Bloom's motives for helping Stephen are mostly altruistic. In "Hades," when Bloom saw Stephen, Stephen was alone — that is, he was without his "fidus Achates" — the "cad," Mulligan. In "Eumaeus," the recurrence of this same phrase indicates that Bloom is indeed filling an immediate need of Stephen's. Joyce makes it clear that Bloom is helping Stephen by warning him to avoid the robust but superficial Buck Mulligan. Mulligan "contributes the humorous element," it is true, but Bloom feels that Mulligan cannot be trusted. Bloom observed more than Stephen could when the medical students were drinking in "The Oxen of the Sun" chapter. Bloom believes that Mulligan may have put something into Stephen's drink. Clearly, Bloom feels compassion for Stephen; he thinks that Stephen is a bright young man, recently returned from Paris — a young man who may not "have it all together yet." In Stephen's eyes, Bloom sees the eyes of Stephen's sisters and father. He thinks that it is a pity that "a young fellow blessed with an allowance of brains . . . should waste his valuable time with profligate women. . . ." And, after all, Bloom brought home a dog with a lame paw (there is a parallel here with Stephen's injured hand); thus, why not do it again — even though Molly might become irate?
Bloom acts basically because of his innate charity (making him once again a 20th-century Christ figure), but his motives are mixed. A careful reading of "Eumaeus" dispels the trite notion that Bloom is either a simple plaster saint or a merely farcical protagonist. His assessment of Stephen's personality, for example, as well as his assessment of Stephen's talents, is shrewd, and often in "Eumaeus," Bloom imagines how Stephen can be used to his (Bloom's) advantage. As a writer, Stephen could help Bloom advertise the new opera company which he is conceiving in his imagination by "providing puffs in the local papers," since Stephen is undoubtedly a "fellow with a bit of bounce. . . ." In onesense, we should realize that Bloom is willing to take Stephen home, to spend a few pennies on him because of possible benefits that may come from Bloom's cultivating "the acquaintance of someone of no uncommon calibre who could provide food for reflection . . . ." In other words, the mercantilistic, advertising sideof Bloom will sacrifice some "food and lodging" to acquire from Stephen some "food for thought." Then, too, Bloom might find in the meeting with Stephen enough material to publish in Titbits, in the manner of the vaunted Philip Beaufoy: "My Experiences, let us say, in a Cabman's Shelter." Or perhaps since Stephen has his father's voice, Bloom might profit from Stephen's fine tenor renditions. Finally, Bloom offers one of the best summaries of Stephen's character ever penned: "His initial impression was that he was a bit standoffish or not over effusive but it grew on him someway." This "impression" of Stephen is exactly what many readers of Ulysses have throughout the novel.
