Verified Document

Portrait Of An Artist Essay

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tells the story of Stephen Dedalus as he grows from an introspective and conscious young man into a rebellious and disaffected adult. For much of the novel, young Stephen is trying to figure out exactly who he is and what it is that he values in life. It is a stream-of-consciousness story wherein the internal thoughts and feeling, no matter how insignificant they may seem are written in their entirety so as to represent in a fictional work how a real human being's thought processes guide their life. As an Irish youth, it is expected that Stephen will follow the orders of his parents and honor his father and mother, and that he will live and behave according to the Catholic tradition of his family members and his community. Religion and the ways that Dedalus reacts to the differences between the teachings of his familial Catholicism and his own burgeoning personal belief system are an important part of the story's narrative. As young Stephen develops physically so does his unique and individual religious beliefs.

For those in the Catholic religion, anything that is misunderstood in life was believed...

From the time before they can talk, those born into the faith are taught the rules of the world according to the Christian religion and the Catholic denomination. God is something intangible and something all-powerful, a concept to be accepted and not questioned. However, Stephen finds himself unable to follow these teachings blindly. Early in the novel, Joyce writes, "It was very big to think about everything and everywhere. Only God could do that" (12). To think about the nature of existence was to question it and therefore to question God. Even in his very early years, Stephen finds it necessary to consider and to even contradict the supposedly established truths of the world around him.
The theme of the falsity of blind belief is further explored when the Dedalus family debates the involvement of politics in the religious world. Mr. Dedalus does not believe that the priest should be able to tell his flock how to vote or which causes to support, but this is happening in their community and all over the world. Mr. Dedalus says, "We go to the house of God, Mr. Casey said, in all humility to pray to our Maker and not to hear election addresses"…

Sources used in this document:
Works Cited:

Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. New York, NY: Dover, 1994. Print.
Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

Portraits of Gertrude Stein an
Words: 938 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

250). At this point in his career, Picasso could represent Stein quite well. The style is neither abstract nor entirely avant-garde: it is reflective, slightly off-kilter, but encompassing of the subject and her character. Picasso's portrait of Gertrude Stein, therefore, must be considered the better of the two, even if Rose's appears to be the more dynamic. Rose was an imitator, not exactly an orginal -- but then, could the

Portraits: Talking With Artists at the Met by Michael Kimmelman
Words: 892 Length: 3 Document Type: Book Report

Portraits: Talking With Artists at the Met, The Modern, The Louvre, And Elsewhere Attempting to put art into words can be like trying to put that proverbial lightning in a bottle: art often seems to defy description, much as art critics attempt to do so. Even artists themselves often struggle with articulating the concepts behind their works. Various attempts over the years have been made to make art, particularly abstract modern

Portrait of Artist Although Told
Words: 607 Length: 2 Document Type: Essay

Descriptions of women are primarily if not entirely based on mundane physical appearances: stockings, legs, and other features rather than character. The lack of strong female characters impedes the novel from exploring truly liberating themes, and there is a nearly complete lack of social justice issues in the novel. Historical and literary allusions omit the presence of female from the cultural canon. Joyce remains solidly concerned with the male

Portrait of a Lady and
Words: 4268 Length: 15 Document Type: Term Paper

Suddenly I receive a Titian to hang on my wall -- a Greek bas-relief to stick over my chimney-piece." (James in: Phelan-Cox, 2004) Through the analogies of Ralph, the reader is able to view the manner in which "male pleasure in spectatorship with interconnected with Western aesthetics generally." (Phelan-Cox, 2004) it is the argument of Laura Mulvey that the film of Hollywood is structured around "the voyeurism and scopopophilia of

Portrait of a Killer: Jack
Words: 1592 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

On one hand he was portrayed by the Cornwell was the killer of the prostitutes while on the other Sickert was a staunch defender of the sanctity of marriage and reportedly even fired one of his most important dealers for dumping his wife of 25 years for a younger woman. Sickert's wife even gave evidence that the last thee killings by the Ripper were committed in London in a

Artist Peter Paul Rubens the
Words: 379 Length: 1 Document Type: Essay

Rubens's personal contribution to the over 2,000 works produced by this studio varied considerably from work to work" (Pioch 2002). The studio acted as a kind of de facto academy for many young artists who served as Reuben's assistants, including Anthony van Dyck. Rubens has been called, in contrast to the inward-looking Dutch depicters of scenes of private, interior life, a 'public' painter, a status underlined by his equally impressive

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now