Oxen of the Sun: Thoughts and Questions

1) It is clear in "Cyclops" and "Nausicaa" that literary style affects content in important ways. Whatever the dog(s) named Garryowen might "really" be like, would the narrative style in "Cyclops" ever be able to describe a "lovely" dog or the style of "Nausicaa" be able to depict a vicious one?
--In "Oxen" each paragraph relates the ongoing story in a different style, and note how each style affects not only how the story is told but what is told. Look, for example, at 14:264-76: would the Bloom we have seen in the earlier episodes use the phrase "so dark is destiny" to describe Rudy's death?
--Other examples are at 14:429-54, 14:529-650, or 14:1407-39.

2) The episode begins before the formation of English as a language system, and so the first long paragraph (14:7-32) is unable to work itself into grammatically complete sentences. At the end (from 14:1391 on), the doors open and the men enter the streets headed for Burke's pub (just as baby Purefoy enters the world), and the language breaks down into all kinds of drunken slang.
--From 14:70 to 14:1390, there are 40 paragraphs, corresponding to the 40 weeks of pregnancy.

3) The Homeric parallel is the sin against fertility when Odysseus's men murder the oxen of Helios, the sun god. Look at the many different ways in which the drunken men "sin" against fertility in the episode. Examples: 14:225-26, 318-19, 1002-3.

4) Note the way Bloom is described at 14:859-65, 928-30, 1038-77, and 1163-67.
--And Stephen at 14:1123-25 and 1294-95.
--And Bloom, within all the verbiage, first pays direct attention to Stephen in this episode (14:271-76) and remembers meeting him years earlier (14:1357-78).

5) The paragraph at 14:1344-55 is often taken as a comment on the next episode, "Circe."

6) Note 14:1537-38: Mulligan and another one of the men seem to have deserted Stephen and the others.