The original ad read, "Wanted smart lady typist to aid gentleman in literary work," and Bloom thinks of one respondent, Lizzie Twigg (an actual poetess), who had been praised by "the eminent poet A. E.," George Russell, the theosophist, as well as poet, who will figure prominently in the next episode. The "conservative" Bloom, however, thought that Ms. Twigg might be too bohemian or arty. A little later in the chapter, Bloom sees Russell bicycling by, accompanied by a young woman who might be Lizzie Twigg: "Coming events [witness the appearances of Boylan] cast their shadows before."
Unable to eat at the Burton Hotel because of the disgusting spectacle of its wolfing, slobbering customers, Bloom enters the pub of Davy Byrne, a "moral pub," and the reader finds out a good deal more about the protagonist's character. Buoyed up temporarily by a glass of burgundy and a cheese sandwich, Bloom thinks of the moment in the spring or summer of 1888 when Molly agreed to marry him, on the hill of Howth, overlooking Dublin Bay. In this deeply romantic reminiscence, parts of which will recur several times in Ulysses, we discover a side of Bloom that has not yet been revealed, one that makes Molly's upcoming sexual union with the insensitive Boylan — which the emotionally exhausted Bloom is unable to prevent — all the more important to our understanding of Bloom. Although the description of Molly's passing the warm and chewed seedcake (of life) from her mouth to Bloom's has often been glibly subjected to Freudian analysis by literary critics, the picture presented of Bloom in this "Garden of Eden" is not primarily that of a son being "fed" by a mother, but of a vital, passionate lover, able to inspire the same emotion in another human being. We must not forget (Bloom certainly does not) that while the sensual Molly had many suitors, Bloom is the man whom she did, in fact, marry. Had he not spent that beautiful moment under the wild ferns on Howth with Molly, Bloom might, at times, border on the farcical. The deep love that Molly held for him, at least 16 years ago (and perhaps now), adds necessary depth to Bloom's portrait.
