A complete chapter-by-chapter summary of James Joyce's Ulysses, with all 18 episodes explained. Each card gives you the basics: the Dublin location, the time of day, the Homeric parallel, a plain-English summary of what happens, and the key themes to listen for. Read them in order, or dip in wherever you are in the book.
4 of 18 episodes
“History, Stephen said, is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake.”
Stephen teaches a dull history lesson, helps a slow student with sums, and collects his wages from the headmaster Mr. Deasy, who lectures him on Jews and money.
“In the heart of the Hibernian metropolis.”
A chapter told in newspaper headlines. Bloom tries to place an ad while editors, lawyers, and Stephen swap rhetoric, gossip, and jokes.
“Father Conmee walked through Clongowes fields…”
Nineteen short scenes track minor and major characters crossing the city at the same hour, stitched together by glimpses of a viceregal procession.
“I was just passing the time of day with old Troy of the D. M. P.”
An unnamed cynic narrates Bloom's run-in with a violent nationalist known as the Citizen, interrupted by grand parodies. It ends with a thrown biscuit tin.