“works changing colour like those crabs about Ringsend in the morning"

Joyce’s style shifts from alchemist prose to his tighter, trademark narrative throughout the chapter. The shift is indicative of so much-- It indicates the utilisation of two very different parts of the brain. While capable of writing traditionally, Joyce-- like Shakespeare, Nabokov or (what I determine to be) any great writer-- is able to change voices. There is his traditional voice, but there is also the ability to create atypical phrases that suggest the patterns of the subconscious thought found in dreams. There are is a parallel between the narrative and its author’s complexities, in this case.

Literary alchemy is a technique that seems to convey reality more thoroughly than a more focused, restrained narrative. So much occurs throughout a day; our perspectives and attitudes change. Thoughts aren't perfect or linear. However, sometimes there is perfection in complication and this is what we see with Joyce’s prose-- and, I think, the mind of a good artist.

Throughout the conversation that occurs in this chapter, we see some of the ways in which these characters change throughout the novel. Stephen is bright and articulate with those who he believes to be his intellectual superiors, but witty with those he considers less intelligent than he is, such as Bloom. Bloom is sexually conflicted and obssessed, but trying to posture as a successful adman in conversation, although his thoughts are elsewhere. However, he is able to recognize that Stephen is hungry and offers to buy him dinner.

Note: There is an intriguing power dynamic in this chapter. When Bloom talks about the prostitute in the black straw hat to Stephen, we notice that he criticizes the man who didn’t take care of her, yet it seems that Bloom is unable to take care of or control his own wife. Are his criticisms of women an example of misused power?