Molly Bloom and the Abivalent Female Mind

755 Words2 Pages

Until the last chapter of Ulysses, Molly Bloom was primarily seen through the eyes of the other viewpoint characters in the story. They are only small glimpses into her personality, and other than the few lines she does say, we see little of her own thoughts. In episode eighteen, we finally get her world view, even though her thoughts contradict themselves at times. In that episode, James Joyce is attempting to explore the mind of a 'universal woman', and their mindset, filtered through the eyes of one man. Himself.
After expressing her frustration with having to serve her husband breakfast in bed, Molly begins her stream of consciousness with thoughts of the differences between men and women: “…Yes because theyre so weak and pulling when there sick they want a women to get well if his nose bleeds…” (738). This line illustrates Joyce’s desire to understand the human mind, specifically the female mind. There’s a clear double standard for women, who must be strong and "hide(s) [their weakness]" (738). This also suggests the idea that men need to be, and should be, taken care of by women.
But unlike most written works that show women in a subservient light, Joyce seems to be trying to highlight the strengths of women, and therefore the weakness of men. Women are able to deal with unpleasant situations far better than men, and through this strength, Molly recognizes the powers she - and many other women have over men. For example, the lines “let him see my garters the new ones and make him turn red looking at him seduce him” (740) shows her identifying exactly how easy it is for her to get a reaction out of men. She likes that she can do this, especially since her relationship with her husband is neglected.
The lack of punctuatio...

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...times, women must support them.
Further into the text, Molly states that men can do anything they want, with the implication of flirting with women, and yet women “[are] not to ask any questions”(746). At this point, Molly is clearly bitter about this, and believes that women should be able to question men’s activities just as men feel they are entitled to do to women – which Molly not only disagrees with, but truly dislikes. This is all to illustrate Joyce’s ideas of the female mind, and the hypocritical ways in which they work.
Towards the end of this episode, Molly’s stream of consciousness begins to explore the importance of love and family in a woman live. This aspects is different from his idea of a man’s point of view in that, according to Molly “A woman wants to be embraced 20 times a day almost” (777) because women need some form of love in their lives.

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