Joyce 6-65 (10.4.2005)
As
I read these first sections of A Portrait
of the Artist as a Young Man, I found myself amazed by the varying ideas
Joyce subtly encompasses in his writing.
I
think the role of art and literature in A
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
is particularly interesting. Throughout
the first portion of our reading, Stephen repeatedly identifies himself with
art and uses art as a means of soothing himself. As the novel opens, Stephen’s father is
telling him a story, and Stephen identifies with one of the characters,
claiming, “he was a baby tuckoo”
(7). Even as a young child, Stephen is
forming his identity around literature. Shortly
after, as Stephen is being criticized for wanting to marry a Protestant girl,
he soothes himself by turning his mom’s threats into a song, “Pull out his
eyes, Apologise, Apologise,
Pull out his eyes. Apologise,
Pull out his eyes, pull out his eyes, Apologise” (8). He is using the art of language to calm
himself in the face of criticism. Later,
Stephen develops a tendency to imagine himself as a character participating in
adventures that take place in The Count
of Monte Cristo.
In this instance, Stephen uses his imagination and identification with
literature to escape financial problems occurring within his family; he is a
hero participating in grand adventures, mirroring his encounter as a hero in
approaching the rector at school. As the
novel progresses, the intensity of these identifications also increases. In the beginning, Stephen merely claims to be
a character. By the time he is reading The Count of Monte Christo,
however, Stephen’s identifications clearly mirror his actions as a adventurer at his own school in speaking out against
authority. Will this identification
continue or will Stephen find a new piece of art to identify with? Clearly, Stephen uses art and literature to
create an identity that mirrors the feelings he is experiencing at the time.
Towards the end of the reading,
Joyce uses details to convey Stephen’s emotions toward heroism as well as his
future as a hero. As Stephen walks to
talk to the rector, he passes through a hall where he sees “the portraits of
the saints and great men of the order who were looking down on him silently as
he passed” (56). The reader cannot help
but wonder if Stephen’s journey to the rector’s office is a parallel of a
possible journey to be a martyr like the people he sees on the walls. This idea is further supported after Stephen
converses with the rector. Upon hearing
of Stephen’s moral triumph, students “made a cradle of their locked hands and
hoisted him up among them and carried him along till he struggled to get free”
(58). The other students identify with
Stephen’s heroism and see him as a representation of the injustices they would
like to counter in their lives. The
imagery of Stephen being carried around by his classmates is the imagery of an applaud for a hero.
The detail of Stephen struggling to get free causes the reader to
question his reaction to being a hero.
Is it a constraint against his freedom?
Regardless, the details and imagery Joyce employs in this section of the
novel reveal vital and interesting thoughts about Stephen’s future and
feelings.
Essentially, I think that our first
portion of reading in this novel introduces us to a variety of ideas that will
most likely be further developed as the novel continues.