SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES: LEOPOLD BLOOM, HOSPITALITY, AND THE OTHER IN JAMES JOYCE’S ULYSSES
SHIFTING PERSPECTIVES: LEOPOLD BLOOM, HOSPITALITY, AND THE OTHER IN JAMES JOYCE’S ULYSSES

Summary/Abstract: Shifting Perspectives: Leopold Bloom, Hospitality, and the other in James Joyce’s “Ulysses”. The present paper interprets the character of Leopold Bloom in light of his incorporation of the ethical necessity to “see ourselves as others see us”, as well as the meaning acquired by the character when read against the context of the Great War. We propose that Bloom the redeemer, as he is portrayed on several occasions throughout the day, is not a single Messianic figure, but rather a type of human being with a distinctive attitude to the experience of the Other. The protagonist, himself an exile, is perpetually prone to shed his own point of view in favour of that of alterity, in other words, to see the world as others might see it. His acts of kindness, his generous, gentle nature, and his interactions with Stephen and Molly can all be viewed, as I will argue, as consequences of this almost in-built shift of perspective.

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