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The Key Elements of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man provides an introspective exploration of an Irish Catholic upbringing. To provide the reader with a proper interpretation, Joyce permeates the story with vivid imagery and a variety of linguistic devices. This paper will provide an in-depth of analysis of the work by examining its key elements.
The central theme of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is Stephen Dedalus' alienation and separation from his trinity of family, country and religion. Stephen's separation from his family is evident when he literally flees from his father by "walking rapidly lest his father's shrill whistle might call him back." Stephen's separation from his clique is demonstrated by his adoration of the poet Byron, who his schoolmates (Boland & Heron) deem as a "heretic and immoral." Boland and Heron then proceed to attack Stephen with "a fury of plunges" that leaves Stephen "half blinded with tears." Other violent disagreements with his peers can be found when while attending Clongowes Wood College he is pushed into a ditch by Wells (a class bully) and catches a fever. The illness results in Stephen's desire to "go home" The theme of Stephen Dedalus' alienation with his religion is evident in his connection with the church. The Dedalus family live a resolute Catholic life and expect Stephen to share their beliefs. Stephen directly questions the authority of the church when he asks.
"Is baptism with a mineral water valid? How comes it that while the first beatitude promises the kingdom of heaven to the poor of heart the second beatitude also promises to the meek that they shall possess the land? Why was the sacram...
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...foreshadowing's importance, can be found in the fact that the story begins with a flashback to when Stephen was a very young child. As the narrative of his life continues, flashbacks are implanted.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce is a well written exhibition of the Irish Catholic life of an artist. Stephen Dedalus, infamously connected to the mythical Deadalus, becomes independent of his family, religion, and nation. To adequately illustrate his life, actual Irish dialect is used and intense images are presented. Thereby creating an introspective analysis of an artist.
Works Cited and Consulted
Bloom, Harold. Modern Critical Interpretations: James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York:Chelsea House Publishers, 1988.
Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York: New American Library, 1991
There are several circumstances to take into consideration when looking at the causes of the Great Potato Famine in Ireland. Due to the great dependence the Irish people had on the potato, it is clear how blight could devastate a country and its people. To understand the Irish people's dependence on the potato for diet, income, and a way out of poverty, it is necessary to look at several key factors that were evident before the famine. Factors such farming as the only way of life, rise in population, and limited crops explain why the people of Ireland relied on the potato. But not only do these reasons clarify why the famine hit the Irish people so hard, other important factors play into effect as well. By looking at the weak relationship between England and Ireland through parliamentary acts and trade laws, it is more evident what the causes of the Great Famine are and why it was so detrimental.
The Great Irish Potato Famine was during a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration through 1845-1850. According to the journal, “The Context of Migration: The Example of Ireland in the Nineteenth Century” by James H. Johnson, this caused the population of Ireland to decrease 20-25% and it did not stabilize again until the 1930’s. Although there was a potato crop failure in Europe in the 1840’s, one third of the Irish population was dependent on this crop. This was inevitable due to the sole dependency of the Irish people on home-grown potatoes and the population almost doubling from 1800 - 1840. The journal, “Spaces for Famine: A Comparative Analysis in Ireland and the Highlands in the 1840’s” by Liz Young states that “if the crop was poor or failed, families could not manage and to compare, 50,000 people died when crops failed in 1817-1819.” The Irish people could not sustain could not sustain their diet of potatoes because they had not the means to buy more seed or, indeed, purchase the land on which to grow enough potatoes to feed their rapidly multiplying families for a year. As families increased in size, their excess produce, that previously would have given them a means to purchase livestock etc., was consumed. There were many factors that were involved in this catastrophe. The main causes were environmental conditions, agricultural practices and climate conditions, economic faults, and social and political trends. Social unrest and the history of Irish poverty was the direct cause of the Irish Potato Famine and the sole dependency on the potato crop which inevitably led them to starvation.
“I saw the dying, the living, an the dead lying indiscriminately upon the same floor” said by James Mahoney describes the Great Potato Famine perfectly. The Great Potato Famine did not only encompass death and dying but also a destruction of the economy. It was a time of great need for the people in Ireland causing starvation, the population to drop and the economy to diminish. With the great population drop the economy was affected in ways Ireland had never seen before. The Irish people lived off the potato and the economy was based off of the potato. When the famine hit there was essentially no economy left in Ireland. The potato is what sustained the people of Ireland because the agriculture of the potato provided jobs, and income for the people and the country. With little money, families began to migrate because they could no longer provide in the failing Ireland economy.
The Great Famine of 1845 lasted for many years in Ireland. During this time, many people of Ireland suffered in numerous ways. In such devastating and dark times “deaths began to mount and tragic horrific scenes ensured all over Ireland: Mass Graves, Corpses gnawed by rats, hunger marches, and roadside deaths” (Kelley 137). In these grey times for Ireland, the country battled many hardships to overcome this era. The Great Famine was historically dated from 1845-1851, although the effects of the Famine lasted until 1852 (Kelley 136). The major cause of the Famine was a disease called the blight, but there were many other aspects that caused the catastrophe in Ireland.
Works Cited: Benstock, Bernard. Critical Essays on James Joyce. G.K. Hall & Co. Boston, Massachusetts: 1985. Joyce, James. Dubliners.
The Irish Potato Famine was one of the single most dramatic and devastating events in human history. It impacted not only the Irish, but the English and Americans as well. Millions died from this famine and millions more Irish fled from the place they had always called home to other countries such as Great Britain, Canada, and the United States with the hopes of finding a better life. It triggered one of the first big migrations of immigrants to the United States. The Famine began 1845 to 1850, beginning in the fall of 1845 when the potatoes in Ireland were harvested. The entire potato crop was discovered to be diseased by late plight. Late plight is a fungus that destroys everything in a potato plant from its edible roots to the actual potato making them not edible, which also made the Irish vulnerable to a vast array of diseases.
In the six years from 1845 to 1851 the Irish Famine caused approximately one million deaths from a population of eight and a half million. It is during this period that two million Irish people emigrated with a further three million emigrating in the subsequent 50 years. Historians including Ó Gráda illustrate the longevity and significance of the Famine on Irish society, showing how the event shaped Ireland both economically and indeed politically. Although the Irish famine was not the most devastating of famines, compared to those which occurred in China 1957-62, in Bengal in 1943 and in the Ukraine in the 1930’s, which eclipse it in terms of mortality. Nonetheless, the Irish famine is unique as the proportion of the population who either died or who were forced to escape from its effects was as high as thirty-five percent of the total population in 1850. To this day, the Irish population has never fully recovered, remaining half of pre-famine levels, thus showing Ireland is still socially scarred even in 2013.
At the heart of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man lies Stephen Dedalus, a sensitive young man concerned with discovering his purpose in life. Convinced that his lack of kinship or community with others is a shortcoming that he must correct, Stephen, who is modeled after Joyce, endeavors to fully realize himself by attempting to create a forced kinship with others. He tries many methods in hopes of achieving this sense of belonging, including the visiting of prostitutes and nearly joining the clergy. However, it is not until Stephen realizes, as Joyce did, that his true calling is that of the artist that he becomes free of his unrelenting, self-imposed pressure to force connections with others and embraces the fact that he, as an artist, is fully realized only when he is alone.
Even as a young boy, Stephen experienced rejection and isolation at school. On the playground Stephen "felt his body [too] small and weak amid the [other] players" (Joyce 8). His schoolmates even poked fun at his name. In response to his rejection by the other boys Stephen makes a conscious decision to "[keep] on the fringe of his line, out of sight of his prefect" and the other boys. Stephen is later depicted as choosing the "warm study hall" rather than the playground with his friends outside (Joyce 10). His rejection at school leads him to isolate himself in his schoolwork, thus putting himself on a scholarly path that will give him the intellectual skills necessary for the artist within him to achieve adulthood.
...ndation) The poem goes on to talk about how she loves every piece of her husband. Sonnet 43 expresses how openly and freely she trusts her husband. Elizabeth explains the powerful feeling of loving someone. Her being able to write Sonnet 43 shows the extent of her love towards her husband. Elizabeth also wrote Sonnet 14, which explains that love should not be for a specific reason but real love is for love. The poem also goes into details about one loving a person for who they are and not for a particular deed. Sonnet 14 and several other poems were dedicated to Robert Browning. Over all, Elizabeth was admired for her independence and courage. The Browning’s were well respected in Italy. Her social consciousness drove much of her late canon towards realism. Elizabeth Browning was the most prominent poet of the Victorian Era. . (Encyclopedia of Feminist Literature)
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.
Ireland had over eight million people during the mid-19th century. They were heavily reliant on agriculture and many of the Irish people were impoverished and living in poor conditions. The Irish were considered some of the poorest people of the west. They had a low literacy rate, low life expectancy rates, and although Ireland was an agricultural nation, they were generally low income. Because they could not afford anything else, the Irish were very dependent on potatoes. The potato was a cheap source of protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins that were suitable for survival. The substantial reliance on potatoes was one of the main reasons the famine was as destructive as it was. It started in the summer of 1845, when the blight was first discovered. It sickened all of Ireland’s potato crop and the vast majority of the Irish people depended solely on potatoes. Hayden describes it as “simply the most violent episode in a history characterised by violence of every conceivable kind, the inevitable con...
James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man presents an account of the formative years of aspiring author Stephen Dedalus. "The very title of the novel suggests that Joyce's focus throughout will be those aspects of the young man's life that are key to his artistic development" (Drew 276). Each event in Stephen's life -- from the opening story of the moocow to his experiences with religion and the university -- contributes to his growth as an artist. Central to the experiences of Stephen's life are, of course, the people with whom he interacts, and of primary importance among these people are women, who, as his story progresses, prove to be a driving force behind Stephen's art.
The Irish Potato Famine was a period of starvation, disease and emigration, and was known as one of the biggest tragedies from 1845 to 1847. Many people depended on potato crops to survive; however [comma] the potato crops acquired blight, a disease that caused the potatoes to rot while still in the ground. No good crops could be grown for two years [comma] causing Irish tenant farmers unable to pay rent and was forced off their land causing over 21,000 people to die of starvation. The Irish Potato Famine caused many people to leave Ireland to seek work overseas in areas such as England and America. The Irish Potato Famine had a big impact on the history and the economy of Ireland.
Religion, besides the practical need for food and shelter is one of the most powerful drives in Stephen's life. Religion serves as Stephen's guidance and saviour yet it is also responsible for his tormented youth and distracting him from his artistic development. As a child growing up in a strict Catholic family, Stephen is raised to be a good Catholic boy who will follow the teaching of Catholism as his guidance in his life. The severity of his family is shown when his mother tells him either to "apologise" (4) or "the eagles will come and pull out his eyes" (4). Stephen is taught by his mother to be tolerant when she "[tells] him not to speak with the rough boys in the college" (5). Similarly, Stephen's father also taught him a Catholic quality by telling Stephen "never to peach on a fellow' (6). Evidence of Stephen following the "never to peach" (6) quality is shown when Stephen agrees not to tell on Wells for pushing him into a ditch. However, as Stephen matures into his adolescence, religion becomes his savior rather than his guidance. As Stephen's family condition declines, he sees priesthood as a way to escape poverty and shame. In fact, priesthood is an opportunity for Stephen's personal gain...