While I have never read Ulysses, I did read the first chapter for this class and it was incredible to experience Bloomsday, today. I think that being in Dublin has allowed me to better conceptualize the book, which will aid me in reading the entire book when I return to the United Sates. Seeing the way that people reacted and dressed up for Bloomsday really warmed my heart. The fact that one book has grasped onto entire generations of people and defined a city for an entire day was so moving. Literature can bring together a city in a way that no other medium can. Also, I remember on the tour, when Lucy was saying that the publishers were imploring James Joyce to remove the names of places and people around Dublin. Now, though, places celebrate being mentioned in Ulysses, and they make a lot of money from people travelling from all over the world for Bloomsday. It is interesting also, that James Joyce’s most famous and defining work was centered around a city that he, ultimately, left. People flock to the same city that Joyce was so critical of. They spend money and celebrate Dublin, the city that Joyce ran from, but always wrote about. It is a very interesting conundrum, and I wonder how Joyce would feel about the situation now. Given his ego, I’m sure he would relish and understand the wide obsession with his work, Ulysses, but I do not think he would grasp the concept of people visiting all places important to him and ones mentioned in the book.