He ceased. Mr Bloom glanced from his angry moustache to Mr Power’s mild face and Martin Cunningham’s eyes and beard, gravely shaking. Noisy selfwilled man. Full of his son. He is right. Something to hand on. If little Rudy had lived. See him grow up. Hear his voice in the house. Walking beside Molly in an Eton suit. My son. Me in his eyes. Strange feeling it would be. From me. Just a chance. Must have been that morning in Raymond terrace she was at the window watching the two dogs at it by the wall of the cease to do evil. And the sergeant grinning up. She had that cream gown on with the rip she never stitched. Give us a touch, Poldy. God, I’m dying for it. How life begins.
Got big then. Had to refuse the Greystones concert. My son inside her. I could have helped him on in life. I could. Make him independent. Learn German too.
—Are we late? Mr Power asked.
—Ten minutes, Martin Cunningham said, looking at his watch.
Molly. Milly. Same thing watered down. Her tomboy oaths. O jumping Jupiter! Ye gods and little fishes! Still, she’s a dear girl. Soon be a woman. Mullingar. Dearest Papli. Young student. Yes, yes: a woman too. Life, life.
The carriage heeled over and back, their four trunks swaying.
—Corny might have given us a more commodious yoke, Mr Power said.
—He might, Mr Dedalus said, if he hadn’t that squint troubling him. Do you follow me?
He closed his left eye. Martin Cunningham began to brush away crustcrumbs from under his thighs.
—What is this, he said, in the name of God? Crumbs?
—Someone seems to have been making a picnic party here lately, Mr Power said.
annotation:
I remembered Bloom talking about the loss of his son so I had to go back through my previous illustrations to find out where that was. Rudy briefly crosses his mind while reading Milly’s letter at the breakfast table. ( found here ), but this is the first time that Bloom ties the death of his son to the sexual frustrations he has with Molly. The character profile of Rudy Bloom on Ulysses Seen ( link ) confirmed for me that Blooms celibacy began with Rudy’s death. Bloom imagines Rudy walking with Molly dressed in a Eton suit, a classic mother and child motif, although it would have been a contemporary look at the time. The Cliff notes for chapter 6 informed me that Joyce returns to the father son theme often in Hades. We’ve seen it so far in the father son relationship of Simon and Stephen as well as Leopold and Rudy.
I was very excited to draw this particular scene as I always enjoy drawing scenes of sexual tension between Bloom and Molly. This one was especially interesting because of the third party of the sergeant watching Molly from the street. I even considered trying to work the two dogs in but couldn’t figure out a way to make that work compositionally, so they are only suggested in Molly’s gaze. I doubt the hole in Molly’s gown that she hadn’t fixed was quite as well placed as I drew it, but I feel like it makes the drawing far more interesting.