Stephen in A Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce Essay

Stephen in A Portrait of the Artist by James Joyce Stephen Dedalus, the main character in most of James Joyces writings, is said to be a reflection of Joyce himself. In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the reader follows Stephen as he develops from a young child into a young artist, overcoming many conflicts both internally and externally, and narrowly escaping a life long commitment to the clergy. Through Joyces use of free indirect style, all of Stephens speech, actions, and thoughts are filtered through the narrator of the story. However, since Joyce so strongly identifies with Stephen, his characters style and personality greatly influence the narrator. This use of free indirect style and stylistic contagion makes†¦show more content†¦That was the meaning of Tower of Ivory (p.36). Her fair hair had streamed out behind her like gold in the sun (p.43). To Stephen that is the meaning of House of Gold. He then attributes Eileens ivory hands to the fact that she is a girl and generalized these traits to all fem ales. This produces a major conflict for Stephen when his tutor, Dante, tells him not to play with Eileen because she is a Protestant and Protestants dont understand the Catholic faith and therefore will make a mockery of it. His ideas about women being unattainable are confirmed. The Virgin Mary is divine and therefore out of reach for mortals. Now Eileen, the human representation of the Blessed Mary, is out of reach as well because Stephen is not allowed to play with her. In chapter two an amazing transformation takes place in Stephen from a young innocent child who believes women are unattainable and who idealizes the Virgin Mary, into a young teen with awakening sexual desires. As Stephen matures into adolescence, he becomes increasingly aware of his sexuality, which at times is confusing to him. At the beginning of the second chapter in A Portrait, we find Stephen associating feminine beauty with the heroine Mercedes in Alexander Dumont Peres The Count of Monte Cristo. Outside Blackrock, on the road that led to the mountains, stood a small whitewashed house in the garden of which grew many rosebushes: and in this house, he told himself, another MercedesShow MoreRelatedJames Joyces Alter Ego in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man929 Words   |  4 PagesJames Joyces Alter Ego in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Works Cited Missing In James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus, a young man growing up, has many of the same traits of the young James Joyce. For example, On 1 September 1888, at the age of half-past-six, Joyce was taken by his parents to be enrolled in the finest Catholic preparatory school in Ireland, Clongowes Wood College, situatedRead MoreA Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man1038 Words   |  5 PagesJames Joyce created all of his literary pieces from his own personal experiences throughout his life and the culture he grew up in (Norris 3). In his novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce and his character, Stephen Dedalus, share a wide variety of similarities, all the way from childhood aspects, to challenges of adulthood. Because of these similarities, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, is considered an autobiography. 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