Thursday, October 30, 2008
A Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man (Synthesizing: Pulling Ideas Together from across the Five Chapters)
In the comments box post any questions, observations, and comments still lingering after the teacher-lead discussion (Friday, October 31). You are evaluated during these discussions and may feel that your contributions during class did not adequately convey your understanding of the novel. If so, post comments.
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31 comments:
I wanted to ammend my previous blog a bit. I had stated that Stephen's view of women altered from one of curiosity, to objectifying, and ultimately denying himself from even looking a women in the eyes. However I think this analyzation can be simplified. I believe that Stephen struggles with the idea of women being pure and divine (as he views E.C. and the Virgin Mary in the beginning of the novel) and the idea of all women being impure and sexual, such as the prostitutes he sleeps with. When he is in the latter mindset he denounces the Virgin Mary as well. This idea ties in well with the theme brought up by Mr. Cook of the virgin/whore complex.
I wanted to discuss E.C. a bit more closely since I am wondering whether or not she may be a mere image in Stephen's mind. I feel that E.C. is just the idealistic view of women for Stephen; representing the unattainable beauty related to women. This is in sharp contrast to the prostitutes Stephen encounters during his stage of sin. Since Stephen idolizes EC so much, he is unable to confront her and hold a real conversation with her, and unable to express his feelings. I do not think it is too farfetched to sustain the notion that EC may be a part of Stephen's creative imagination. He may perceive EC as such a model of perfection due to his dislike of the grotesque impurities of the body as well. I realized i just threw out some ideas that were really unorganized, sorry.
I agree that Stephen struggles with the virgin/whore complex, and I would also say that he applies a similar thing to the church. He seems to sway from one extreme to the other. With women he goes from lifting all of them up as the Virgin Mary to thinking of all of them as whores. But he also does this with sin. He steeps himself in sin by going to a prostitute, but then his cure is to reject any comfort in case it be sin. On page 131 in description of Stephen it says, "In order to mortify the sense of sight he made it his rule to walk in the street with downcast eyes...To mortify his hearing he exerted no control over his voice which was then breaking, neither sang nor whistled and made no attempt to flee from noise which caused him painful nervous irritation..." and the list goes on and on. He goes from one extreme, going to a prostitute, to not even looking at women and constantly punishing himself for his past. He doesn't seem to be able to find middle ground. He can't appreciate women; he either has to idolize them or punish himself in order to stay away from them.
He has similar feelings about God. He either will be a priest or he won't serve God at all. He says of becoming a priest that the "appeal did not touch him to the quick. He was destined to learn his own wisdom apart from others or to learn the wisdom of others himself wandering among the snares of the world. The snares of the world were its ways of sin. He would fall. He had not yet fallen but he would fall silently, in an instant" (page 141 of the Barnes and Noble edition). He seems to think that his choice not to become a priest is the start of his inevitable fall away from God. By the end of the book Stephen does fall away from God, but in my opinion it is because he cannot see the middle ground. He is so steeped in tradition and the idea that one must be a priest to best follow God that he will not choose to honor God with his art. Instead of letting himself be an image of God, (a little creator) he wants to be God. Stephen sees only priesthood (holiness) or artist (unholiness).
Because Stephen cannot see middle ground, he cannot see the true nature and complexity of women or the true nature of a life lived for God.
Something that seems to be of great importance but maybe too simple to discuss is the Irish pride that is inside Stephen. He is from Ireland and he is very proud of it, but a lot of who he is and how he finds himself is trapped in Dublin. When Stephen writes, Stephen Dedalsu is my name, Ireland is my nation. Clongowes is my dwellingplace—And heaven my expectation. This is in the first chapter and he is writing it because he needs to be sure of something. Stephen is trapped in the maze, and it is not until he flies away that he truly finds himself. Dublin is indeed his home, but he must leave his home in order to reflect upon it and thus himself. The last journal entry of Stephen states, “Old father, old artificer, stand me now and ever in good stead.” It is here that Stephen has his final “aha” moment where he figures out not who he is necessarily, but how to stay true to what he has discovered, and give himself enough credit for being what he is.
I wanted to point out how the perception of birds changes throughout the novel. As Stephen grows older, he is preparing for the day when he can “fly” from Ireland and isolate himself in order to make art, free from his family, society, and his catholic schools. Birds clearly represent flight, but until Stephen is ready to leave the University, birds have negative connotations in the novel, and rarely appear flying. Actually, the only time I remember reading about a bird flying is the last chapter.
In the very first chapter, one of Stephen’s prominent memories as a young boy is a joking punishment said by Dante. In a question of whether or not Stephen will apologize for something, Dante says “—O if not the eagles will come out and pull out his eyes.” I don’t know if that’s a common phrase. Stephen fixates on the image of an eagle, and he either recites a poem he knows, or creates one, repeating the line ‘pull out his eyes’. I think the narrator here is showing Stephen’s early fascination with language through the simple rhyme. Fixating on the eagle also makes birds seem violent, and unkind to Steven.
I wasn’t sure if I would be able to find anything in the second chapter, until I noticed two names of characters that appeared briefly. This might be far fetched. Little Bertie Tallon interests Stephen as the boys at his school prepare for the play because he looks very much like a girl. At this point in the novel, (and certainly by the end of chapter two) Stephen is beginning to fall into an obsession with women. Bertie is the foreshadowing of Stephen’s growing fascination towards females. I think that Bertie, with his last name that reminds us of violent, avian behavior, is placed at this point in the novel to subtly hint at the troubles that will face the maturing artist. Later in the chapter, a friend called Heron appears in the present, reminding Stephen of a fight between them in the past. The fight was about heresy, focusing on how Stephen’s favorite poet was a heretic. Near the end of the novel, one of the obstacles keeping Stephen from being an artist is the church, and whether or not he has faith in it. And yes, a heron is a type of carnivorous bird. I think again Joyce is hinting at the future troubles Stephen will have with females and the church by slyly making two characters’ names relate to birds. Rather than having the birds fly, they are related to pain (talons) or a predator (heron).
Birds appear a few more times. In chapter three he daydreams (or doodles? I couldn’t tell) a peacock’s tail unfolding, and from that tail he imagines his sins are spreading out. Still negative connotations to birds. When he imagines the flood in chapter three, he lists the animals that would perish “birds, men, elephants…”. It’s strange how he would be worried first about birds dying in a flood because birds can fly! Away from the ground! But at this point- Stephen still isn’t ready to fly and escape. So, his subconscious isn’t ready to process/remember that birds fly, let alone symbolize escape. Stephen is still picturing them negatively.
But in the last part of the last chapter, Stephen realizes that he must leave Ireland to become an artist. When the last section opens, Stephen is staring at a group of birds flying (finally! birds flying!) overhead. He finally sees the beauty of them; no longer are birds pulling out his eyes, bullying him about his favorite poet, or unraveling their tails and transforming into his sins. Stephen has developed and matured, and finally, Joyce chooses to show birds in their natural habit, the sky, much like how Stephen will be in his right habit as an artist away from his home.
Ever since the pure/whore complex has been brought up in class, it has indefinitely been the obsession of my thoughts circling Stephen. The handle of my ‘obsession’ rests on what I learned on a trip to Italy last April.
While outside the Sistine Chapel (as you cannot speak inside the holy relic) there was a very involved discussion on Women’s roles in the catholic church, and importantly, the role that women took in the art of Michelangelo. We can obviously see that Michelangelo has an affinity for the body of man in his works like the David and more explicitly, the creation of Adam (the most well known piece from the entire work of the Sistine Chapel).
In his art, and in scholarly advances it was found that Michelangelo strongly disliked women. In his painting of the panel where the forbidden fruit is eaten, he depicts a she-devil explicitly as the snake. When painting the male and female prophets around the scenes of the chapel (http://www.visitingdc.com/images/sistine-chapel-picture-2.jpg just to show you what I mean, the center plane, where you can see the Creation of Adam, is all scenes from Genisis, the Triangles on the far sides are Ancestors of Christ, and the people between the m, beside the triangles, are the prophets) Were painted as Androgynous females.
I’ve come to wonder if this had any influence on Joyce’s writing- if the knowledge of Michelangelo’s own whore/purity complex (given the evidence, scholars do believe he suffers from it) aided in the sculpting of Stephen. I do understand that Joyce had incorporated some of his own attributes into Stephen, but the comparison between Stephen and Michelangelo is almost blatant to me.
Alex T had stated the idea E. C. May be, to Stephen, a fabricated idealism of what a woman is. This is well supported and something I can easily agree with. Given that the women Michelangelo painted in the Prophets are androgynous, they can also be taken as Idealistic representations of women, as seen by the painter.
I’m not actually sure where this all ties into the book, to be honest. These ideas are really, spinning around my head at light speed, and it’s been almost painful for me to not get them out and develop them. I think what I am trying to bring is another dimension to the possible development of Stephen…I think maybe I should have written this all out sooner and try to finalize more of an Idea out of it. I actually wish I had been able to mention this in class and maybe get some more depth and more of an assertion…but I see no harm in posting what I’ve devised so far.
Brian Hand
In response to Naomi’s comment, I do think that Stephen is able to create for himself a middle ground concerning both his perception of women and his artistic endeavors. Up until his creation of a villanelle in Chapter 5, Stephen’s complex view of women has imprisoned him and aggravated his freedom as an artist. In chapter 2, Stephen wrote a poem “To E—C—“ (61 B&N). However, this poem varies from the Chapter 5 verse because the former contained little of Stephen’s own unique feelings towards EC. The narrator notes that Stephen tried hard to make his poem “similar” to the “poems of Lord Byron” (61). He recalls another attempt at poetry when he lost sight of his “theme” thus his poem “fail[ed]” (61). This time, when he begins to focus simply on his theme, everything “common and insignificant” begins to fall “out of the scene” (61). After this, the text begins to shift to descriptive, lyrical words and sentences that I’m not going to cite but its on page 61. There is an important difference between the Chapter 5 villanelle and his earlier poetic efforts. Rather than begin his poem with an obvious and explicit “To E—C—,” Stephen seems to be writing a poem not about Emma Clery, but about his imagination that creates her beauty. It is noted that “in the virgin womb of the imagination the word was made flesh.” (193) He seems to be referring to the “you” of his poem as the “Lure of the fallen seraphim” or his lust for and romanticizing of Emma, which transforms her into a “seraphim” in his mind (198). Now he is able to step out of his lust and desire and see that he is imprisoned not by Emma but by his mind that creates an angelic image of her. Through this, he is able to create a “middle ground” or a perception of women that is not trapping his artistic expression. This freeing artistic piece is purposefully followed by images of birds and flight. As Stephen looks at them, he begins to think about “gazing at birds of flight” which triggers in his mind thoughts of the “hawklike man whose name he bore” (199). These birds cause him to create thoughts of “soaring out of captivity” (199). Through his art, he dreams he will be able to “fly” above entrapments of society and not be stuck in its maze while looking upward and wondering “Why was…. he watching their flight” (199).
I just wanted to mention quickly the grey motif that I have noticed throughout the novel, and probably many others have too since the adjective appears quite frequently throughout the novel. After many minutes of search-engine-utilization I came up with the following statistics:
OCCURENCES OF THE WORD 'GREY'
(by itself or as part of a compound word ie. greyhound, whitegrey)
Ch. 1.............15
Ch. 2..............1
Ch. 3..............4
Ch. 4..............7
Ch. 5.............19 (!)
Total.............46 (!!)
I think this may be worth looking into. I have a couple ideas, but I'm interested in seeing what other people think.
Meghan Ciaramitaro
D Block
I was searching for a passage when I noticed something interesting. In the beginning of the novel, Stephen is ridiculed for kissing his mother. This causes him to lose certainty of the situation. He is no longer sure if he is supposed to kiss his mother before going to bed; “What was the right answer to the question? He had given two and still Wells laughed” (14). The children making fun of him made him question what is right and wrong. Later in the novel, during the scene with the prostitute the honesty of the moment is too much for Stephen. He knows that kissing the prostitute is wrong and at first, he fights it, “His lips would not bend to kiss her” (101). In this moment, Stephen would rather be held by the woman because it made him feel “strong and fearless” (101), but he would not kiss her because he would become vulnerable. They eventually kissed and he felt as if he were “surrendering himself to her” (101). I feel like Joyce added the contemplation of a kiss scene at the beginning to foreshadow the prostitute scene. By having Stephen ponder the essence of a kiss, he later realizes whom it is okay to share this moment of vulnerability with.
Meghan Ciaramitaro
D Block
Naming and identity are extremely important elements of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. From in the very beginning, where Nasty Roche asks Stephen what his name is, and snidely says, "What kind of a name is that?" (9) to many other key points in the novel. In chapter two, Stephen spends some time contemplating names while trying to figure out who he is. "He could scarcely recognize as his his own thoughts, and repeated slowly to himself: -- I am Stephen Dedalus. I am walking beside my father whose name is Simon Dedalus." (92) In this passage, Stephen is distraught from a talk with his father about who he should associate with and his overall manliness. The talk makes Stephen reevaluate himself, and leaves him feeling like "his very brain was sick and powerless" (92). While feeling as if he could not respond to "earthly or human appeal" (92) he began listing trivial facts in his head; "We are in Cork, in Ireland. Cork is a city. Our room is in the Victoria Hotel. Victoria and Stephen and Simon. Simon and Stephen and Victoria. Names." (92) Stephen strung these thoughts together because in the moment, he felt like he was losing the memories of his childhood. Instead of having vibrant memories, "he only recalled names…" (93). Joyce repeats this constant pairing of names with lost identity in many spots in the novel. I think this is Stephen's biggest struggle throughout his journey.
One of the most important aspects of this novel, I think, is Stephen’s alternation between extreme lifestyle choices. He toys with ideas of morality and his position in his society but he cannot create one identity that stands in the face of his experiences and desires. He instead forms several incomplete identities.
At the end of the novel he does create one singular identity by deciding to become an artist and “drop out” of society in a sense. However, I wonder if this decision is a permanent one. Although his final decision reflects in many ways his inner nature, it is also almost as wholly extreme and reactionary as his other decisions earlier in the book.
This thought made me think especially of the Invisible Man who decides to “go underground” at the end of the novel. He consciously makes this decision because he cannot reconcile his identity with his external culture. He can only get ahead by quietly accepting the expectations of his society. At the end of the novel the Invisible Man clearly states that he is coming of the underground. “Going underground” provides a successful means of escape but it is, too, a tenuous and inconclusive lifestyle choice.
One of the biggest conflicts that I think Stephen does not solve is his desire for companionship. He resolves to be alone if necessary. In Chapter 5 Cranly says “You have no fear of that. And you know what that word means? Not only to be separate from all others but to have not even one friend,” to which Stephen replies “I will take that risk.” I think Stephen does have an undeniable urge for companionship. He continues to express his interest in the opposite sex in his final diary entries. I think if he still has those desires the decision to remain alone cannot be a permanent one.
If we were to analyze Stephen’s decision psychologically it would seem that he remains in a state of moratorium. He has experimented with different identities but in the end abandons all of them. Although he does take on an identity it doesn't wholly resolve his crisis. I know the novel Ulysses is a sequel to A Portrait of the Artist and so I wonder if this issue does come up again.
Sarah Johnson
B&N
Subject: The Water
I’ve been all about the water motifs here. Ever since the first chapter with the cesspool, and the sound of the cricket bats like “drops of water in a fountain” (51), I’ve been trying to figure out what they represent. At first I thought it was just an indicator of what Stephen was afraid of, like being at the new school or being nervous about speaking to the rector, but water is later found in a positive light, when Stephen is re-discovering life in his epiphany in Chapter 4, where the “rivulet dark with endless drift mirrored the highdrifting clouds….and a new wild life was singing in his veins” (149).So I threw out the fear idea. I also thought that, perhaps, water always indicated a change for Stephen, such as the “waves of light” or “gently moving water…low and faint and whispering” (150) in the scene with the girl in Chapter 4, where Stephen is changing his way of thinking; or the “fog of his mind” (98) he struggles with when he first becomes a pious, repentant man in chapter 3. However, this hypothesis was also negated by moments such as when Stephen describes his life of abstinence from human pleasure in Chapter 4, following his confession, where temptation, like a flood, “slowly advanc[ed] towards his naked feet” (133). This period of Stephen’s life is unchanging, as he consistently denies temptation, outright. So I finally settled on the hypothesis that water is Stephen’s way of dealing with people. All people, himself included. From thoughts on his family as he crosses the bridge “over the stream of Tolka” (141), to discussing the existence of beauty with Lynch, in the “fine rain” that began to “fall from the high veiled sky” (191). When Stephen is having issues with a person/people/existence, there is always water imagery, not too far away. I know I haven’t found all of the perfect examples to explain my reasoning, but I feel very much that my current hypothesis is the most correct thus far, and I’m interested in hearing any thoughts that anyone wants to offer on the water imagery.
Sarah Johnson
B&N
Subject: The Water
I’ve been all about the water motifs here. Ever since the first chapter with the cesspool, and the sound of the cricket bats like “drops of water in a fountain” (51), I’ve been trying to figure out what they represent. At first I thought it was just an indicator of what Stephen was afraid of, like being at the new school or being nervous about speaking to the rector, but water is later found in a positive light, when Stephen is re-discovering life in his epiphany in Chapter 4, where the “rivulet dark with endless drift mirrored the highdrifting clouds….and a new wild life was singing in his veins” (149).So I threw out the fear idea. I also thought that, perhaps, water always indicated a change for Stephen, such as the “waves of light” or “gently moving water…low and faint and whispering” (150) in the scene with the girl in Chapter 4, where Stephen is changing his way of thinking; or the “fog of his mind” (98) he struggles with when he first becomes a pious, repentant man in chapter 3. However, this hypothesis was also negated by moments such as when Stephen describes his life of abstinence from human pleasure in Chapter 4, following his confession, where temptation, like a flood, “slowly advanc[ed] towards his naked feet” (133). This period of Stephen’s life is unchanging, as he consistently denies temptation, outright. So I finally settled on the hypothesis that water is Stephen’s way of dealing with people. All people, himself included. From thoughts on his family as he crosses the bridge “over the stream of Tolka” (141), to discussing the existence of beauty with Lynch, in the “fine rain” that began to “fall from the high veiled sky” (191). When Stephen is having issues with a person/people/existence, there is always water imagery, not too far away. I know I haven’t found all of the perfect examples to explain my reasoning, but I feel very much that my current hypothesis is the most correct thus far, and I’m interested in hearing any thoughts that anyone wants to offer on the water imagery.
In response to Sarah's question about the water imagery, I think that it also often has to do with washing and or judgment. I began to think about this, because water as cleansing and water as imagery of judgment is very Biblical (ex. baptism, the parting of the Red Sea for the Israelite's and its closing on the Egyptians, etc.). For example on page 149(B&N version) the water seems to be Stephen's cleansing. Except as we were talking about in class today, Joyce uses the water as a cleansing from Stephen's old identities instead of a cleansing from sin. He seems to use biblical imagery for his own use. In the same way he seems to use water as judgment on pages 50 and 51, but he pronounces Stephen right with the water. Joyce says the "tide was flowing in fast to the land with a low whisper of her waves" (151). He uses the waters as a judgment of Stephen, but twists it for his own use.
On page 133 he talks about temptation as a flood. Again biblical imagery would seem to bring his reader to think about the great flood where only Noah, the righteous man, escaped. Joyce seems to use biblical imagery as it was intended to show how Stephen escapes temptation, (the flood) because of his righteousness. He only uses biblical imagery for its proper purpose when Stephen himself believes in its truth.
Again on page 191 Joyce seems to use the rain as a cleansing for Stephen. He is discussing beauty with Lynch, and it starts to rain. It seems that Joyce is saying with the rain that Stephen is finally cleansed of all thoughts that distract him from his art and creating. Joyce seems to use water as cleansing, but in his own way not in the biblical way.
Well first off I deffinetely agree with Naomi by saying that Stephen seems to go from one extreme to the other and also that I seem to think that he links opposites together. The concept of falling and water has held my interest throughout the novel. To me, water being fluid, or cold and or wet along with objects or people falling either spiritually or actually falling are all uncontrolable things. In many of the areas that Stephen mentions or references to water or falling it is around a subject or passage that is dealing with somthing he can control or wants to control, or even feels he should be able to control.
Water or its properties are mentioned more to explain things other than actual water is directly referenced to. Falling on the other had is used more in a spiritual way than actually falling from one place or area to another, and when it is seeming to be actually happening, it usually involves falling into water or waters properties. Even the fact that water is usually used as a describing technique more time than not and falling is usually spiritual is an opposite.
Along with swaying from extreme to extreme, Stephen incorporates things within his control with other things that he cant control. It also seems that water or falling appears in most of the major scenes, even more so when a decsion is expected. For example when Stephen is asked to join the pristhood, the curtain falls, which in this case is an actuall object. I'm really not sure if I'm on to anything at all... But it does seem like Stephen incorporates, or references to things that are out of his control when he is trying to gain control or wants to have control.
After reading Hannah's response and agreeing to what she said I felt i needed to add to my last comment, kind of. Stephen seems to take pride in being Irish and takes it seriously, but he also turns down the priesthood offer, which I have been told is a great offer as well as very Irish to take part in the church. I also agree that Stephen seems "trapped" within Dublin by the fact that he doesnt really seem to want to leave enough to actually do so and even when Stephen seems frustrated there,I think that it is himself and his circumstances that he is frustrated with more than where he is. As Mr. Cook said, this was also true at least somewhat for Joyce, who up and went to a different country when he was frusrated that he couldnt grasp a concept in class.
I also agree that for Stephen to completely reflect and grow he would have to leave his comfort zone of Dublin. Also, almost all of Stephens connections or memories go back to Dublin and for him to completely reflect on himself, his decisions, and growth as either a person or artist, it seems vital for Stephen to "step out side the box", if you will.
The Irish pride is also a type of opposite. Stephen is very proud of his Irish heritage and full of pride, but he also doesnt want to take a part in what most On the same note, I wonder is because of the despair and problems that his father has caused, if at some level Stephen is rejecting the "Irish pride" or some of the same things that his father was a part of, since he clearly wants to be better as a person and later as a father than his father was to him and his family.
While I noted and find interest in the themes mentioned above, I was actually interested in a different sort of tying thread in the story of Stephen Dedalus. I decided to follow the echos of Stephen’s namesake Daedalus, and his son Icarus. Today in class was really the first time the Dedalus/Icarus issue clicked for me, in the passages brought up by Mr. Cook the echos to Daedalus are clear and prominent as exampled by his sighting of a “hawk man”, and the imagery of the flight over the waves as he experiences his epiphany moment. But also at this very emotional and gripping moment of self realization there is also the echos of Icarus’ fall (the boys shouting “I’m drownded”, as Icarus fell to his death and drown in the waves). After this instance I noted the other similarities between Stephen and the myth. Daedalus was the builder of the Labyrinth of Crete, an almost impregnable maze guarded by a Minotaur, Daedalus himself is trapped by the island, not so much by the maze but by the King of Crete and the miles of water separating him from his own freedom. In that same way Stephen is trapped by the “maze” of the streets of Dublin, anchored on the island of Ireland. Stephen feels very trapped by his station, much like the “fabulous artificer” he takes his name from, he also feels pressure from very King-like figures (i.e. the Dean asking him to stay and become a priest) to stay in his personal hell. The part of this myth motif that interests me most though, is whether Stephen will take the role of Daedalus or Icarus. There seem to be multiple instances where falling is emphasized, it seems to be at the end of almost every chapter there is some mention of falling, and I feel as though this is Stephen skating the line of becoming Icarus, and flying closer and closer to the sun. Stephen, however unlike his mythic counterpart, always seems to manage to pull himself back at the last moment, just so as to save his wings from singeing.
Michael McGovern
B&N
In response to Hannah’s comment, I don’t think that Stephen is proud to be Irish at all. One reason is because Stephen feels out of place due to his name not being an Irish one. Many people point that out to Stephen, including Davin, when he tells Stephen, “What with your name and ideals… are you Irish at all? In that same conversation with Davin in chapter five, Stephen feels Davin has just called him a monster. His response is, “This race and this country and this life produced me. I shall express myself as I am.” (p.179) That comment shows that he has very little respect for how the Irish people are raised. Stephen also tries very hard to separate himself from the others at his college. Many of Stephen’s friends, Davin in particular, are ardent Irish nationalists. Stephen mocks Davin’s beliefs by telling him, “When you make the next rebellion with hurleysticks and want the indispensable informer, tell me. I can find you a few in this college.” (p.178) His mocking of nationalistic beliefs shows how disconnected he became from the idea of Irish independence from the United Kingdom. Stephen also chooses to drop his Irish classes. While he does say he does this because he believes that Father Moran is having an affair with a girl he likes, he is still choosing to isolate himself from his Irish culture. On page 180, Stephen also call Ireland, “ The old sow that eats her farrow.” This shows how little respect he holds for Ireland and how much he desperately wants to be disassociated with it.
Stephen also decides to abandon his religion. Religion is very important in the Irish culture and Stephen willingly tells his friend Cranly, “I will not serve.” (p. 212) Stephen then tells Cranly that he also does not believe in the Eucharist. Upon Cranly asking him if he is reluctant to take part in the Eucharist for fear of God striking him dead, Stephen’s response is, “ I fear more that the chemical action which would be set up in my soul by a false homage to a symbol behind which are massed twenty centuries of authority an veneration.” (p.216) This breaking away from religion shows that Stephen does not feel linked to Irish culture and has no wish to be apart of it. This is because he feels no pride in his Irish heritage.
Michael McGovern
B&N
In response to Hannah’s comment, I don’t think that Stephen is proud to be Irish at all. One reason is because Stephen feels out of place due to his name not being an Irish one. Many people point that out to Stephen, including Davin, when he tells Stephen, “What with your name and ideals… are you Irish at all? In that same conversation with Davin in chapter five, Stephen feels Davin has just called him a monster. His response is, “This race and this country and this life produced me. I shall express myself as I am.” (p.179) That comment shows that he has very little respect for how the Irish people are raised. Stephen also tries very hard to separate himself from the others at his college. Many of Stephen’s friends, Davin in particular, are ardent Irish nationalists. Stephen mocks Davin’s beliefs by telling him, “When you make the next rebellion with hurleysticks and want the indispensable informer, tell me. I can find you a few in this college.” (p.178) His mocking of nationalistic beliefs shows how disconnected he became from the idea of Irish independence from the United Kingdom. Stephen also chooses to drop his Irish classes. While he does say he does this because he believes that Father Moran is having an affair with a girl he likes, he is still choosing to isolate himself from his Irish culture. On page 180, Stephen also call Ireland, “ The old sow that eats her farrow.” This shows how little respect he holds for Ireland and how much he desperately wants to be disassociated with it.
Stephen also decides to abandon his religion. Religion is very important in the Irish culture and Stephen willingly tells his friend Cranly, “I will not serve.” (p. 212) Stephen then tells Cranly that he also does not believe in the Eucharist. Upon Cranly asking him if he is reluctant to take part in the Eucharist for fear of God striking him dead, Stephen’s response is, “ I fear more that the chemical action which would be set up in my soul by a false homage to a symbol behind which are massed twenty centuries of authority an veneration.” (p.216) This breaking away from religion shows that Stephen does not feel linked to Irish culture and has no wish to be apart of it. This is because he feels no pride in his Irish heritage.
Caitlin Hugel
Block F
This is in response to Alex’s blog and by extension Naomi’s. We have talked a lot about the ‘virgin/whore’ complex and Naomi extended it to religion. I think that Joyce extends the same complex to most if not all aspects of Stephen’s life. At first reading the novel it seems like everything is grey area. Looking back, most things are juxtaposed so that they are black and white: virgin/whore, red/green, sin/salvation, Irish/English. By experiencing each extreme Stephen carves out his identity and where he fits between the ideas; that becomes the grey area. He doesn’t cast away religion but he doesn’t become a priest. He sleeps with a prostitute but he atones and allows himself to find the beauty in women. Only when he has found his niche in between all the opposing ideas does he realize his identity and thus become an artist.
Caitlin Hugel
Block F
I agree with Cloë’s post about the birds and have been speculating about there usage as well. On page 150 (B & N) Stephen sees the young woman on the beach. For a paragraph or more he describes her beauty in depth and every amiable feature is compared to an avian feature. (EX. “She seemed like one whom magic had changed into the likeness of a strange and beautiful seabird.”)I belief that this is the point in the novel where Stephen (if he were to be compared to Icarus) takes flight. His wings are not wax, but beauty. However, Joyce infuses Stephen’s wings with words and feelings linking Stephen back to his namesake. It is the moment he realizes that he wants to create and that to an artist is their means of flying. Whether or not he can handle the burden of being an artist and prevent falling is another blog-post.
Caitlin Hugel
Block F
What has interested me the most in reading Portrait is Joyce’s use of outside sources. It seems that every time I don’t quite understand something, or conversely, if I completely understand something my train of thought is broken by a song excerpt. I brought this idea up in class, however I am not convinced by what we had brainstormed. Alex R. said that he thought the use of songs was Joyce’s way of adding a soundtrack to the novel.
In a way I agree however, re-reading it seems that the songs also foreshadow and introduce important motifs. On the very first page Joyce breaks the text and inserts the song: “O, the wild rose blossoms on the little green place.” At first glance, this songs sets a childlike mood. When analyzed ( especially if you are searching for greater meaning) this two line song foreshadows the use of the color green throughout the rest of the novel and the roses discussed later during math class later on in the chapter.
There are many more examples, however I think my point is that Joyce included these songs as a built in spark-notes to provide clues to the plot and to reinforce main motifs and themes, as well as to give scenes playful or somber moods, etc.
Today in class (Wed. Nov. 5), we had an interesting discussion about Stephen’s “sovereignty” (148 B&N). We linked the word to God and then to how Stephen seems view himself as God-like, being an artist who is “like the God of creation” and “remains within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails” (this particular thought processes come later, on page191, but he started going in this general direction at the end of chapter 4).
However, in closely reading the passage where God is “paring his fingernails”(191) I noticed something that seems to be one of Joyce’s winks and I think may explain the unusual narration of this novel. During Stephen’s discussion with Lynch about his theory of esthetics (which I am assuming to mean aesthetics), Steven says “in literature, this highest and most spiritual art…the personality of the artists passes into the narration itself, flowing round and round persons and action like a vital sea…The personality of the artist, at first a cry or a cadence or a mood and then a fluid and lamven narrative, finally refines itself out of existence, impersonalizes itself, so to speak” (B&N 190-191..and perhaps note the water, sea, fluid references). Reading this passage immediately brought to my mind the style of Portrait of the Artist itself and how the narrator seems to be an artists, sometimes with his own agenda, but essentially detached from the actual action of the novel. Therefore, this novel is written in the style that Stephen endorses in this passage. This makes me wonder if there is any chance that Stephen may actually BE the narrator of this novel ( Joyce wrote it of course, but I mean if stylistically Stephen wrote it), and because he believes that “the personality of the artist passes into the narration itself,” he prefers to use third person narration instead of the first. I know this is a crazy idea, but I really think that Stephen’s discussion of art, beauty and esthetics is important, albeit confusing. Joyce puts many of his ideas about art into Stephen’s arguments, and perhaps shows how he, Joyce, came to his ideas about art by showing his thought process through Stephen. To believe that Joyce agrees with Stephen’s ideas about “impersonaliz[ing] the narrative,” we can assume that Joyce wrote Portrait with the same ideas and thus with its “swooping narrator” as Mr. Cook so fondly calls him.
Kyle Smith
I really liked where Hannah was going in relation to the Irish pride that seems prevalent throughout the novel. Although I am pretty bad at picking up allusions to it (mainly because I am relatively unfamiliar with the plight of the Irish people), I was always intrigued by each instance of it. In the first chapter we see the War of the Roses (an English affair) manifested by York and Lancaster and their Red and White Roses. Stephen relates to both through the color of his face, but also wishes for green roses (perhaps due to his lack of belonging to either team). This “green rose” clearly symbolizes the Irish people and their separation from the British. What I saw as another example of the inherent Irish streak of Stephen is when he uses the word tundish when referring to the funnel used to fill an oil lamp. His dean (who is English) has never heard this word before because it is derived from Irish. This more clear exhibits Stephen’s feeling that he has always been speaking in a foreign tongue. It is also interesting because within a few pages, his friend Davin questions his Irish heritage because Stephen dropped his Irish class and doesn’t speak the language. This seems to exhibit Stephen’s awareness of Irish nationalism but not necessarily his support of it. Much like Dante believed that God came before Ireland, perhaps Stephen believes that art comes before Ireland too.
ps. my last comment about the stylistic ideas behind the narration of POA is kind of in response to Sarah's ideas about the water motif because, as I noted, Stephen mentions the "invisible, refined...indifferent" artistic style the Stephen endorses works as a "fluid" and "flowing...sea" around the characters and actions of literature(B&N 190-191). Therefore, the recurring water motif may be Joyce winking at the reader by explicitly having the narrative flow with water to illustrate the flowing that is meant to be occuring due to omnicient narrator/detached author/artist.
Alison Randazza
D Block
Penguin Classics
Language has been a strong motif of sorts through the novel. From everything to sounds, rhythm and meaning, language has played an important role in Stephen’s development as an artist. In the beginning of the novel Stephen’s first interest in the sound of words comes out when he thinks on the word “suck,” “a queer word” (8). He describes it as the sound the hole in the basin made when all the dirty water had gone down it. Stephen does the same again in chapter one with “wine” (47). He describes it as a beautiful word that makes you think of the dark purple grapes from which it is made. The color of language is delved into further by Stephen in chapter four on page 180. Stephen asks: “Words. Was it their colours?” (180). “No,” he answers himself. He loves the “rhythmic rise and fall of the words” (180). Stephen’s obsession with words and language shows his artistic growth, and when he discovered that he enjoyed the rhythm more than the “colour” he developed even further. Now that words and language were rhythmic, Stephen goes to think about how it is different for others. On page 206 in chapter five, when Stephen is talking to the priest they touch on the subject of words and Stephen finds that word choice may depict the meaning behind the language. Stephen is speaking on the worlds “home, Christ, ale, [and] master” (205), which he finds to be “familiar and so foreign, [and] will always be for [him] an acquired speech” (205). Here, Stephen realized that because these words are not of his own lips they may have a different meaning. (This may also be because the Irish have borrowed a lot of language from the English). Anyway, through the knowledge acquired throughout the novel, Stephen learns how to express what he feels he needs to express with the tool of language/words, etc.
Generally speaking, colors have a profound mentioning throughout most of the novel. The color white is especially brought up on appropriate occasion. Stephen often appears to be struggling with identifying purity and what it means to be pure, and white is a color that represents innocence and purity. Since Stephen is far from pure (loosely based on his encounters with the prostitutes), it would seem odd that any connection between Stephen himself and reference to the color white would be made. While gray seems to be the color of choice in the first part of the story, white begins to appear while he is considering priesthood. When describing the girl in the stream, he uses white when observing her drawers (which covers the womanhood and what Stephen is struggling to determine whether this makes one pure or impure), and also relates her bosom to that of a dove. He also makes notice of her "slender" legs that he refers to as "delicate as a crane's", a bird which also is white in color. Stephen also takes not of her light, fair hair.
While Stephen does not know this girl, he seems to observe many different aspects about her, which I felt was mostly due to his curiosity of purity, and a difference in the appearance of this particular female to that of most of the others that Stephen has encountered and deemed impure (especially the prostitutes). Even when describing the prostitutes, Stephen oftentimes only describes their legs, and tends to focus more on their material accessories, such as clothing. Does Stephen make more intimate observations about the girl in the stream whom he does not even know because, since he encountered the experience with the prostitute himself, he already has a satisfying explanation of sin and impurity? Does he connect purity with this young, beautiful girl because she is the opposite in appearance of the prostitutes?
In response to Courtlands grey stats I got to thinking about it and maybe grey is a symbol of being dirty and or tainted. Grey is just a dirty white or a mix between both black and white which plays on Alex T's mentioning of Stephen juggling between a few identities. Maybe grey symbolizes Stephens uncertainty about himself. I don't have any specific examples, so i guess this bold assertion is useless. maybe someone else can play on this further?
On pages 164 through 165, there is a constant mention of feet. Feet help take us from place to place, and without feet, it is difficult for us to navigate throughout the day. Within this passage, Stephen discusses transition to the university, a transition from him boyhood into a new era of his life. As he waits for his father to find out more about the university and circumstances he is under, he states that he paces back and forth along the FOOTpath, until his father is through. It then discusses the disloyalty between Stephen and his mother, and the "dim antagonism" that she seems to have brought forth. In the next paragraph, the mood abruptly switches to excitement about the university, and the transition from his boyhood. It then goes on to talk about the feet and motion of animals that race through his mind. From "It was an elfin prelude;...a proud cadence of Newman: Whose feet are as the feet of harts and underneath the everlasting arms.", we see an entire statement focused towards the mention of feet, while also trying to explain Stephen's euphoria of the realization of his completion of his boyhood. To me, the constant mention of feet in this particular passage suggests that this is the true transition of Stephen into an artist.
Brian Hand
We haven’t actually talked about this but it is something I have been wondering about and connecting in my head.
Throughout the novel, stories act to shackle Stephen’s artistic freedoms and perceptions by complicating his views and defining his existence. The novel begins strangely, with thoughts of his father telling him a story. Through this, Stephen’s father is literally writing him into the story by describing a “little boy named baby tuckoo” and the narrator saying Stephen “was baby tuckoo.” (B&N 1). Therefore, Stephen’s father is defining Stephen as someone he creates rather than someone who creates himself through his own senses and associations. This can be seen again in the name Dedalus, which is something else being given to Stephen by his father. He will later learn of the “prophecy” that he is “to serve” (148). Stephen seems to realize that the story of the person whose “name he bore” can also define him if isn’t able to someday fly free from it, less he end up like Icarus (199). When he goes home for Christmas dinner, Stephen hears stories form Mr.Casey that take on symbolic imagery. Casey describes a story in which he spits tobacco juice into the eye of a drunken woman. Stephen is interested in the story and it is noted that the “words thrilled him” (31). Although the words he is hearing interest him, they will actually act to complicate his already complex perceptions of women and blind him from the truth. This story goes against all Stephen has been taught about women, and it is noted: “It was not nice about the spit in the woman’s eye” (32). The fact that the woman is blinded is Joyce’s way of implying the blinding nature of stories as evidenced by the numerous repetitions of “I’m blinded…I’m blinded entirely” (32). Another familiar phrase is uttered here :”I’m…drowned” (32). It is no coincidence that the same exact phrase is mentioned in the passage we talked about on page 148. Again, drowning represents Stephen’s fall from his artistic successes and freedom. The same effect on Stephen’s views of women can be seen in his reading gof another story, The Count of Monte Cristo. Stephen romanticizes the character of Mercedes, which contributes to the virgin/whore complex that we talked about.
Another artistic shackle is reiterated through a story when the character of Davin is introduced. He tells Stephen a story that incorporates both female sexuality and Irish culture. It is filled with Irish vernacular and clichés such as “yoke” and Irish names like “Kilmallock” and “Ballyhoura Hills” (161). These Irish idioms are exactly what Stephen is attempting to escape as he tries to forge his life as an artist with individual associations. The story also deals with a woman who tries unsuccessfully to seduce Davin. This further complicates Stephen’s virgin/whore complex and it is noted that the “woman of the story stood forth” and her image is “reflected in other figures” who he sees (161) Thus, Stephen begins to see women as they were described in the story, further imprisoning him and his artistic visions by viewing women simply as objects in his own consciousness and not independent, feeling human beings.
Another story contributing to Stephen’s imprisonment are the stories of Christianity. Particualrly when the priests in chapter 3 talk about hell and damnation, I really don’t want to cite it all but its there on page 96ish. Religion “mortifies” his artistic vision and imprisions him in a passionless existence. (163) Also the story about the Virgin Mary. Im sick of citing.
Joyce portrays stories as a shackling by using them to represent artistic imprisonment in the form of devotion to country, sexual views, and religious views.
By the way, I realize how easy it would be to argue against my assertion simply by asking, why Joyce would want to portray stories as a blinding force when it is all taking place in a story, and to that I have no answer.
Emily Castro
Before beginning this novel, we familiarized ourselves with the whole Icarus/Dedalus story, in which Icarus flies but falls shortly after, and Dedalus flies but does not fall. Whether Stephen Dedalus is an embodiment of Dedalus or Icarus is debatable; it depends on how you look at Stephen's life and what you consider to be "falling", because what one considers success, another will always consider failure. At the end of chapter two we hypothesized that Stephen had fallen, and we also hypothesized that Stephen has yet to tall and that he will fall alter in the novel. In my opinion, Stephen falls when he decides to reevaluate his life and fully devote himself to Catholicism, and I believe that he takes flight at the end of chapter four on page 148 (B&N) when the narrator says that "...the body he knew was purified in a breath and delivered of incertitude and made radiant and commingled with the element of the spirit." (we talked about page 148 for the duration of class today) Through out the book Stephen has been so restless and so unsure of himself and such a malcontent because he has been leading two separate lives, one mental and one physical, but finally in the passage on page 148 Stephen has an epiphany and his body and spirit fuse together to become on entity in an "...ecstasy of flight..." (148). I think that in ignoring the prevailing Catholic influences and finally settling into one person, Stephen positively soars.
Ryan O's Response
1. In response to Naomi's first post, where she was describing Stephen's extremist nature, I noticed that the end of both the second and third chapters both end in similar ways, only with completely different outcomes. The end of the second chapter reads, "With a sudden movement she bowed his head and joined her lips to his and he read the meaning of her movements in her frank uplifted eyes. It was too much for him. He closed his eyes, surrendering himself to her, body and mind, conscious of nothing in the world but the dark pressure of her softly parting lips. They pressed upon his brain as upon his lips as though they were the vehicle of a vague speech; and between then he felt an unknown and timid pressure, darker than the swoon of sin, softer than odor or sound." (89) In this paragraph, it is explicitly stated that Stephen gives up his "body and mind" to the prostitute, and relinquishing all control over himself. At the end of the third chapter however, it says, "The muddy streets were gay. He strode homeward, conscious of an invisible grace pervading and making light his limbs. In spite of all he had done it. He had confessed and God had pardoned him. His soul was made fair and holy once more, holy and happy. It would be beautiful to die if God so willed. It was beautiful to live in grace a life of peace and virtue and forbearance with others." (127) This seems like an exact contradiction of the previous chapter; while before he was giving his body over to the prostitute and sin, he now had an epiphany, and was giving his body and mind over to God, and grace.
2. While we spoke about it many times in class, I believe there is much much more to the connection between Stephen Daedalus, and the Daedalus from the Greek myth. While Chapter 4 is probably the most obvious, "Now, at the name of the fabulous artificer, he seemed to hear the noise of the dim waves and to see a winged form flying above the waves and slowly climbing the air." there are also many other parts of the book that suggest more. As Stephen develops more into the artist, like Daedalus, he yearns to escape from Ireland with his works of art, obviously referring to Daedalus and his wings. And while Stephen wishes to fly like Daedalus, there are also the occasions in which he falls like Icarus, the son. When Stephen goes to the prostitute in Chapter 2, it could represent the fall of his grace, of his religion and faith, while the ending of Chapter 3, where he renounces his sins, could represent the flight of Daedalus, and how he now soared freely over the sinners. It isn't until Stephen truly finds his own identity that he realizes that he can never be happy as a Daedalus, nor an Icarus, but his own entity somewhere in between the two, not sinful, yet not full of grace.
3. While I don't believe we ever really touched upon it in class, I think that a big part of the novel is Stephen's obsession with change. In the first chapter, when he was just a small child, he obsesses over the change in things, such as from hot to cold, "When you wet the bed, first it is warm then it gets cold." (3), "His bed was very hot and his face and body were very hot. He got up and sat on the side of his bed. He was weak. He tried to pull on his stocking. It had a horrid tough feel. The sunlight was queer and cold." (17). As he gets older into the second chapter, Stephen experiences even more change; such as traveling to new places with his father, changing homes, and finally, changing his life into one of sin. Chapter 3 contradicts the previous, for Stephen makes a full change, by renouncing his sinful ways to become a servant of God, for lack of a better word. He remains this way until Chapter 4, when he sees the girl at the beach. He has an epiphany, when we sees true, unbridled beauty in the girl, who is not ashamed of her body, yet did not flaunt it. It is here we see the true, final change in Stephen, for she represents what he wants to be. Stephen does not wish to be an extreme; on the side of sin nor on the side of grace, but to be in the middle, to indulge while still remaining morally good. The girl at the beach is an embodiment of this to Stephen, and causes this epiphany which leads to his final change as an artist.
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