Since Episode 15 brought Bloom and Stephen into the same physical space to interact extensively in person for the first time in the novel, the conversational narrative style of Episode 16 helps further define the relationship between Bloom and Stephen.

A dialogue between Bloom and Stephen forms the backbone of Episode 16’s narration, and as the dialogue progresses it becomes evident that, while Bloom and Stephen disagree on mostly everything they talk about, they are intangibly similar in a way that implies the two men to be parts of a sort of greater whole. Bloom and Stephen disagree on the role that work plays in society (p. 526) and the relative evil of selling a body versus selling a soul (p. 517), yet Bloom reflects that it was “as if both their minds were traveling, so to speak, in the one train of thought” (l. 1580). Given their shared physical presence — Bloom literally “touche[s] his companion’s boot” (l. 371) at the beginning of the episode, and walks home with Stephen as two dark figures (p. 541) at the end — it seems that Stephen and Bloom’s apparently divergent belief systems may actually balance each other out and contribute to a sort of shared identity between them.

The phrase on line 1580 is also an example of what Prof. Simpson called “stylistic sloppiness” in his email — even though the phrase “as if” indicates the subsequent line to be a simile, not meant to be taken literally, Bloom (Joyce?) throws in the additional phrase “so to speak,” also prompting a non-literal interpretation and thus making the phrase redundant. Lines like these add to the overall tiredness of the episode, and make Bloom’s exclamation, “Yesterday!” (l. 1575) upon learning of Stephen’s lack of food intake seem even more indicative of Bloom’s father-like tendencies toward Stephen.