IRISH LITERATURE

Irish Literature/Stories: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce



Irish Literature/Stories: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

Introduction

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man follows the early years of Stephen Dedalus, a young Irish boy growing up in late nineteenth-century Dublin, Ireland. The book begins with his earliest sensual experiences: Stephen remembers his father's face and how it felt to wet the bed. He listens to nursery rhymes and to other sounds around him.

Later Stephen attends a strict Catholic boarding school, Clongowes Wood College. He feels lost and alone among the older boys and longs for home. He begins to distance himself from the memory of his mother and is unsure whether it is right to kiss her before he goes to bed. He becomes gradually aware of the wider world of politics and Catholicism. During time spent in the infirmary after being thrown in the school cesspit he hears about the death of Charles Stewart Parnell, the leader of the Irish Home Rule Movement (Kershner, 1993, 98-105). At Christmas dinner at home, a convincing argument erupts over Parnell, and Stephen becomes more aware of the divisions within his family. Back at school he is beaten by the prefect of studies for being lazy in class, despite the fact that he has excused from lessons because he has broken his glasses. Stephen plucks up the courage to report this injustice to the rector. He becomes a hero among his classmates (Marguerite, 1990, 34-41).

Stephen's father, Simon, is hopeless with money, and the Dedalus family sinks deeper into debt. They are forced to move to a smaller house. Stephen is increasingly aware of their changing circumstances. He learns that he has withdrawn from his boarding school and is eventually enrolled in a magnificent day school, Belvedere. He acts in school plays and begins to excel at writing. He journeys with his father to Cork, where he grew up. Stephen shocked to see the word foetus carved into a desk at his father's old school. Stephen wins prizes for his essays and squanders the money on temporary luxuries. He has his first sexual experience, with a Dublin prostitute (Seed, 1992, 77-81).

Stephen is made a prefect of the sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, an association of lay people. On a religious retreat, he hears a series of fiery sermons about sin, hell, and damnation and shaken by his feelings of guilt and shame. He despairs as he tries to reconcile his fleshly desires with the militant Catholic teachings. At the end, retreat he rushes home and then into the Dublin streets to try to find a church where he can confess his sins. Relieved by the lifting of guilt, he resolves to lead a life of piety (Burgess, 1965, 42-45).

He begins to attend Mass every day. His life is ruled by a round of services, prayers, and offices. The director of Belvedere impressed by his piety and invites him to think ...