# Paddy Dignam — Ulysses character guide

> Paddy Dignam in Ulysses by James Joyce.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Paddy Dignam, Paddy, Poor little Paddy Dignam, Poor Dignam, Dignam, Mr Patrick Dignam, Patrick Dignam, the late Mr Patrick Dignam, Mr Dignam, poor Dignam

**First appearance:** 0005-iv

## Snapshot

A Dublin acquaintance of Bloom whose sudden death from drink sets the day's funeral in motion and shadows the novel's morning.

## Who they are

Paddy Dignam is a familiar, unremarkable man about town, the kind of friend whose death arrives as a shock precisely because he seemed so ordinary. His funeral draws Bloom, Simon Dedalus, Martin Cunningham and others into a shared carriage, where grief, gossip and small talk jostle together. Though he never speaks, his absence organizes the morning and quietly reminds every character of the ordinary lives that end between one day and the next.

## Relationships

### [Leopold Bloom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/characters/leopold_bloom)

_social_

Paddy Dignam is a deceased acquaintance of Bloom, whose funeral Bloom attends and whose family Bloom later helps.

### [Leopold Bloom](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/characters/leopold_bloom)

_social_

Paddy Dignam is a deceased acquaintance of Bloom, whose funeral Bloom attends and whose family Bloom later helps.

## In the story

### [VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/chapters/vi)

The deceased, whose funeral is the central event of the chapter.

### [Lestrygonians](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/chapters/viii)

Mentioned as having been carted off (funeral).

### [XVII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/chapters/xvii)

Mentioned as being in the grave, among the company that traveled from Sandymount to Glasnevin.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/characters/paddy_dignam
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/ulysses_se/characters