Paper Summary:

This paper examines how James Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is a modern novel that can be interpreted in any number of ways. It looks at how the story is centered on Stephen Dedalus' search for himself, in general, or specifically, how to become an artist by his own definition. It explores how the inward analysis that he wallows in does not imply self-consciousness, but rather the belief in the significance of living as an individual. It also discusses whether or not the protagonist is able to become an individual by embracing the 'either/or' nature of himself and the world or if he must rebel against social rules.

From the Paper:

"In looking at the passage from chapter five, Henke would view Dedalus as once again fleeing from his own need for balance. It is significant that the woman in his example must die, just as the need for others must die in order for him to feel autonomous. Henke sees this as depending on binary ("either, or") logic that presents one term over the other as more important. She provides examples such as "active/passive, masculine/feminine, father/mother, head/heart, son/daughter, intelligent/sensitive, brother/sister, form/matter, phallus/vagina, reason/emotion" (296) and argues that the feminine perspective has been lost in many writings."

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