Who was Nora Barnacle?
Nora Barnacle was James Joyce's partner and later his wife, a woman from Galway. Their first walk together, on 16 June 1904, is why Ulysses is set on that day. Her voice and letters are often seen in Molly Bloom's monologue.
Edited by Aidan O'Leary · Last updated 30 October 2026
Where it appears
Several episodes. Molly Bloom, remembering Bloom's proposal at the end of the novel.
he said I was a flower of the mountain yes
What it means in plain English
Nora was working at Finn's Hotel in Dublin when Joyce met her. They left Ireland together in October 1904 and married in London in 1931.
Molly is not Nora, but Nora's unpunctuated letters and frank speech helped give Molly's monologue its rhythm.
Literary context
She is said to have never read most of Ulysses.
References
- Ulysses, Episode 18, “Penelope”
- Brenda Maddox, Nora (1988)
- Richard Ellmann, James Joyce (revised edition, 1982)
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Questions readers ask
Why is Ulysses set on 16 June?
It is the day of Joyce's first date with Nora Barnacle in 1904.
Related terms
Bloomsday
The annual celebration of Ulysses held every 16 June, the day on which the whole novel takes place.
Molly Bloom
Leopold's wife, a singer, whose long unpunctuated monologue closes the book on the word 'yes.' Joyce's Penelope.
Howth Head
Howth Head is the headland north of Dublin Bay where Bloom proposed to Molly sixteen years before the novel, lying among the rhododendrons. Both of them remember it on 16 June 1904, and Molly's memory of it closes the book.