Behind the seemingly clear battle lines of "Calypso," behind the clearly differentiated portraits of Molly and Poldy, a great deal is happening, and Joyce, by cleverly using selective details, suggests the complexities that underlie the surface status quo. This chapter contains many "hidden" activities. For example, Bloom's card bearing the pseudonymous name of Henry Flower is hidden under the hatband of the hat that he bought from John Plasto, the hatter; he will use the card in the next episode to pick up the letter from his pen pal lover, Martha Clifford (undoubtedly a pseudonym, also). In addition, neither Bloom nor Molly wants to acknowledge the letter that she has received from Blazes Boylan; she tries to hide it under the pillow, but its visible torn edge deeply troubles Bloom. On a more humorous level, Bloom slips the kidney from Dlugacz's into a sidepocket, thus hiding it.
Much of the hidden meaning in "Calypso" stems from the upcoming affair between Boylan and Molly. The jingling brass quoits of the bedstead recur throughout Ulysses, and they shall be even more ruthlessly tried later in the afternoon. The two lovers will sing "Love's Old Sweet Song" during the upcoming concert tour, but they will practice it at 7 Eccles Street beforehand. It is ironic that Bloom has sent Milly to Mullingar to study photography primarily to get her away from home during his wife's incipient affair with Boylan, since Milly alludes to Blazes in her letter: "Tell him silly Milly sends my best respects."
The implications about the unusual relationship between Molly and Bloom are objectified by Joyce through sexual imagery. Ruby, the book that Molly has been reading while sitting on the chamber pot, is about a naked woman who is abused by a sadistic male, suggesting masochistic tendencies in Molly that critics frequently ignore. And one must not forget that Molly likes the Bath of the Nymph picture over the bed; the bath, one might note, is taken by naked girls. Bloom, for his part, seems to be defining an aspect of his own nature when he wonders why mice do not squeal when eaten by cats; perhaps, he muses, they like it. Many of these ideas will be further developed in Bella Cohen's brothel scene in "Circe."
