most information about something.) Clearly, Joyce thinks that it’s important for people to see multiple sides of the same story—but as a writer, he also mocks that idea in this episode by introducing a series of grossly exaggerated voices that parody a wide variety of different literary styles and compete for attention. These voices are also “one-eyed” perspectives, and by using them, Joyce is partially engaging in self-parody. He is both trying to prove that Ulysses is a universal book and consciously poking fun at his own ego for his pretentious idea that any book could ever capture the entirety of the human experience. Meanwhile, the main narrator’s anonymity is a subtle nod to the way Odysseus convinced Polyphemus that his name was “nobody” in order to prevent him from finding him later.
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Joe Hynes and the narrator agree to go to Barney Kiernan’s for a drink. Joe explains that he wants to meet “the citizen” to tell him about a city meeting about cattle foot and mouth disease. The narrative abruptly breaks into the style of a classical Celtic legend with a flowery description of Dublin’s central market, chock-full of goods from all across the country: fish, vegetables, meat, dairy, and more.
The characters’ interest in local politics and the brief caricature of classical Irish legend both point to this episode’s fixation on Irish politics and identity. Through the Celtic legend’s exaggerated praise, Joyce seems to be pointing out how many Irish nationalists irrationally feel loyal to and proud of absolutely anything associated with their country (including something as common as a central market). Of course, throughout this episode, foot and mouth disease also obviously hints at “foot in mouth disease”—or the characters’ tendency to say foolish things and awkwardly embarrass themselves.
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In the corner of Barney Kiernan’s pub, Joe Hynes and the narrator meet the citizen and his mangy, aggressive dog Garryowen. The citizen starts talking about politics, and the men order drinks. An interlude describes the heroic citizen sitting on a boulder in front of a tower, breathing majestically, dressed like a rugged Irish mountain man. He has rocks engraved with images of dozens of different heroes, both Irish (like Cuchulin, Soggarth Eoghan, and Red Jim McDermott) and international (like Shakespeare, Captain Nemo, and the Gautama Buddha). Back in the pub, Hynes pays for everyone’s drinks and explains that a “prudent member” gave him a tip. (The epic voice says that “O’Bloom, the son of Rory” is “the prudent soul.”)
The citizen complains that The Irish Independent is publishing too many English names in its listing of births, 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 his lawbooks and his wife, Alf explains, “traipsing all round Dublin” looking for a lawyer willing to take on his libel case. The novel breaks back into the ironic epic voice, as the barman Terry O’Ryan brings Alf a Guinness and Alf buys his buddies a round with a precious bronze coin embossed with the image of “Her Most Excellent Majesty” Queen Victoria.
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Alf pulls out a stack of letters and declares that he just saw Willy Murray chatting with Paddy Dignam in the street. Joe Hynes clarifies that Paddy Dignam is dead, but Alf can scarcely believe it. Meanwhile, Bob Doran calls out from his corner, “Who are you laughing at? […] Who’s dead?” In a parody of the Sanskrit-obsessed theosophists, the novel describes Alf establishing a mystical connection with Paddy Dignam’s departed spirit. Then, the businesslike voice from the beginning of the episode discusses Dignam’s last will and testament, and the Celtic epic voice mourns for “O’Dignam.”
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The citizen spots Leopold Bloom outside the bar. Meanwhile, Bob Doran curses Christ for letting Dignam die. Terry O’Ryan comes down to shut Bob up, and Bob breaks out into tears instead. Bloom comes 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, citing his previous experience and his skill with nooses.
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Joe greets Bloom and offers him a drink, but Bloom doesn’t want anything. He eventually agrees to take a cigar. The men chat about capital punishment, and Bloom offers intelligent arguments about its practicality. Garryowen the dog sniffs at Bloom, which prompts the man 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 happens. The novel describes Bloom’s theory in the anatomically precise style of a pretentious medical journal.
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One thing leads to another, and Joe Hynes and the citizen start talking 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 of an old Jacobs’ biscuit tin. Meanwhile, Bloom gets involved in the political argument, although the narrator thinks he’s wrong and pretentious. The narrator remembers several rumors about Bloom, like how once got a young man drunk in order “to teach him the evils of alcohol,” but his plot backfired and the young man was soon getting drunk five days a week. The citizen drinks to “the memory of the dead [Irish revolutionaries]” and shouts over Bloom when he attempts to clarify his point.
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The novel parodies sensationalistic newspaper journalism with a long interlude describing the day of an Irish revolutionary’s public execution in Dublin. This account dwells at length on the weather, the prominent people in attendance, the executioner Rumbold’s “disembowelling appliances,” and the revolutionary’s girlfriend.
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Bloom, Joe Hynes, the citizen, and the narrator keep talking about politics. They discuss the Irish language and the politics of drinking—Bloom supports the antitreating league (a pro-sobriety group), but the narrator doesn’t, since he remembers getting bored at one of their events. The dog Garryowen starts growling at the narrator. In a passage parodying a magazine advertisement, the novel imagines an upcoming poetry reading exhibition by the humanized, well-trained Garryowen (now named Owen Garry). The narrator has Terry bring the dog some water, and Joe Hynes orders more drinks. Bloom declines, as he’s only intending to see Martin Cunningham about Dignam’s insurance. The narrator disapproves of the complex way Bloom explains the relevant mortgage laws and repeatedly makes anti-Semitic remarks.
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Bob Doran stumbles over to Bloom and expresses his condolences to Mrs. Dignam about Paddy Dignam’s death. The novel comments on this conversation with a parody of overly formal, elaborate upper-class politeness. Then, Bob stumbles out of the bar, even though it’s only five o’clock. The man narrating this episode points out that Bob is impious when he’s drunk, but he is a model Catholic when he isn’t. Joe Hynes, the citizen, and the narrator drink their pints.
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Joe and Alf chat about Nannetti running for mayor, and Joe remembers seeing him at the meeting about foot and mouth disease. Bloom used to work with cattle, so he explains the disease, which makes the narrator even angrier at him. The narrator makes a joke about hens, and the novel briefly breaks out into the style of a book for young children starring Black Liz, the hen.
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Joe explains that Nannetti is headed to London to speak in Parliament about the cattle issue and the legality of playing traditional Irish games in the park. Bloom is disappointed because he’s supposed to talk to Nannetti about Keyes’s ad. The novel transforms into a question-and-answer session in the British Parliament about “the slaughter of human animals who dare to play Irish games in the Phoenix park.” Joe says that the citizen was once a great shot-putter, and the men start chatting about traditional Irish sports. The narrator complains that Bloom can talk about anything forever, even a piece of straw on the floor. The novel briefly becomes a parody of a newspaper column summarizing a public meeting about the Gaelic sports revival. The column notes that Bloom opposed the revival and lists all the clergy who attended.
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The men’s conversation drifts to the boxing match that Blazes Boylan promoted. Bloom talks about lawn tennis, but the other men ignore him, and then the novel breaks into a detailed account of a boxing match. The men chat about Boylan’s newest venture, Molly Bloom’s concert tour, and Bloom awkwardly praises Boylan’s management. A romantic literary voice praises Molly’s “peerless beauty,” then announces that J.J. O’Molloy and Lambert have entered the bar. The episode’s primary narrator criticizes O’Molloy, who pretends to be successful but secretly pawns off his possessions under a false name.
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As they drink, the men chat about Denis Breen and laugh at his absurd lawsuit. Bloom sympathizes with Mrs. Breen, who has to deal with her husband’s madness. The Breens pass by again on the street with Corny Kelleher. Joe Hynes asks about the case of the scammer who sold people false tickets to Canada. Ned Lambert complains that the Recorder who tried the case was sympathetic because of the scammer’s poverty. In a passage that mocks both religious and legal prose, the novel describes the recorder Frederick Falkiner choosing to let the man off.
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The citizen starts complaining about immigrants and foreigners, whom he blames for Ireland’s problems and wants out. Bloom ignores him and, instead, asks Joe Hynes to help get Keyes’s advertisement to Myles Crawford. (In exchange, Bloom will forget about the money Hynes owes him until 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 other men a picture of a Chicago woman caught up in an adultery scandal.
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Lenehan and John Wyse Nolan come into the bar and the citizen asks them what happened at the city hall meeting about the Irish language. In the voice of an epic legend, the novel briefly depicts Nolan as a hero dedicating himself to the Irish people. “To hell with the bloody brutal [English],” the citizen proclaims. J.J. O’Molloy and Bloom try to talk the citizen down, but he just gets angrier: he claims that the English have never created any valuable art and aren’t even real Europeans. Lenehan yells out, “Perfide Albion [Perfidious England],” and the novel briefly mocks him by comparing him to a brawny barbarian repeating his tribe’s slogan.
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Lenehan informs the other men that the horse Throwaway, a longshot and outsider, won the Ascot Gold Cup. Lenehan, Boylan, and Boylan’s “lady friend” (possibly Molly Bloom) all lost money by betting on Sceptre.
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The citizen continues to argue with O’Molloy and Bloom. He blames England for degrading Ireland, reducing its population, corrupting the fine products it used to export, and cutting down its forests. The novel breaks into a mock newspaper report about a fashionable wedding, where the guests are all named after trees, flowers, and forests. The citizen insists that God will help Ireland rebuild its strength and win independence from the 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 about the lynching of a Black man in the U.S. The narrator of this episode thinks that they should have crucified the man instead of burning him alive.
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The citizen discusses how the English brutally punish misbehavior in the British Navy, and he declares that the English are hypocrites to sincerely believe that their empire is benevolent. In a brief parody of the Apostles’ Creed, a basic statement of Christian faith, the novel compares an Irish Navy man to Jesus. Bloom challenges the citizen’s indignation by suggesting that discipline is sometimes necessary in the Navy, and the citizen launches into a tirade about the potato famine of 1845-1852. The citizen, John Wyse Nolan, and Joe Hynes complain that the Irish fought for other nations (like France and Germany) in their wars, but didn’t get others’ loyalty in return. They even insult Queen Victoria and King Edward VII. Then, they order more drinks.
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Bloom complains that people have always persecuted each other in world history, and this causes nations to hate each other. The citizen asks Bloom what a nation is, and they’re not satisfied with his response that it’s “the same people living in the same place.” They’re also not happy when he says that Ireland is his nation. The citizen spits and then cleans himself with a handkerchief, which the novel describes as a “muchtreasured and intricately embroidered ancient Irish facecloth” in a paragraph mocking a news report.
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Bloom points out that Jewish people continue to be persecuted, too. John Wyse Nolan proposes that Jewish people fight back, but Bloom says that this would be useless: the real solution is love. While Bloom leaves to go find Martin Cunningham, the citizen and John Wyse Nolan keep mocking him, and for a paragraph, the novel sappily lists different people who love each other.
The citizen starts railing against the British for using religion to profit. He reads an article from a satirical newspaper that imagines a Zulu chief visiting England and thanking Queen Victoria for giving him a copy of the Bible. J.J. O’Molloy compares this to the Belgian atrocities in the Congo.
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Lenehan falsely claims that Bloom has left to collect his horserace winnings from the Ascot Gold Cup—after all, Bantam Lyons told Lenehan that Bloom gave him a tip for Throwaway. The men agree that Bloom is “a bloody dark horse.” The narrator goes to the bathroom, thinking about Bloom’s alleged winnings. When he returns, John Wyse Nolan is suggesting that Bloom has actually been helping the Irish Nationalists, but the narrator decides Bloom’s father must have been a fraudster who contributed to Ireland’s downfall.
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Martin Cunningham, Jack Power, and Crofton arrive at the bar. The novel briefly retells this arrival in a pseudo-medieval voice, and then Martin asks for Bloom. John Wyse Nolan asks 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 father was really a Hungarian Jew named Virag, the men get furious.
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The citizen sarcastically compares Bloom to the Messiah and Ned Lambert remembers how excited Bloom was for his son Rudy’s birth. Martin agrees to have a drink with the other men, and he, the citizen, and Joe Hynes say a toast to St. Patrick. In a lengthy interlude, the novel gives an overly formal description of a Catholic procession. It includes a long list of saints who bear a long list of sacred items. Several of these saints are conveniently named after the main characters in this episode. Led by Father O’Flynn, the procession goes to Barney Kiernan’s and blesses it as a holy drinking-house.
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Bloom comes back to the bar, and he’s glad to see Martin Cunningham (who he was looking for at the courthouse). Convinced that Bloom is lying, the narrator and the citizen accuse him of trying to keep a secret. Cunningham, Jack Power, and Crofton rush Bloom out of the bar and into their car. In a parody of a medieval legend, the novel compares this car to a mythical ship setting sail.
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The citizen runs to the door of the bar and yells out, “Three cheers for Israel!” The narrator criticizes this outburst, and a group of people congregates around the citizen, who goes on an anti-Semitic rant. Bloom replies that many great figures were Jewish, like the composer Mendelssohn, the philosopher Spinoza, and Jesus (which means God was Jewish, too). The furious citizen yells that he will “crucify” Bloom.
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In another intervening parody passage, the novel mockingly compares the crowd that gathers around Bloom and the citizen to a ceremony celebrating the departure of Hungarian royalty from Dublin. The citizen runs inside the bar and grabs the empty Jacob’s Biscuits tin. The horse starts pulling Martin Cunningham’s car along, and the citizen throws the biscuit tin at Bloom. But the sun gets in his eyes and he misses.
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A long paragraph describes the ensuing confrontation as a devastating earthquake, which caused a storm so strong that it blew people’s possessions clear across Ireland. The narrator of this episode comments that the citizen was lucky to miss, so that he won’t get in legal trouble. But the citizen shouts, “Did I kill him, […] or what?” and sends the dog Garryowen after Bloom. The episode ends with one final parody, in which a new voice compares Martin Cunningham’s departing car to Elijah’s chariot, ascending to heaven.
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