/lit/ - Literature

>contransmagnificandjewbangtantiality

0. Do Gerty's thoughts reveal things Bloom couldn't know/imagine? (yes: her surname, details of Catholic ritual, her limp)

1. Do Gerty's thoughts reflect Bloom's quirks? (maybe: underwear, bikes, 'Tableau!')

2. Do we see or hear things that reflect Bloom's quirks? (yes: Cissy on spanking bottoms)

3. Are Gerty's thoughts inconsistent with what we (seem to) see and hear? (yes: underwear changes from blue to white, she wrinkles her nose as parting judgment)

4. Do the ages attributed to her friends make sense? (no: Edy's 21 seems improbably old, Reggie's 16-or-less far too young)

5. What age(s) do Gerty's thought reflect? (makeup and marriage: over 16?)

6. Is she really old enough to be menstruating? (yes: her thoughts dwell on it; maybe not: reference to Edy's monthlies lacks 'too'; no: next year in drawers?)

7. What do Bloom's afterthoughts suggest? (over-16: he might have flirted, he wonders if she's Martha; under-16: none of them are 'grownups', green apples, next year in drawers)

And regarding her age, I offer this image from Finnegans Wake:

"...infantina Isobel (who will be blushing all day to be, when she growed up one Sunday... when she took the veil, the beautiful presentation nun, so barely twenty, in her pure coif, sister Isobel, and next Sunday... still as beautiful and still in her teens, nurse Saintette Isabelle, with stiffstarched cuffs but on... Easter mornings... the wonderful widow of eighteen springs, Madame Isa Veuve La Belle, so sad but lucksome in her... weeper's veil)..." FW556

The suggestion is that Bloom starts off lying to himself about her age, but by the end of the chapter starts to acknowledge it: "I begin to like them at that age. Green apples." and "next year in drawers" (If I understand correctly, girls would start wearing drawers when they start menstruating? So earlier references to her period would be part of his denial.

Edy and Cissy have brought their little brothers, a one-year-old and 4yo twins. If they're over 18, how did their mothers manage to have kids 15 years apart, and where are the intervening siblings?

Was Joyce so based?