Friday, March 28, 2008

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

One of the various symbols in this novel is the character Emma. She symbolizes purity and innocence, and is the one female character that Stephen does not destroy in his mind when he is exploring his sexual identity. Stephen places her on a pedestal, almost worships her, because she is everything that is good (although he never has a conversation with her). He has such high regards for her that he feels she is in a completely different reality than him and that they will never be at the same level together. Stephen is making these comparisons because he is going through the phase where he feels incredibly sinful for exploring his sexual identity the way he is. Comparing Stephen to Emma gives a better perspective of Stephen's guilt; he feels as though he is the complete opposite of her extreme purity and innocence. Once Stephen finds his own identity and has a conversation with Emma, he sees things in a totally different light. This conversation makes him realize she is human, real, and has faults and impurities of her own. He sees it was unrealistic for him to put her on such a high pedestal; also saying that it was unrealistic of him to ever compare himself to Emma. She did not exist as he imagined her to - perfect, pure, angelic; and he was not the complete devil he thought he was. "Yes, I liked her today. A little or much? Don't know. I liked her and it seems a new feeling to me...O, give it up, old chap! Sleep it off!" (Joyce 275). Stephen finally accepts himself and the way thing are, lets go, and is able to move on with his life.


"A girl stood before him in midstream, alone and still, gazing out to sea. She seemed like one whom magic had changed into the likeness of a strange and beautiful seabird. Her long slender bare legs were delicate as a crane's and pure save where an emerald trail of seaweed had fashioned itself as a sign upon the flesh. Her thighs, fuller and softhued as ivory, were bared almost the the hips where the white fringes of her drawers were like featherings of soft white down. Her slateblue skirts were kilted boldly about her waist and dovetailed behind her. Her bosom was as a bird's soft and slight, slight and soft as the breast of some darkplumaged dove. But her long fair hair was girlish: and girlish, and touched with the wonder of mortal beauty, her face." (185, 186)

This passage stands out because it is one of the most important turning points in the novel. Stephen finally sees a girl as a beautiful, natural creation, rather than associating her with sex and ruining her image. The repetition of the words "soft and slight" in reference to her bosom suggests a modest figure, one that Stephen does not see and instantly relate to sex. "Girlish" is also repeated in this passage, implying girlhood innocence and purity. It goes on to say, "Her image had passed into his soul for ever and no word had broken the holy silence of his ecstasty...A wild angel had appeared to him, the angel of mortal youth and beauty, an envoy from the fair courts of life, to throw open before him in an instant of ecstasy the gates of all the ways of error and glory" (186). Although Stephen has overcome his sinful idea of women, he has yet to remove those innocent and pure from the pedestal he has raised them upon, as discussed above. This accomplishment will come at the end of the novel when Stephen and Emma finally have a conversation.

Because Stephen compares her to a "beautiful seabird" this passage also relates to flight, a common theme in the novel. At this point, Stephen has just rejected the priesthood but has yet to fully discover his inner artist. He is beginning to think for himself. The idea of flight and freedom allows him to make his own decisions, live his own life, and not be suppressed by Ireland or the traditions of his family or any religion. It is incredible that Stephen can actually see this freedom in her, whereas earlier in the novel he was trapped also by women.



"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is definitely an interesting read, however, I am leery to commit to saying that I like it or dislike it. On the positive side is Joyce's language, for one. Those paragraphs of the preacher's speech on hell are, although rather morbid, phenomenal. Joyce is able to chose the most appropriate words for each situation, almost like poetry, when the sound the word makes fits the tone of the work. One aspect of the novel that can be both good and bad is the theme of finding one's individual consciousness. This is something that everyone experiences at some point in their lives, and most of us teenagers are trying to find ourselves now. This makes the book easy to relate to; however, it is the extremity of this search that is the downfall. At his worst, Stephen's mind is so deep and dark that I almost no longer want to read it. His struggles and pitfalls are depressing, and because Joyce's language is so vivid, I feel as though I am struggling right along with him. Unfortunately, the depth of Stephen's mind is so cumbersome that it makes it difficult to read.

1 comment:

Rigby and the Walrus said...

I agree completely with the purpose of contrasting Emma and Stephen, a demonstration of Stephen's self-loathing and unrealistic glorification of those around him. Your analysis of the scene with the girl in the water got me thinking though. Do you think its possible that Joyce was making an allusion to Sirens here? Maybe it's just because I analyzed the poem "Siren Song," but Stephen even attributes birdlike qualities to the girl(Sirens=part bird). This idea coincides with your argument that this moment represents Stephen's ability to transcend sexual desire, but heightens his perception of the magnitude of his will power. He is able to deny the "cry" of the siren, the cry of his sexual desires. Stephen believed controlling these desires impossible, just as denying the song of the siren was an impossible feat. Possible correlation?