Calypso

The first Bloom chapter sharply contrasts the elder hero with Stephen. Bloom seems to be much cheerier all around. When we were introduced to Stephen in the first chapter, he was described as "sleepy and displeased". Bloom is introduced with a persistent trait in his character: he "ate with relish". The Proteus episode left Stephen self-consciously unhealthy, whereas the first thing we know about Bloom is that he is well-fed - and is really happy about it.

Of course Bloom is not immune to dark thoughts, but he seems to resist the deepening gloom that consumes Stephen when bad things come up. It's significant that Bloom and Stephen react so differently to their misfortunes because they seem to have similar problems. Both characters are being "usurped". Bloom's husbandry is threatened by Blaze and Stephen's tower is threatened by Mulligan and Haines.

Bloom doesn't get caught up in these things the way Stephen does. When Stephen is "trembling from his soul's cry" as he is assailed by ghastly images of his mother, he needs an external event to break out of it. When Bloom frets over his ancestry, the images of horror are just as intense in his imagination. But he has the will and optimism to escape those thoughts. He resolves to exercise.

Stephen does seem to be more self-aware than Bloom in a certain sense. When he concedes to Mulligan's demands he knows that he is giving something up. When Bloom strangely pampers Molly, the notion that this might fuel his misfortunes only comes up on a sub-conscious level. "Give her too much meat she won't mouse," he thinks - not about his wife, but of his cat. The cat does get the meat though and so does the wife.