Becoming an Artist

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In James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man we follow Stephen Dedalus through the experiences in his life that transform him into an artist by the end. Most prominent among these experiences are the women he encounters and how his views of women in general evolve over time. It starts with his first attempts at poetry inspired by his mother and the governess of the Dedalus children Dante. Then evolves through his infatuation with Emma and later a girl he sees standing in the waves at a beach. Throughout A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen's evolving views of women serve as a catalyst that transforms him from a simple-minded, idealistic child, into the artist he later becomes.
Stephen's first attempt at poetry acted as a coping mechanism over his fear of punishment. He had blurted out over dinner that he was going to marry his neighbor Eileen once grown, who was a protestant. His Catholic family disapproved but it was his mother and Dante who had the strongest reaction, saying that eagles would pull out his eyes if he didn't apologize. While Stephen hid under the table he made up a simple rhyme, “Pull out his eyes,/ Apologize,/ Apologize,/ Pull out his eyes,// Apologize,/ Pull out his eyes,/ Pull out his eyes,/ Apologize.” (2) This play on words is as simple as his views on women at this stage in his life. His experiences so far have been limited to his mother, the governess (or mentor), and “the girl next door”, different story archetypes that appear often in fairy tales that serve primarily as a means to motivate the hero forward, either as a starting push into the world or an end prize. In seeking the girl the man becomes the hero of his story. These ideas form the basis of what will become h...

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At every major turning point in Stephen's life a woman is there, either physically or symbolically, to initiate him into the new stage of life. These changes also bring about a new evolution in how he views the women around him. From the bearers of discipline found in Dante and his mother, to the sexual release he finds in the prostitutes, the purity he seeks in Emma and the Virgin Mary, to reach his ultimate transformation thanks to the woman on the beach. His experience with women drive his character forward and transform him into the artist he was meant to be, helping him grow from boy to man. It was the women in his life that started him on the path to becoming an artist and his views and experiences that shaped him into the artist seen at the end. Indeed if it hadn't been for the women he encountered, Stephen never would have become an artist at all.

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