Abstract This paper examines the main character Stephen Dedalus, in JamesJoyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a YoungMan", struggle with sin and society. The paper describes the main character's childhood and religious upbringing, and later his emergence into independent adulthood. The author writes that after a battle with sin followed by a religious rebirth that he can find a level of peace within himself.
From the Paper "Stephen Dedalus, in the book "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" by James Joyce is forced throughout his life to deal with the issue of sin. Early in his childhood he is taught the basics of right and wrong by his parents. This matter becomes complicated and fearsome under the influence of the Catholic Church, and Stephen, despite his desire to be pious, begins to question it."
Abstract This paper studies JamesJoyce's autobiographical tale of Stephen Dedalus. It discusses Stephen's growing self-awareness as a person and as an artist which causes him to dismiss the nationalism and Catholicism and to go to Paris to become a writer. It is a tale of the author's description's of Dedalus's history and what became of him. It includes several excerpts from the book which are analyzed.
From the Paper "If we were to concern ourselves strictly with plot, we might well say of James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man that there is none there. Not a great deal actually happens in this essentially autobiographical tale of Stephen Dedalus, and the narrative follows no clear single trajectory of cause and effect. Rather, in one of the first important uses of stream of consciousness, Joyce tells us in this short novel about Stephen's growing self-awareness as a person and as an artist, a growing self-awareness that will cause him by the end of the book to cast off the nationalism, the Catholicism and the sense of clannishness that defines other members of his father and to set off to Paris to become a writer."
Abstract This paper studies JamesJoyce's life and works. It takes us through his youth and his changing mindset. It can be read from different perspectives including-- religious rebellion, sexual confusion, artistic freedom, political conviction and family influence. The paper details the story and basically summarizes it while analyzing its themes, techniques and characters.
From the Paper "One of the most intense water images was the first one. The water is dark and dirty and cold. Another student, Welles, whose name is suggestive of water, throws Stephen into a cesspool. ?The cold slime of the ditch covered his whole body . . . ? 1 as he struggled to pull himself out of the disgusting pit. He will recall this experience, many times throughout the novel. He remembers very clearly both the discomfort and the humiliation. ?How cold and slimy the water had been,? 2 he remembers. The water was dark and it was impossible to see below. Stephen had been terrified that one of the boys said that a rat was seen jumping out of the cesspool. Other references to water throughout Stephen's schooling are dungy and dismal such as the sound of dirty water running down a drain, the filthy hole of the bog water, or the dirty water that went down the hole and had made a sound like the word "suck," only louder.
Just like the pit, Stephen's psyche was deep and dark. He was just learning about himself and how he fit into the world. He was discovering the power of human sexuality and his fears about his own sexuality in the confines of a Jesuit school teaching that such impure thoughts would lead to eternal suffering. He was also confronting the essence of his spiritual beliefs and apparent hypocrisy within the priesthood. He was meeting head-on the reality of his religious beliefs at boarding school. "
Abstract This paper takes a look at Maria, a character in the story "Clay" by JamesJoyce, who never actually wakes up to face the reality or realizes that her whole life has been based on false assumptions and lies.
From the Paper "In the Dubliners, James Joyce's short story "Clay" stands out as a piece that has as its main character an ignorant woman who is essentially blind to the world around her. While many of Joyce's characters are struck with life-changing epiphanies, Maria does not recognize the signs - that are predictors of her future - even when they are painfully obvious to the reader. Working at the Dublin by Lamplight laundry, Maria thinks of her position as being of the utmost importance when in reality she is nothing more than a common dishwasher. Although Maria's budget is very limited, she nevertheless thinks that she is an independent woman and can afford the same things as women her age who are actually married. Maria believes that other individuals respect her and admire her, even though those same individuals either mock her unassuming nature or fail to notice her all together. Maria considers Joe's family to be the closest thing she has to having her own family. Meanwhile, Joe, his wife and his children simply put up with Maria once a year as if she was an unpleasant burden. Throughout the story, Joyce presents comparison after comparison of how Maria views herself versus how others view her. While Maria sees her life and the world around her through rose-colored glasses, the reality is rarely accommodating of her expectations."
Tags: clay, james, joyce, maria, Dubliners, character, analysis, english, literature
Abstract This paper examines, in extreme detail, the "Sirens" episode in JamesJoyce's epic Ulysses. The author explores the following areas: The episode's place within the whole, Joyce's intent, themes, literary structure, and Bloom's character and tendencies. Attention is paid to Joyce's use of musical motifs (fugue, canon etc) and many quotes from the novel are included.
From the Paper "James Joyce has proven himself to be something of a narrative chameleon in terms of the styles that he chooses to employ in his writing. In his telling of the story of Ulysses, the only constant is the fact that the narrative style changes from episode to episode. The beginning of the novel appears to be straightforward, filled with easily identifiable interior monologues and descriptions. Yet as the story progresses, the reader finds that these all-important Joycean agents of the story become increasingly difficult to follow and attribute to any particular character. Each episode takes on its own unique tone and style, making the task of the reader far more difficult in terms of comprehension."
Abstract This five page undergraduate paper examines the autobiographical nature of JamesJoyce's work and provides revealing insights into Joyce's own personality, beliefs, character, and perspectives of society. The writer discusses that reading this story is fascinating, for Joyce exposes his own deepest thoughts through the narrator and other characters and holds nothing back.
From the Paper ""Araby" demonstrates the autobiographical nature of James Joyce's work and provides revealing insights into Joyce's own personality, beliefs, character, and perspectives of society. Reading this story is fascinating, for Joyce exposes his own deepest thoughts through the narrator and other characters and holds nothing back. Essentially, he is the narrator, and his intimate portrayals of the characters in "Araby" reveal his own soul, with all of its flaws and imperfections, but also with all of its nobility and intense longing to find meaning in life."
Abstract The paper discusses JamesJoyce's contribution to the art of the novel, his influence on the form of the novel and on other writers. The paper explains Joyce's innovative literary techniques and also examines the impact of the novel "Ulysses."
From the Paper "Irish novelist and poet, James Joyce, was the most influential novelist of the ?th Century bringing a new approach and sensibility to the art of the Western novel that has not been surpassed since the publication of "Ulysses." His technical innovations and use of language are largely responsible for the modern novel that represents a break with the traditional naturalistic novels of the ?th and ?th centuries of Henry Fielding, Charles Dickens, Gustave Flaubert and Daniel Defoe among many others."
Abstract This paper looks at the collection of short stories by JamesJoyce "Dubliners". The paper focuses on the final story "The Dead" and its role as the culmination of many themes begun in other stories in the book. Specifically the book looks at the themes of parental abandonment, apostasy, lost love, financial failure, decay and finally death. These indicate Joyce's perceptions of the death of Ireland.
From the Paper "The collection of short stories by James Joyce called Dubliners draws a picture of life in that city in the early 20th century, and is descriptive not only of the people in specific, but also of the country as a whole. Joyce's pessimistic view of the state of the country at that time is made abundantly clear in the course of this collection of stories, which flow together so cohesively they might well be considered as one work. Dubliners concludes with "The Dead," also the longest story in the book with the largest and most complex cast of characters, and is the most highly symbolic of Joyce's perceptions of the state and fate of Ireland in the early 1900s."
Abstract This paper explains that Linda Hogan draws on her Native American heritage as she tells a tale tinted by earthy memories of her youth in her short story "Aunt Moon's YoungMan". The author points out that the plot itself is relatively simple: A dark, lean, full-blooded Indian, who comes to town on an autumn day just as the annual fair is about to begin excites the women with his exotic good looks as well as the fact that the man is "alive in his whole body." The paper relates that the cyclical character of nature brings reassurance that balance will prevail; this storyteller incorporates several cycles to represent this balance such as the story begins in the autumn and ends in the autumn - the annual fair anchors the narrative at both ends.
From the Paper "Though Aunt Moon is obviously the central study in this story, the character of the narrator contributes to the sense of hope and renewal as well. We are told that "good Indian women" should not "learn too much from books" or "laugh too loud" or "look into the faces of men." Yet the storyteller is hopeful that she can escape such oppressive expectations. Her mother shares these great aspirations for her daughter, and college plans are made. However, with the advent of war and all the changes that it brings, the girl's education is postponed, though not ceded. She will work for a year or so in the city before returning to school, and this, too, speaks of future and hope. The cycles of nature are again invoked when the narrator's mother assures her that she's "sure as the night's going to fall" that all will work out well for her and her daughter."
Abstract This paper examines the thought behind the books that JamesJoyce wrote, as well as the very man himself and his life. It highlights how Joyce was short-sighted and how he often used the help of others to finish his books. It also looks at how Joyce's own life influences, such as his bad vision, helped him relate to characters and situations in his books with an emphasis on "A Portrait of the Artist as a YoungMan". The paper concludes that it is not just his blindness that made Joyce such a strong writer but also his intellectual genius.
From the Paper "Joyce's expression of the motif of blindness in describing imperfect human vision is perhaps the most obvious, literal uses of the motif. However, the genius of its implementation lies in the fact that the distorted or failed vision represents a flaw in the character who possesses it. At the beginning of the story, Dedalus' father is described as looking "at (Stephen) through a glass" (Joyce, 19), referring to a monocle. Later, Dedalus, Sr., is mocked by his son as having disastrously weak financial vision, dabbling unsuccessfully as "a medical student, an oarsman, a tenor, an amateur actor, a shouting politician, a small landlord, a small investor, a drinker, a good fellow, a story teller, somebody's secretary, something in a distillery, a tax gatherer ,a bankrupt."
Abstract This paper examines JamesJoyce's "Portrait of an Artist as a YoungMan" and discusses how through his novel literary techniques Joyce is trying to redefine literature so that it becomes relevant to the modern age characterized by fragmentation and alienation. The paper looks at how the protagonist in the novel is trying do discover his artistic self but, in the process, discovers loneliness, because everything that society has to offer is outmoded and redundant. The paper also discusses how, apart from the strained techniques, the novel is also worthy for its rich symbolism, which exists on many planes, and for the significant allusions to literature and culture.
From the Paper "The novel describes the several stages by which it protagonist Stephen Dedalus discovers himself as an artist. In the process he takes refuge in the conventional identities provided by society in the various stages of his growing up. But Stephen is meant for greatness, and the conventional identities are only refuges for mediocrity, and this is what he discovers time and time again. The transition from one stage to the next is marked by epiphanies - sudden bouts of realization that transform the inner self. Apart from the many minor epiphanies that accompany the growing young man, there are two major such occasions. The first is his discovery of conventional faith. The second occurs when he comes to realize that the Church is a restricting influence, and that he must escape if he is to express himself as an artist. It occurs when he must make a choice between training to be a Catholic priest, or to enter the secular domain of university."
Abstract The author of this paper states that the journey to self-discovery may not always be painful but it is always rewarding. JamesJoyce's novel, "A Portrait of the Artist as a YoungMan", describes such a journey, tracing the elements of Stephen's life that eventually lead him to self-realization and acceptance. This paper explains how Joyce utilizes mythology, symbolism, imagery and motifs to emphasize how Stephen matures over the years. It shows how these literary techniques help illustrate and illuminate Stephen's radical transformation.
From the Paper "To conclude, James Joyce uses many literary motifs to illustrate and emphasize the progress of Stephen's journey in his novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Stephen's path to self-discovery is influenced by references religion and mythology. In addition, Joyce employs symbolism, imagery, and motifs in the novel to bring Stephen's adventures to life. Stephen's change was not a simple or easy one. Rather, it was difficult and complicated but well worth the painful experience of growing wings and learning to fly."
Abstract This paper examines the two consciousnesses in "A Portrait of the Artist as a YoungMan" by JamesJoyce - that of Stephen and that of Joyce himself. The paper discusses the difference in the consciousnesses that can be seen through the temporal structure of the novel. It also looks at the chronology among the chapters and the structure within each chapter.
From the Paper "Though the novel consists of Stephen's thoughts, it isn't told through his voice until the very end. The authorial presence is observable in the overall structure of the novel, while Stephen's conscience can be seen in the stream of consciousness through which the story is told. Due to the stream of consciousness style of the novel, time is relative because the reader is never provided with an exact year and is not presented with an exact date until the very last pages of the book. Thus, Stephen is the only basis for time in the book, and therefore the structure of the novel has to be centered on him and must adapt to Stephen's dynamic character throughout his journey."
