History repeating itself with a difference: Telemachus’ and Milly Bloom’s coming-of-age arcs

Abstract

Among the many references and multiple parallels between James Joyce's Ulysses and Homer's Odyssey, the mirroring between Leopold Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom and Penelope, Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus stands out. However, although Stephen is the "spiritual son" of Leopold, the Blooms have a more literal heir: their daughter Milly Bloom. Just like Telemachus, Milly is the mirror of the family, has a clear preference for her father and clashes with her mother as she get older. Both are only children who carry the expectation of their parents, and when they hurriedly leave their homes for a world that will give them more experience, they continue to influence an unbalanced home. Therefore, in this paper, my aim is to point out how Telemachus coming-of-age, one of the three narrative strands of the Odyssey, relates to the references made throughout Ulysses to Milly's maturity, indicating how these two movements affect the actions of other characters and the development of the plot.