Ulysses - Episode 12 - Cyclops

[Ally]

Please use this thread to discuss Episode 12 - Cyclops of...

Ulyssesby James Joyce

[Jan C]

Questions/comments from the Evanston IL Public Library discussions group:

Episode 12: Cyclops – 5p.m., The Tavern

Key Players: The Citizen, the narrator, Joe Hynes, Terry the barman, Bloom, etc.

The Cyclops episode is often described as a mock-epic, a form of satire that adapts the elevated heroic style of the classical epic poem to a trivial subject. Where do you find evidence of this mock-epic style?

How is the Citizen similar to the Homeric Cyclops? Which other characters in Episode 12 also display “Cyclopic” characteristics? How does Bloom contrast with these “one-eyed,” one-sided characters?

Why are both the narrator and the Citizen nameless? Is the narrator reliable in his relation of the scene in Barney Kiernan's?

Do you agree with the assessment that Bloom emerges as a Christ figure at the end of Episode 12?

Organ: Muscle • Art: Politics • Color: None • Symbol: Fenian Technic: Gigantism