OXEN OF THE SUN

Because this episode is set in a maternity ward for the most part, it comes as no surprise that themes of fecundity (bloom’s meditation on Theodore Purfoy), bareness (wasteland images before the rain) and conception (esp. of ideas – all the authors Joyce has referenced) run rampant through the pages. Joyce further echoes these themes by assuming the roles of past authors to create an evolution (another theme explored with references to Darwin and the ‘missing link’) of writing styles through the ages. The relationship created between the events in the narrative and the morphing narrative style is micro/macrocosmic and they tend to dip in an out of each other. One of my favorite imitations Joyce explores is the gothic novel – which is clearly exaggerated, but it too incorporates larger ideas in an immediate scene: “My hell, and Ireland’s is in this life.” The section that follows the gothic seems to be a thinly veiled allusion to Joyce’s decision to construct this episode in this particular manner: “What is the age of the soul of the man? As she hath the virtue of the chameleon to change her hue at every new approach.. so too is her age changeable as her mood.”

Another interesting facet of this episode is the way Bloom is represented and described (childe Leopold, sir Leopold, traveler Leopold.) In keeping with his tendency toward empathy Bloom continually wonders at Mina Purfoy’s plight: “Sir Leopold heard on the upfloor cry on high and he wondered what cry that it was whether of child or woman.” Later in the episode he turns his thoughts to her husband, Theodore in what further reveals Bloom’s insecurities in his ability to procreate.

One part of the episode that I found particularly self-conscious on Joyce’ part was when he abuts the Defoe section with a diary section (allusion to Robinson Crusoe?) however it is also incredibly brilliant. It is also in the diary section that a rain storm is described, which brings life to the “barrenness” – in the same vein as how Robinson Crusoe brought new life to the English literary tradition by being considered the first novel.