Townsend Street
Townsend
Street
In Brief
After a detailed account of Bloom's journey east on Rogerson's Quay and south
on Lime Street, the
narrative mentions nothing of his longer walk west on Hanover
Street. The reader is brought back from Bloom's musings into
the urban surroundings only after a couple of long city blocks
have brought him close to the thoroughfare where he will
remain for most of the chapter: "He crossed Townsend street,
passed the frowning face of Bethel. El, yes: house of: Aleph,
Beth. And past Nichols' the undertaker." Townsend Street is
the westward continuation of Hanover Street. By crossing it,
Bloom is turning south onto Lombard Street, which becomes
Westland Row after it crosses Great Brunswick Street.
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This confusing series of turns and changing
nomenclature—right, then right again along an unmentioned
street, then left across the named continuation of that street
onto an unnamed street that will become the prominent named
street that is his destination—clearly speaks to Bloom's state
of mind. It may indicate either Odyssean craft (an exceedingly
cautious desire to evade detection as he proceeds most
indirectly to the post office where Martha's incriminating
letter is waiting for him) or lotus-like stupor (wandering
aimlessly along a course that could be considerably
shortened). The second explanation may be more persuasive, but
both are consistent with the fact that, viewed from above,
Bloom's feet are inscribing the first of two large question marks on
the pavements of eastern Dublin. Later in the chapter he will
trace another such shape
on a course that Joyce's words chart quite unambiguously but
do not make at all clear to a casual reader.
The Salvation Army hall called "Bethel," which was
located between 19 and 20 Lombard Street East according to Thom's
directory, puts Bloom in mind of the
Hebrew alphabet and perhaps the Hebrew God. "Nichols'
the undertaker," located at 26-31 Lombard Street East,
makes him think of a rival
undertaker's business on the North Strand Road that he
correctly supposes may have handled the funeral arrangements
for Paddy Dignam.
