Our first introduction to the relationship dynamics between Bloom and Molly occurs when Bloom asks her what she wants for breakfast and receives a slow, soft grunt “Mn” in return. Subsequently, she turns over on her bed and the “loose brass quoits of the bedstead jingle[]”(Joyce, p.46). This sound haunts Bloom and the reader throughout the book and evokes Molly’s loose bed life (Blamires, 2008). For example, Boylan is referenced as “jinglejaunty blazes boy”, Bloom’s memories of his night in the box with Molly are followed by an abrupt “jiggedy jingle jaunty jaunty” (Joyce, p.216), and we learn through Molly’s monologue that she was frustrated by the volume of the “damned old bed to jingling” when she was having sex with Boylan and therefore “suggested to put the quilt on the floor with the pillow under [her] bottom” (Joyce, p.720).
In Circe, Bloom is tormented by images of cuckoldry. As the women threaten him and he tries to downplay their accusations, they proclaim him a cuckold and demand that he “take down his trouser without loss of time” as punishment for ogling. Thus, as Bloom begins to obey, items like the cuckooing timepiece and the jingling brass quoits of Molly’s bed humiliate him publicly. The full significance of the jingling sound is finally revealed.
While this sound has been important in the course of the day, it is probable that Bloom was not conscious of it either. Therefore, Circe illustrates how subtle associations we construct from mundane experiences seep into our subconscious taking on meaning regardless of our awareness of it. Bloom’s subconscious is not his friend and his attempts to control it by avoiding the subject is completely futile. This failure is never as pronounced as during the portions of Circe relevant to Molly’s tryst.
Works Cited
Joyce, James. Ulysses: The Corrected Text. Ed. Gabler et al. (New York: Random House, Inc., 1986)