In "The Cyclops," Joyce also intersperses the limited actions of the chapter with over 30 interpolations that satirize various forms of pretentiousness: literary style, national aspirations, sports reporting, mincing gestures among the upper classes, and so forth. The Citizen (unnamed throughout the chapter) is described (in one of Joyce's well-known "catalogues") as a sort of prehistoric Irish warrior and, in addition, he is adorned with the trappings and tribal images of such historical personages as Captain Nemo, Goliath, Dante Alighieri, the Queen of Sheba, Lady Godiva, and so forth. A word of praise for Bloom (by Joe) as being a humane person elicits a paragraph from the Citizen about the hen, Black Liz, that anticipates the marmalady (Joyce's term) style of the Nausicaa Episode. Later, the mention of the (fictitious) Keogh-Bennett fight evokes the worst of trite expressions — blood becomes "lively claret" — and Keogh, an "Irish gladiator." In addition, Curmingham's innocuous "God bless all here . . ." occasions a most elaborate procession to Kiernan's pub, in which the principals mainly become "saints" — that is, Bloom is seen as "S. Leopold"; the rest become "martyrs, virgins and confessors. . . ."
Joyce structures "The Cyclops" by inculcating an ever-deepening sense of darkness, hatred, and violence, which inevitably leads up to the climactic confrontation between Bloom and the Citizen. The somewhat jaded patrons of Kiernan's pub contrast sharply with the semi-inebriated but warmly nostalgic drinkers in "The Sirens." Thus, "The Cyclops," although it takes place during the day, is really one of the so-called night parts of Ulysses and, as such, leads artistically to the later chapters. Kiernan's pub is indeed a sinister cave, and its denizen, the Citizen, is markedly different from his counterpart in the previous chapter, a man who is also ruined by drink — Uncle Richie Goulding. The narrator's syphilitic urination typifies with Joycean genius the entire mood of this piece.
The episode begins with the narrator's describing to Joe Hynes a trick perpetrated by the plumber Michael Geraghty, who stole from Moses Herzog but who, like Homer's Odysseus, managed to escape when he seemed to be trapped. Hynes is headed for Barney Kiernan's to meet with the Citizen to discuss a cattle traders' meeting about foot and mouth disease, and the narrator accompanies him. Inside the pub, they confront the ferocious dog, Garryowen (who does not belong to the Citizen, incidentally). The tone of nastiness in the chapter is augmented by Alf Bergan, who callously points out the eccentric Denis Breen, who is pursuing the libel suit over the telegram he received: "U.P.: up."
