Please post a response in the comment box to help with our discussion of A Portrait of the Artist . . ., which will most likely take place either Tuesday or the Monday when we return from break. Try to focus on two principal questions:
What artistic, intellectual, or moral development does Stephen undergo in pt. 1?
What thematic or conceptual threads connect the fragmented narrative? If you pay attention to the motifs that appear, these may help guide you to an answer to this question.
Portrait of the Artist is a very complicated novel. Often times, it is difficult to keep up with. I have noticed that Joyce often transitions into one scene to the next without any formal introduction. He opens up many scenes beginning in the middle, and this can become very confusing.
ReplyDeleteThe first section is focused around Stephen Dedalus as a young boy. Everything is from his direct perspective, whether it be an old fairytale his father told him or a rumor circulating his school about two of his peers. The reader obtains information through Stephen, and a few themes begin to take place. Feelings, memories, self-reflection, religion, and politics are often referred to throughout this novel. I would have to read further to understand their significance, though.
Due to the fact that it is still only the beginning of the novel, Stephen has not changed much. He is now allowed to sit at the adult table during Christmas, where his views of politics are warped by his elders. We also learn that he feels guilty when he displeases his family, and has a sense of obligation to them (was extremely apologetic after announcing his wanting to marry Eileen). He also tries to please immensely. He is extremely distraught after the incident of losing his glasses, and feels even worse after he meets with the prefect. He understands the treatment at his school is not always right, and tries to correct this injustice when he speaks with Dolan. Clearly, Stephen is beginning to gain a sense of morality. I am eager to continue reading, Portrait of the Artist.
So far in this novel many ideas and themes have been presented through many different short unexplained scenes. I believe this confusion felt by the reader is meant to mirror the confusion expressed by the main character in the development of a young man. While occasionally I feel as if I am tumbling between many different things happening at once while reading I see the same feeling represented by Stephen. He has not learned much on his own yet but rather develops through what he can pick up from his environment and is in a very biased world. Such demonstrated by the dinner scene and some of the scenes at school ideas are forced upon him and little is left for him to learn, but instead puzzle out confusing ideas that are presented to him from a spectator standpoint. I see a character developing in a tumultuous manor while being very influenced by his external environment.
ReplyDeleteIn the first section of Portrait of The Artist, we see Steven grow from his naive, imaginative side to a more solemn, realistic side. For example, during the Christmas dinner scene, we see his political viewpoints manipulated by the adults surrounding him, signaling a significant change in his persona from a naive boy to a complex, matured adult. In addition, Joyce also names his main character Steven Dedalus, a homage to the Greek inventor, Daedalus. Here, Joyce seems to be referencing Steven’s potential to “soar” in his journey in finding himself. However, Joyce also seems to reference Icarus in Steven’s existence, perhaps foreshadowing some trouble ahead for the young artist, hindering his goals and threatening to plunge him into “the sea of failure”.
ReplyDeleteSo far in "A Portrait of the artist as a young man", we can see many themes and ideas. First off I noticed that felt frazzled at he end of every page or section. This actually is what we are supposedto feel seeing as that is how the main character, Stephen feels. He is changing a lot while he grows up and experiences the ups and downs in life. Stephen does change from naive to a mature And realistic side. I find that interesting because that is how most humans grow ip and develop. I am interested to see where the book goes from here.
ReplyDeleteThe first section of The Portrait of the Artist does not really show a development of Stephen artistically, intellectually, or morality, it introduces it. Joyce introduces these devices by illustrating the scenes such as the story, the dinner scene and the scene in which he was at the school and distanced himself from the other boys, declaring that the world is bias.
ReplyDeleteThe beginning of The Portrait of the Artist starts off with the quote:
"Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo..." I believe that Joyce introduces this quote as a general view of Stephen's life, sort of like in Invisible Man when the invisible man's grandfather told him that he had been a traitor all his life and to “overcome ‘em with yeses, undermine ‘em with grins, agree ‘em to death and destruction, let ‘em swoller you till they vomit or bust wide open” (speaking of the white people in power). The advice that his grandfather had given him on his deathbed is what the invisible man lived by and looked back to throughout the novel. This story that is told in the book is probably what Stephen will look back to and what will live by throughout the novel, seeing himself in the viewpoint of the baby tuckoo.
Stephen Daedalus is slowly but surely growing up. Through section one the reader is treated to a view of the world through Stephen's eyes. Mostly it is pure experience, sensations and colors, and it is only further on into the section when Stephen is at school that he begins to analyze, and contemplate on the situations as they happen. These thoughts lead to contemplation about right and wrong, and fairness, such as the incident with the teacher who punished him when his glasses were broken. Stephens actions in talking to the head teacher to explain his situation, and ensure his later safety show a much deeper level of thinking and planning than he had earlier possessed. I look forward to a deeper thought process the older stephen gets, and as this happen I expect deciphering the reading will become easier as his thoughts clear and sharpen. The muffled blurriness of stephen's experience now is directly connected to his childish mind, and therefor, perceptions of the world. As it sharpens up, so will the narrative.
ReplyDeleteStephen, in the first part of the book, is a person who learns and absorbs things from his environment for the time being while his mind grows internally and intellectually. He learns the tangible elements of his environment mostly through colors, heat, and cold. The intangible elements, such as politics and that life is not always fair and can be cruel, he learns through his elders and peers. As mentioned by others the narrator often jumps from one scenario to another, often having little to no connection between the two. The scenarios are often linked by sounds or colors. But in the first part he does not exhibit that much growth in the first part, for he is still taking it all in.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Zoe. Throughout the beginning of the novel, the author’s every word choice in each description thus far is symbolic for, or representative of, Steven’s various developmental stages. When the reader is first introduced to Steven, his surroundings are made accessible to the reader only through the young boys limited descriptive skills; as stated by Zoe, we see things at first mainly through basic descriptions of colors and objects. Real, clear emotions are not seen by, or through Steven until the latter part of the first chapter and are even then quite limited. At first, Steven relates everything to prior experiences: his family’s political discussions, the differing viewpoints of his father and aunt, etc. Everything he sees and feels must be related to something he has experienced in a tangible manner, and the limited amount of Steven’s experiences thus far make it difficult for the author to express any complex emotions on the part of Steven.
ReplyDeleteLater on, once Steven becomes capable of seeing things more as they truly are and is better able to think largely for himself, the story develops into a more detailed and interesting narrative. Things like political views take shape as he begins to understand them; the world through Steven’s eyes becomes clearer. As Steven progresses intellectually, so does the complexity of the novel and its descriptions.
In the first part of the book, Stephen is still in the phase of his life where he experiences things through basic senses, such as sight and touch. Examples of this are scattered throughout the entire section, such as when he was pushed into the puddle of water at school. He repeatedly talked about it as being 'cold slimy water,' and could not seem to go into any further detail than that. He also seems to connect things through color, talking multiple times about the colors maroon and green being connected to two political people. In Stephen's young mind, the only understanding he has of politics is through listening to his family and through those two colors. The more Stephen grows, the more he is able to make sense of things in life without the additional aid of more concrete things. While reading this first section, I felt as if it moved along very quickly. Each event and each detail was given very briefly then the story moved on. I think this has to do with Stephen’s still childlike mind. He does not yet have the ability to connect things in his life. He does not understand that things in the world can have a deeper meanings and connections. Reading the story in this rushed way helps to identify with Stephen and see the world through his eyes.
ReplyDeleteIt can be difficult to tell anything about the aspect of the characters due to the jumpy structure and style of the novel. And due to the fact that this is the first impression we get of Stephen, it’s impossible to say much about his changing character. But you can see it start to develop and guess how these events will eventually shape his personality. And this creation of a personality comes from a couple of sources. For example there was him time at school. Stephen is first shown a bit of cruelty at the school, with the unfair beatings and treatment from the classmates. The biggest one that I noticed that would have messed with Stephen’s head was when he was asked whether or not he kissed his mother at night and both answers yes and no caused people to make fun of him. At this point he couldn’t figure out why or how both caused such a reaction and it will take him a bit before he realizes that there was no right answer. The other situation that would have affected Stephen morally is the entire dinner conversation that devolved into an incredibly angry argument between his aunt and his father and his father’s guest. Stephen was far too young to be involved in the conversation, but he did pull out some information from the experience. The entirety of the argument was Religion vs. Country, and Stephen will be affected by both sides of the argument. But emotionally all this did was scar him because he simply was not used to such anger and emotion from Dante and his father and it scares him. I am excited to see how his childhood experiences cause him to grow into adolescence and adulthood.
ReplyDeleteIn the earlier portion of Portrait of the Artist the story of Stephen is told using child-like narration and descriptions focusing on the senses. The narration relates Stephen’s experiences and environment to colors, sounds and smells.
ReplyDeleteReligion is pretty significant in this part of the book (and I’m assuming the rest as well.) Stephen is introduced to two conflicting views of how the relationship between politics and religion should be. At Christmas dinner, he witnesses a debate between his aunt, father, and Mr. Casey. The men believe that priests should not “meddle in politics” but Dante believes that they should be able to do so. I feel as though these two opinions might appear again in the book.
When Stephen goes off to school, the sensory observations are present but not as frequent. The narration focuses more on actual contemplation separate from the senses. Stephen even begins to wander into philosophical thoughts of God, the universe and nothingness. However, he is still uncertain about many things and still has a lot to learn. He’s still young and seeing the world through a child’s eyes, so he hasn’t had much time to develop.
The experiences that Stephen undergoes continually have him feeling as if he is an outsider and does not belong. Even in some of his earliest experiences, such as on the playground, it occurs. He appears to be dissatisfied with what is going on in his life. Stephen also seems to be particularly interested in things of beauty opposed to the normal things that his peers find interest in. His realization of the strong impacts that politics have over people and even his family particularly, is also something that appears to develop a higher understanding as the novel moves forward. Religion is another thing that was mentioned very often. Stephen’s beliefs and understanding when it comes to religion is also something that I see him taking interest in and becoming more familiarized with. Religion appears to be a very large part of many of the things happening throughout the book. As the story goes on, the growing complexity of Stephen’s feelings towards his environment serve to develop the novel and story line.
ReplyDeleteThe disorienting nature of this first section is directly tied to the scattered thoughts of young Stephen. In this portion of the book Joyce drops the reader into numerous scenes throughout Stephen’s early childhood, and we’re able to see his reactions to varied stimuli. His fixation with the most basic of details, such as hot and cold, and the extent to which he concentrates on minor questions, are indicative of his early youth. The disjointed nature of the section almost appears to illuminate the fractured nature of most childhood memories. We often cite a specific memory as our earliest one, but this is more often than not simply because we cannot remember anything earlier than that memory. With Portrait of the Artist, the plot is set against this type of subjective backdrop. We only have Stephen’s point of view leading us along on a confusing, illogical trip through time, but it is because of this perspective that we as readers can discern the changes that Stephen is going through. Stephen’s narration is more securely anchored in a specific time period as we near the end of the section. The fractured narrative may well serve as an indicator of Stephen’s growth: the more coherent the structure, the more developed Stephen appears. Stephen artistic development is minimal here. His fixation with detail may allude to a naïve artistic perspective, but perhaps it is simply a precursor to appreciation for both the whole and the parts, or an understanding for the necessity of balance between the two. Stephen’s discovers at the table during Christmastime greater meaning of the two colors, red and green, that he had previously regarded without much concern. That argument and Dante’s comment about Eileen expose Stephen to underlying political and religious tension in his society, of which he was unaware previously. He may not understand the new views and thoughts that are impressed upon him or shared around him at this point, but Stephen has changed in that he has moved away from utter disregard for deeper meaning in things.
ReplyDeleteDue to the style this novel is written in, some parts in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man can at times be difficult to grasp. As Winslow said, the book so far has been told in short stories that at times appear to come out of nowhere. However, although these scenes may seem random, this is a retelling of Stephen Dedalus's childhood through his own eyes, and a child's mind and how children think is sometimes more complex than it seems. For instance, there are the colors maroon and green which are repeatedly remembered by Dedalus. There is no indication (at least none that I've seen) as to why the colors reoccur in his thoughts so frequently other than that they remind him of something familiar, and in general, children think like this. He begins to grow when he's wrongfully punished by the prefect. Initially he reacts as a child would react by crying and feeling confused and upset. With the coaxing of his peers though, he gradually begins to see two paths: not tell the rector and receive the same punishment the next day, or tell the rector about his punishment at the risk that if the rector didn't see anything wrong with his punishment, he would be punished all the same the next day and be made fun of by the other boys on top of that. Yet, even though he could have taken the easy route and taken his punishment the next day without potentially causing further damage, he goes and sees the rector realizing that now is the time to be brave, and is ultimately victorious. This gives him confidence, and a better understanding of how at least a part of the world works.
ReplyDeleteThe story is told unmistakably by a child. I recognize the worried rationalization of good and bad, and I recognize the admiration of people and of ideas, and the daydreaming. These are the thoughts of every child. Stephen, though, fixates on certain images and sensations as his opinions develop. the way his fixated contemplation spurs his thought process is reflected in the way it spurs the narrative forward--each scene relating to the next in the same way each of his thoughts relates to the one before it.
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