The Artist as Hero in A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man by James Joyce is a partly autobiographical account of the author's life growing up. The novel chronicles the process through which the main character, Stephen, struggles against authority and religious doctrine to develop his own philosophies on life. Stephen is not necessarily rebelling against God and his father as much as he is finding his own person, creating his own life. He is an artist, not because of the outcome of his life, but because of the process he goes through to achieve that outcome. The artist is a hero because of the sacrifices he makes, the persecution he endures, and the risks he undertakes merely to set foot towards his vision.
Joyce demonstrates that whether or not Stephen achieved his vision is insignificant to the actual journey itself. First of all, the novel concludes not with the outcome of Stephen's life but with the beginning stages of his journey. "Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead," he writes in the last sentence of the novel. Joyce purposefully ends the book before Stephen's sets off, to emphasize that the process he undergoes to reach that point where he can reject the very foundation upon what his life was based is where the importance lies. The infamous hell scene spans over twenty pages not to frighten the reader as much as to show how difficult it is to even become an artist and fight conformity. All process towards breaking away is lost after the preacher's sermon on hell, as shown in the following passage:
He beat his breast with his fist humbly, secretly under cover of the wooden armrest. He would be at one with others...
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...d for his art, seeing that his religion is no good for his heart, he forges a new life and religion for his own, fulfilling his destiny as an artist.
Works Cited
Beebe, Maurice. "The Artist as Hero." James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Text, Criticism, and Notes. Ed. Chester G. Anderson. New York: Penguin, 1968. 340-57.
Ellmann, Richard. "The Limits of Joyce's Naturalism." Sewanee Review 63 (1955): 567-75.
Givens, Seon, ed. James Joyce: Two Decades of Criticism. New York: 1948. 2nd ed. 1963.
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Portable James Joyce. Ed. Harry Levin. New York: Penguin, 1976.
Power, Arthur. Conversations with James Joyce. Ed. Clive Hart. London: Millington, 1974.
Wright, David G. Characters of Joyce. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1983.
Campbell, Joseph. Mythic Worlds, Modern Words: On the Art of James Joyce. New York: Harper Collins, 1993.
One of the three institutions that Stephen grapples with in the novel is his family. As the story progresses, the Dedalus' financial situation becomes worse. Stephen stops attending boarding school, and each home his family moves into is more run down than the one before. Stephen's family's status causes him to grow away from his mother and father. His relationship with his mother, Mary Dedalus, is different in the end of the novel than it was in the beginning. Initially, Stephen longs for his mother when he is a young boy at Clongowes, a Jesuit boarding school, wishing to “lay his head on [her] lap” (pg. 6). However, by the end of the novel, when Stephen's friend...
Fairhall, James. James Joyce and the Question of History. Cambridge University Press. New York, New York: 1993.
One of the most common diseases is alcoholism. According to the article “What is Alcoholism,” the definition of alcoholism is, “a chronic, progressive, and potentially fatal disease. It is characterized by tolerance and physical dependency or pathologic organ changes, or both--all the direct or indirect consequences of the alcohol ingested” (Flavin, 1991, p. 4). It is a severe form of alcohol abuse and is very dangerous because it can lead to many other problems. There are three levels of alcoholism: early, chronic and end-stage. Early alcohol abuse is usually prevalent in individuals who are high school students or young adults. They usually do not drink very often, but binge drinking can put them at risk of developing alcohol use disorder. They usually are getting an introduction to the different kinds of alcohol and they are experimenting with them. The next level of alcoholism is chronic, which is characterized by frequent consumption of alcohol. These people usually have an emotional or psychological attachment to drinking. Lastly, the end-stage level of alcoholism is the most severe. Usually when individuals get to this point, they cannot stop themselves from drinking. If they try to withdrawal from drinking, it can be very painful for the person (Flavin, 1991, p 4). There are five different subtypes of alcoholics, that are- young adult alcoholics, young antisocial
James Joyce is widely considered to be one of the best authors of the 20th century. One of James Joyce’s most celebrated short stories is “Eveline.” This short story explores the theme of order and hazard and takes a critical look at life in Dublin, Ireland in the early 20th century. Furthermore, the themes that underlie “Eveline” were not only relevant for the time the story was wrote in, but are just as relevant today.
Psychodynamic theory focuses on exposing unconscious relations through a process of seemingly irrelevant associations. While the relationship between these associations is not apparent to the patient, the analyst uses them to expose the subject's unconscious patterns of thought that they do not seemingly use or that prevent expression of their true desires.
1 Joyce, James : The Dead , Norton Anthology of English Literature Vol.2, sixth edition
Joyce, James, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Viking Press: New York, 1916.
Joyce, James. Dubliners. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. The Portable James Joyce. Harry Levin, ed. Penguin. 1976, New York. Ulysses. Vintage, New York. 1961.
Throughout the story A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce we see Stephen's struggle with Catholicism, sin and his destiny. In Stephen's life, which almost mirrors Joyce's, Catholicism is a big part but it fades and in it's place comes art. The title alone tells us that he is an artist not that he is Catholic. It is Joyce's priority to tell us about himself as an artist and how he became to be one, by rejecting Catholicism.
James Joyce began his writing career in 1914 with a series of realistic stories published in a collection called The Dubliners. These short literary pieces are a glimpse into the ‘paralysis’ that those who lived in the turn of the century Ireland and its capital experienced at various points in life (Greenblatt, 2277). Two of the selections, “Araby” and “The Dead” are examples of Joyce’s ability to tell a story with precise details while remaining a detached third person narrator. “Araby” is centered on the main character experiencing an epiphany while “The Dead” is Joyce’s experiment with trying to remain objective. One might assume Joyce had trouble with objectivity when it concerned the setting of Ireland because Dublin would prove to be his only topic. According the editors of the Norton Anthology of Literature, “No writer has ever been more soaked in Dublin, its atmosphere, its history, its topography. He devised ways of expanding his account of the Irish capital, however, so that they became microcosms of human history, geography, and experience.” (Greenblatt, 2277) In both “Araby” and “The Dead” the climax reveals an epiphany of sorts that the main characters experience and each realize his actual position in life and its ultimate permanency.
As Stephen grows, he slowly but inexorably distances himself from religion. His life becomes one concerned with pleasing his friends and family. However, as he matures he begins to feel lost and hopeless, stating, "He saw clearly too his own futile isolation. He had not gone one step nearer the lives he had sought to approach nor bridged the restless shame and rancor that divided him from mother and brother and sister." It is this very sense of isolation and loneliness that leads to Stephen's encounter with the prostitute, where, "He wanted to sin with another of his kind, to force another being to sin with him and to exult with her in sin.
Pope, Deborah. "The Misprision of Vision: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man". James Joyce. vol.1. ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 113-19.
The novel starts right off with the notion of a love between a mother and son. Even at a young age Stephen is able to distinguish that his mother is a source of pure unabridged love. “His mother had a nicer smell than his father.”(1) At a very young age the artist is already beginning to form because of women, he is beginning to see beauty through the senses. “His mother put her lips on his cheek; her lips were soft and they wetted his cheek; and they made a tiny little noise: kiss.”(7) This scene occurs very early on with Stephens mother Mary Dedalus here and throughout the novel helps in teaching him right and wrong what is to be expected, but above all show him the capacity to love and understand what is to be loved unconditionally. Stephens mother is also is there in all the key moments in Stephens life; in his leaving to boarding school as a child, then in leaving to London. In these instances she shows perhaps an overprotectiveness toward him in the cleaning of his ears once already an adult, in advising him on friends and money throughout his youth while al...
Stephen's Journey to Maturation in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce