Finally, we get to see things from Molly’s point of view, which occurs as a giant interior monologue/stream of consciousness. After finally being exposed to Molly’s innermost thoughts on her marriage and problems with Bloom, I was struck by how many of her thoughts are revealed to the reader, yet remain unspoken to Bloom. He frequently thinks that Molly has had many infidelities, yet we find out she has been loyal until today’s incident with Boylan, all the while knowing that Bloom has his various infidelities as well. And Molly is not nearly as indifferent or uncaring towards him as Bloom supposes: Molly thinks frequently about him and his past loves and current interests. Thus the root problem of the Blooms’ relationship seems to be their inability to speak their thoughts out loud to each other. The narration of Penelope may also mimic this idea, as it is probably one of the hardest chapters to read, following Oxen of the Sun, suggesting that the reader–like Bloom–struggles to understand and interpret Molly’s thoughts.

On a separate note, most of this episode seemed to revolve around the topics of sex and clothing. It seemed like a kind of chauvinistic and stereotypical depiction of what a bored housewife might think of at the end of the day. The topic of sex is understandably more relevant, but the incredible focus on fabric, clothing, and what other women were wearing seemed much less so, and felt detrimental to Joyce’s attempted portrayal of a realistic character.