Concluding the passage is Bloom’s observation of a rat in the graveyard: “Some animal. Wait. There he goes. An obese grey rat toddled along the side of the crypt, moving the pebbles” (6.973). The scene is absurd: Bloom watches a rat who “knows the ropes” (6.974) crawl under a grave, which Bloom thinks is a good spot for “treasure”(6.966). This grotesque image contrasts sharply with the reverence of the earlier passages, introducing a moment of dark humor.
But Joyce does not include details arbitrarily. The obese rate is a recurring character in the novel. In Aeolus, Bloom again thinks about a rat “tearing to get in” (7.83), in Sirens, Bloom thinks, “Wonder where that rat is by now” (11.1036), and in Circe, Paddy Dignam apparently “worms down through a coal hole” (15.1255), followed closely by “an obese grandfather rat on fungus turtle paws under a grey carapace” (15.1256-1257). Not having read these episodes yet, this repetition may suggest that the rat, like many of Bloom’s wandering thoughts, carries deeper significance. It may symbolize the persistence of life amid death or serve as a reminder of decay and erasure. We even see similar imagery of pebbles being disturbed as the rate moves. The rat is identified as a “grandfather,” similar to the “greatgrandfather” of Bloom’s musings on the gramophone. What exactly is the connection? While the meaning remains unclear for now, the rat’s presence reinforces Joyce’s writing where high and low brow constantly mingle.