Ulysses, by James Joyce

Initial reactions to the novel Ulysses, by James Joyce were that this book parallels itself with Homer’s Odyssey. I initially thought that the idea of a “day in the life of” book would be interesting to read as well. In almost every novel you are able to get inside the head of the main characters and are able to feel their emotions at the moments they are feeling them and are able to experience …

…only after Odysseus describes their bed. In Joyce’s novel the scene is recreated with the Blooms’ bed, whose jingling sound has been heard, foreshadowed and developed through several scenes in the novel. Striking details in this novel are how James Joyce’s characters are so eerily similar to Homer’s characters. Stephen Dedalus is Telemachus, Ithaca is the Blooms’ house, Molly Bloom is a mixture of both Penelope and Calypso, and Ulysses is Odysseus.