The protagonist, Leopold Bloom, parallels Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Latin), with both characters undertaking epic journeys filled with trials and personal discoveries.

Joyce’s novel echoes the episodic nature of "The Odyssey" through its 18 chapters, each mirroring a specific episode from Homer’s work. For instance, Bloom’s wanderings through Dublin reflect Odysseus’s adventures as he navigates through various challenges, ultimately striving to return home. Each character in "Ulysses" has a Homeric counterpart, with Stephen Dedalus embodying Telemachus, Odysseus’s son, and Molly Bloom representing Penelope, Odysseus’s faithful wife, though Joyce gives them modern and complex psychological dimensions.

Ulysses is the Latinised name of Odysseus, the hero of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, and the novel establishes a series of parallels between Leopold Bloom and Odysseus, Molly Bloom and Penelope, and Stephen Dedalus and Telemachus. There are also correspondences with other literary and mythological figures, and such themes as antisemitism, human sexuality, British rule in Ireland, Catholicism, and Irish nationalism are treated in the context of early 20th-century Dublin. The novel is highly allusive and written in a variety of styles.

Every year hundreds of Dubliners dress as characters from the book, as if to assert their willingness to become one with the text.