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Leopold Bloom is a man in mourning.
On June 16, 1904 the mild mannered hero of Ulysses wanders Dublin dressed in black. Ostensibly, this is a solemn ritual for Paddy Dignam’s funeral. Subtextually, Mr. Bloom’s clothes are permanent reminders of the challenge he must overcome every single day: the pain of Rudy’s death.
Naturally, Ulysses makes a big deal out of Mr. Bloom’s dead son. Rudy’s role in connecting Bloom, Molly, and Stephen is a central drive in the novel’s plot. He represented the future, the red string that kept Bloom and Molly together, the hollow that Stephen must eventually come to fill.
I’m in a seminar on Ulysses, and my professor spends a great deal of time dwelling on the issue of paternity, the relationship between father and child. During these lectures (and there are many), my mind begins to wonder, what about Bloom’s other child?
Indeed, very little of the novel deals with the young photography student and daughter Milly Bloom. The only time my professor has mentioned her name was to compare it with Molly’s. (“Milly” has an ‘i’ which is a skinny version of the ‘o’ in “Molly,” hinting at Bloom’s fear of his daughter becoming like his wife)
We know that she studies photography in Mullingar, is quite socially active, and is coveted by her father in a nostalgic…
