Sandymount

I was curious if anyone has any thoughts on parallels and contrasts between Dedalus' and Bloom's separate visits to Sandymount. Both leave something of themselves on the beach (snot and semen). Both while at the beach try and fail to make a declaration of himself (Bloom explicitly when he writes and erases "I AM A" in the sand, Stephen more obliquely).

Stephen faces a personal crisis on Sandymount beach where he struggles to part from an impending path of literary obscurity by tearing off a piece of Deasy's letter to write a poem. On the other hand, Bloom symbolically wastes his potential on the same beach in an effort to escape his private suffering, knowing that Molly has betrayed him. I don't know what Joyce had in mind when Bloom writes "I AM A" in the sand, but it might strengthen the idea that Bloom is trying to find his life's meaning though, as usual, he finds no clear resolution -- no black and white. Stephen recognizes that he has a decision to make that may lead to change, picking up a pen to write. Bloom seems to avoid crisis and decisions, throwing a pen into the sand, leaving it behind: I'm not sure Bloom's path to change is as clear as Stephens.