Seeing the milkwoman as a mythic Kathleen-Ni-Houlihan figure protecting Ireland, Stephen wonders whether she is there to help him in his fight against British tyranny, or to chasten him for failing Ireland. Though initially soothed by the site of a "real" (i.e. not Anglicized) Irish milkwoman, he quickly sees in her the faults he sees in all the modern Irish: ignorance of national history (she doesn't speak or even recognize Gaelic) and quickness to be impressed with foreign learning and cultivation (e.g. Mulligan's status as a medical student).
