Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man - Essay Example

Portrait of an artist as a young man This is an autobiographical novel that constitutes an important genre of literature. In this case, an autobiographical novel entails the author records or narrates his or her personal experiences in life in addition to adding fictional elements. In considering Joyce’s autobiographical novel, themes, characters, and incidents come from the real life of the author but appear in an exaggerated way. The novel revolves around the life of Stephen Dedalus, a young Irishman. Dedalus shares common characteristics with Joyce.The novel is a Bildungsroman although it contains autobiographical features. This qualifies it as a semi-autobiography. The novel outlines the development of the main character through his youthful years thus, making it an aesthetic autobiography because it describes an artist.In exploring the modernism aspect, Stephen and Joyce seem to merge but a distance remains between them although not big. The ability to manage the distance between the two gives room to Joyce to apply irony in its utmost sense. The irony appears in the right places and Joyce maintains at acceptable levels.A Portrait by Joyce remains the central text of the last century in terms of modernism. The novel bases on factual transcription of Joyce’s first twenty years. The novel comes out more candidly compared to other autobiographical novels. The capacity of the novel to accentuate intellectual exploits as well as emotional aspects of the main protagonist differentiates it from other works in the same field. The life of Joyce influence the direction the portrait takes. Form the literal analysis, the reader understands the adolescence age and childhood of Stephen Dedalus from the semi-autobiography. Portrait of the Artist phrase of the title gives clue towards self-portraiture of the author while the second phrase completing the title as a young man hints at the insights of generalization others referee to as universal elements. Ironically, Stephen is young Joyce in the novel. Stephen is a creation and purification of the artist. The human imagination that results in the development of Stephen projects the character. The author uses his life experiences as a model for the novel but leaves the literature space to review the biography for the purposes of art. Through this, the author creates room for personal growth as an artist. James Joyce sharing many features with the Stephen Dedalus, the protagonist in the novel lived between eighteen hundred and eighty-two to nineteen forty-one. He comes from a religious family appearing as staunch Catholic believers similar to most Irish people.In his early years, the family was well to do. The rejection of the Roman Catholic religious life by Stephen come at the centre of the novel and adds the necessary confidence of James Joyce as an author. There is much resemblance between the real life of Joyce and the fictional character in the novel Stephen Dedalus. Contradiction develops between educations attained in Jesuit schools by Joyce that give him faith to believe while at the same time the capacity to rebel against the same teachings. It is important to remember at this point that James studied an Arts degree during his undergraduate studies at the University.Transgressing from a devoutly believer to a rebel took the same path as that taken by Stephen Dedalus. The life of Joyce along with his actions comes under serious influence by the conflict between religion and politics.Staunch nationalism by his father stands at opposite ends with the hitherto faith of in the Catholic Church held with Dante. Stephen Dedalus, the imaginary protagonist in the novel also experiences the same events.During Christmas dinner, the conflict between religion and politics comes out when Mr. Casey asserts that they have an obligation to follow the chosen leader but Dante refers to the leader as a traitor. The leader in question during the meal is Parnell. Dante describes him as an adulterer and a traitor, who priests rightly abandoned. While Joyce keeps hearing about Parnell, Joyce new more about him because his father was his servant. During the discussion, Joyce remained receptive of Parnell (Brady, &Carens, 1998, p. 61).The author tackles modernism in an effective way because the reader is able to get insights into the conscience of Stephen and the whole world as well using one aperture.Joyce covers the intellectual development of Stephen covering simplicity in childlike imitations and utmost awareness of his artistic abilities. The development of his intellectual capacity swoops during high moments and slumps during reverse occasions. Einstein’s radical assertion greatly influences James Joyce. In his written autobiography, Stephen Dedalus attempts a different equation relatively to use his mind to arts not clear to the audience in the process of changing laws the same way Einstein did. The reader feels that new experiences and a bulk of knowledge overwhelm Stephen at Clongowes. Both incidents are introductions are new to the protagonist. Lack of intellectual maturity necessary to helpStephen analyze and sieve through issues makes him accept all materials given as truth.His thoughts appear repetitive in his head because he lacks the ability to evaluate the worth or veracity of materials. He repeats phrases and statements hard from others. A case in point is when Stephen remarks, “That was mean for Wells to shoulder him into the square ditch because he would not swap his little snuffbox for Well’s seasoned hacking chestnut, the conqueror of forty.”(Verschuyl, 2005, p. 229). From this thought, it is clear that it demonstrates echoes of schoolboy phrases. Few sentences below the same phrase, the protagonist rethinks in the same way when put under pressure once again by Wells. Analytically, two perspectives appear either Stephen is incapable of developing new and peculiar views based on his experience or the character is comfortable in being repetitive ad copying what others say. Moving from a devoutly believer to a rebel took the same path as that taken by Stephen Dedalus. The life of Joyce along with his actions comes under serious influence by the conflict between religion and politics. Staunch nationalism by his father stands at opposite ends with the hitherto faith of in the Catholic Church held with Dante. Comparatively, Stephen is younger than people surrounding him and this could be the reason behind the repetitive aspect where he fears developing new ideas for lack of self-conviction. He joined Clongowes at a young age when she was barely seven, which puts him as the youngest in class compared to his classmates.The classroom environment in school can count as another factor identifying his clumsiness. TheJesuit education curriculum appears to encourage pupils to learn by memorizing. In this case, learners need to know when to split memorized facts when called upon. A correlation exists between choral recitation of Latin religions teachings and the recurrent thoughts in the head of Stephen all the time. Students receive a few canes to reinforce the teaching methodology any time they slip from the norm. It is possible that Stephen developed the habit of providing the correct answer to avoid drawing the wrath of the preacher-priest unconsciously.The rejection of the Roman Catholic religious life by Stephen come at the centre of the novel and adds the necessary confidence of James Joyce as an author. There is much resemblance between the real life of Joyce and the fictional character in the novel Stephen Dedalus. Contradiction develops between educations attained in Jesuit schools by Joyce that give him faith to believe while at the same time the capacity to rebel against the same teachings.This discourse describes the A Portrait of an Artist of a Young Man as a pilgrimage for Stephentreading through the world of real truth to the world of relative truths posed by Einstein. This forms the Dedalus factor. The progress of the pilgrims starts at the dinner table when the conflict between religion and politics became apparent. Among important events at the dinner, Stephen feelsa clash of two respected and developed rhetoric among people in Dublin, Ireland. The loyalty pledge of Irish nationalism sits on side of the beam balance (Kershner, R.B. 1998, p. 56). The defenders of this aspect are Mr. Casey and Mr. Dedalus. The rhetoric of the Catholic Church, the most dominant in Ireland occupies the other side of the beam balance with Dante being the preserver of that school of thought. Before sitting in this forum, Stephen new that it was necessary for good citizen of Ireland to believe in the Church as well as Parnell principles.It dawns on Stephen during Christmas dinner that the two authorities that seem unquestionable oppose each in a clashing manner.Carrying incomplete information from the dinner leaves the character confused and ends up not sure which side of the equilibrium to lean towards. The story highlighted by another character Dedalus in the second section diminishes the trust held by Stephen in total truth. Dedalus recounts the meeting held with the rector discussing the uncouth behavior by Stephen after refusing to take the punishment administered by Father Dolan. In the evening of the same day, Stephen hears the rector cautioning Dolan against interfering with Dedalus. It was unimaginableto Stephen for the rector take light moments of a situation that caused so much grief to him during the day(Joyce, 2000, p. 41). This incident tarnished the good image of Jesuits in the heart and mind of Stephen. However, these events did not wash away the belief he held concerning the role of the religious institution instantly. Exaggerated moral depravity frightened the protagonist back to the church considering what the church promised those against the doctrines. Repentance and confession drive Stephen to a route exactly opposite of his old lifestyle. This way, the reader understands the definition posed by Stephen about truth. Coming to terms with the doctrines of the church represents a shift from the old perception of sensuality. Time remains the greatest measure of how long Stephen will follow this principle. Albert Einstein suggested a principle of relatively in two perspectives. He applies the new theory to all his aesthetics and dissertation for academic works. Although through cursory, Stephen applies his knowledge of the works of St. Thomas Aquinas in this context.He explains his believes of what entails beauty and nature.The Parish Priest would surely not entertain means used by Stephen to effect the assertions of St Aquinas in this case. The second aspect is that Stephen succeeds in his desire to publish his poetic works. This process defies the long time taken to achieve this dream. In the process of creating beauty at villanelle, Stephen puts together erotic imagery and Christian principles. Works developed by Stephen showcase him as being both asexual and religious.On the contrary, the analysis of this discourse looks at Stephen as being both sexual and religious at a high degree especially evaluating his abilities as an artist. It is not enough to hold that Stephen rejects Christianity wholesome based on the evidence that he refuses to praywhen his mother died. What Stephen rejects is the Christian asceticism as held and practiced by the Roman Catholic Church and Jesuits(Clark, R. & Timothy, 1980, p. 73).The novel outlines the development of the main character through his youthful years thus, making it an aesthetic autobiography because it describes an artist. In exploring the modernism aspect, Stephen and Joyce seem to merge but a distance remains between them although not big. The ability to manage the distance between the two gives room to Joyce to apply irony in its utmost sense. This paper holds candidly that it is presumptive to propose that Stephen abandons Christianity in entirety. As a proof; Stephen puts it clear to Cranly that the Christian Ethics remains coherent and logical besides believing that the Eucharist is part of Jesus Christ’s body. The protagonist does not direct his non serviam to Christ but entails close identities with the same Christ. His anger aims at the church of Dublin that remains his fatherland and the focus on absolute truth. Stephen resorts to using the diary form as the novel nears the end. This is a strong indication of his turn to relativity. He quits the original third party stylistic device to open writing expressing his thoughts using the first person singular. Bibliography Brady, p. &Carens, J. (1998).In Bloom: James Joyce. New York: G.K. Hall. Clark, R. & Timothy, D. (1980). The Dedalus Factor: Einstein’s Science and Joyce’s Portrait of the Artist. In Bloom: James Joyce. New York, G.K. Hall. Joyce, J. (2000). A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York: G.K. Hall. Kershner, R.B. (1998). The Artist as Text: Dialogism and Incremental Repetition in Portrait. New York: G.K. Hall. Verschuyl, C. (2005). Religionless and Asexual: Searching for the Smithy of Stephen’s Soul. In Bloom: James Joyce. Vol 1(2), 221-234. Read More