A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

 By James JoyceChapter 1

 Rebecca Graham, Abby Franzwa, Jenny Hamer, Hunter Heinze, Justin

Huey, Kasie Shahbaz, Lindsay Szabo

Chapter 1 Summary

In this Chapter, Stephen is introduced as a young child, with his father telling him a story about moocows. Then we go with Stephen as he goes to boarding school. He is often picked on by his peers, and he wishes to go home. He then falls ill, probably because he was pushed into the pit. Then it flashes to his not so cheery Christmas dinner where his family is arguing, representing the argument between the catholics and Irish supporters. Then it returns to him at school. He is beaten unfairly for having his glasses broken and not studying (even though he was allowed to not study). He finds the courage to talk to the rector and tell him of this wrongdoing. He is then acknowledged as a hero by his peers. 

Sensory experiences- Stephen's perspective as a young child is fueled by his physical senses. From his early childhood through emotional maturing, Stephen acknowledges his senses:        - "When you wet the bed first it is warm then it gets cold" (19).        -"The evening air was pale and chilly and after every charge and thud of the footballers the greasy leather orb flew like a heavy bird through the grey light" (20). Stephen early experiences at Clongowes Wood College are exemplified through his sensory inputs and build towards his understanding of his surroundings.- His senses represent Stephen's sole understanding of life and serve as a reminder that Stephen is still a young boy.

Beauty/Art/Books/WordsBeauty-Stephen has a different view of beauty than most peoples.•  he can see beauty in the common and mundane, things most people would

view as uninteresting.  For example he describing the smell of peasants he says "That is the smell of air and rain and turf and corduroy." (29) but on the next page says "It would be lovely to sleep for one night in that cottage before the fire of smoking turf, in the warm dark, breathing the smell of the peasants, the air and rain and turf and corduroy."

• Color invokes a strong sense of beauty in Stephen, but not specifically the object it is describing.  when his face flushes after solving a math problem incorrectly he thinks of "white roses and red roses".  The colored cards of make him  think "Lavender and cream and pink roses were beautiful things to think of..."(24).  the colors themselves are more beautiful thant the objects they are attached to.

Beauty/Art/Books/WordsArtArt is a comfort for Stephen• When Stephen is walking to the rector's room the corridors are described

as dark gloomy and foreboding.  The paintings, in contrast, are described as "the portraits of the saints and the great men of the order looking down on him...pointing to the words Ad Magorium Dei Gloriam (For the Greater Glory of God)" (65-66).  The portraits are described as watching over Stephen during his difficult time, comforting and empowering him.

BooksBooks inspire Stephen• Stephen has a deep connection with stories and books like the bedtime

story his father told him when he was little, thus he is inspired by the text he reads.  he describes the people from his history book as "Those great men...history was all about..." (62) and he compares himself to them when confronted by Father Dolan.

Beauty/Art/Books/WordsWords~ Joyce uses repetition of a given word or phrase to emphasize a key feeling or point ~" But Mr Gleeson had round shiny cuffs and clean white wrists and fattish white hands and the nails of them were long and pointed. Perhaps he pared them too like Lady Boyle. But they were terribly long and pointed nails. So long and cruel they were though the white fattish hands were not cruel but gentle. And though he trembled with cold and fright to think of the cruel long nails and of the high whistling sound..." (p.40) ~"How beautiful and sad that was! How beautiful the words were when they said Bury me in the old churchyard! A tremor passed over his body. How sad and how beautiful! He wanted to cry quietly but not for himself: for the words, so beautiful and sad, like music." (p.20)

Implied Tension between Catholics and Protestants - Portrayed by Dante's feelings, "she did not like him(Stephen) to play with Eileen because Eileen was a protestant and when she was young she knew children that used to play with protestants and the protestants used to make fun of the litany of the Blessed Virgin."- Dante is a devout and zealous Catholic and believes it is the only proper belief system and mingling with the Protestants is like mingling with sinners, those in the wrong. Tension between the two groups is often expressed by using Dante. -In the family Christmas discussion in which Dante argues that no true Catholic could say such heresey against the Church as Mr. Casey does when expressing his opinion towards "the language with which the priests...broke Parnell's heart" with (45). Dante retorts that even the blackest of protestants wouldn't say such things against their priests.

Perceived Hypocrisy and Betrayal of Catholicism.

• Stephen's early behavior in the first chapter foreshadows turning his back on his religion.  

• He finds hypocrisy in both the church around him and his family.•   Away with God! (Stephen witnesses betrayal as the extreme of

his experimental thoughts.)• "O' come all ye Roman Catholics who never went to mass."

(pg.46)

Catholics vs. Nationalists (Adult Role Models and Stephen's loss of innocence.)

• Stephen is excited to sit with the adults for Christmas dinner.• The argument. • Contradictions between views accentuate the fragility of Stephen• Stephen's doubt of the church combined with his being allowed to

sit with the adults represents his loss of innocence.

Evaluation/Establishment of Identity

~ "His father told him that story: his father looked at him through a glass: he had a hairy face. He was baby tuckoo. The moocow came down the road where Betty Byrne lived: she sold lemon platt." (pg. 3) ~ Stephen's childishness is shown in his short, random sentences and words like "moocow". Stephan's thoughts are limited to what he sees and likes. For example, he likes the smell of his mother more than his father and dislikes the coldness his sheets.

Evaluation/Establishment of Identity~ "They were all in different countries and the countries were in continents and the continents were in the world and the world was in the universe [...]  Stephan DedalusClongowes Wood CollegeClass of ElementsSallinsCounty KildareIrelandEuropeThe WorldThe Universe" ~ When Stephen goes to school, he is an outsider and often thinks of visiting his home. He feels lonely and small. He longed to be an adult.   

"It pained him that he did not know well what politics meant and that he did not know where the universe ended. He felt small and weak. When would he be like the fellows in Poetry and Rhetoric? They had big voices and big boots and they studied trigonometry. That was very far away." (p.13)

Evaluation/Establishment of Identity

Evaluation/Establishment of Identity

~ For Christmas dinner, Stephen is allowed to sit at the 'adult table' instead of with the children. One can imagine that Stephen was excited to take part in this, however, he realizes that the adult world is not as fun as it seems. At the table, the adults fight over politics and religion, leaving Stephen very confused.  

Isolation / Differentness / WeaknessRight off the bat, it is made clear that Stephen considers himself inferior to boys he goes to school with. On page 20, he describes his body as small and weak and his eyes weak and watery in comparison to those of the other boys. Stephen believes that every  fiber of his being pales in comparison to the other boys, and that he does not fit in at all. This puts Stephen in mental isolation, or a mindset in which he thinks he is completely different from the other boys and always will be.On page 21, Stephen talks about his mother and father in a tone that emphasizes his heightened purity and innocence that sets him apart from the other students.Stephen finds himself to be physically inferior as well as socially inferior to the others. While the rest of the boys are playing outside, he is frightened and crouches down to avoid them.

Isolation / Differentness / WeaknessStephen is also set apart from the others because of his appreciation for poetry and beauty. For instance, on page 22, we discover that Stephen is capable of recognizing poetry in meaningless lines from a spelling book. On page 24, he marvels over the beauty of the beauty of different colored roses. Already at this point, we can tell that Stephen's mind is more artistically oriented than the people in his environment.On the same page, we learn that Stephen falls behind the other students in his classes. He loses a game of "sums" and takes it as just another reason to feel embarrassed and different than his peers.On page 32, we find another instance of Stephen's isolation. He feels slightly unwell, but Fleming was eager to declare him sick and command him to stay in bed without thinking twice.

MotifsHot/Cold-Joyce is apparent in his deliberate use of warmth and cold. He begs the reader to ask why."It would be lovely to get into bed after the sheets got a bit hot. First they were so cold to get into. He shivered to think how cold they were at first. But then they got hot and he could sleep." (pg 29)"All the dark was cold and strange." (pg 31)-Heat has a positive connotation, while cold is followed with the words "slimy," "queer," or "strange." Oftentimes cold is associated with water and darkness. Yet heat is also positive in some cases."She had her feet on the fender and her jewelly slippers were so hot and they had such a lovely warm smell." (pg 22)

MotifsRight/Wrong-Stephen questions everything, and after his conflict with Wales, he begins to question the ambiguity between right and wrong. "He was still trying to think of the right answer. Was it right to kiss his mother? What did it mean, to kiss?" (pg 26)"He wondered which was right to be for the green or the maroon..." (pg 28)"It made him tired to think that way. It made him feel his head very big," (pg 28) in reference to thinking what the right answer is about the universe, and what is beyond it.-This ties in to the religious motif. Stephen never reaches a definite answer about forces greater than him, and neither can anybody because these are things beyond them. Right and wrong is something beyond everyone. Yet people still decide and this has great power to paralyze people in ignorance; in what they want to believe.

MotifsDark/Light ~ In the text, darkness and fear are always close together. Light, however seems to represent happiness.  ~ "He saw the dark. Was it true about the black dog that walked there at night with eyes as big as carriagelamps? They said it was the ghost of a murderer. A long shiver of fear flowed over his body." (p.15)   

Motifs

Dark/Light "Where? Down the staircase and along the corridors or to his room at the end? He saw the dark....There was a fire there but the hall was still dark....A figure came up the staircase from the hall....They looked at him and saw their master's face and cloak and knew that he had recieved his deathwound. But only the dark was where they looked: only dark silent air." (pg 31)-In this paragraph, the initial "where" symbolizes the question which instigates all fear, hope, expectation, and answer. The "fire" represents the belief. Although there may be a fire or light of belief, it does not light up what may be there in reality, causing the "hall" to remain dark. The "master" symbolizes God/Jesus. They see God, but in reality only "dark silent air" is present.

Symbols- Green and Maroon

"He turned over the flyleaf and looked wearily at the green round earth in the middle of the maroon clouds. He wondered which was right, to be for the green or for the maroon, because Dante had ripped the green velvet back off the brush that was Parnell one day with scissors and had told him that Parnell was a bad man. He wondered if they were arguing at home about that." (pg 28)Green and maroon symbolize opposing political beliefs, and for Stephen personally, in the home and family life. As a young intellectual person, Stephen is not yet decided upon his beliefs. He sees the world at large for what it is and cannot narrow it down to anything. He is overwhelmed at all of the seemingly mandatory beliefs a person must acquire. People acquire these beliefs hastily because of their anxiety and are unwilling to let go of them, further reiterating paralysis.

Symbols- Bird Imagery

~ Joyce uses imagery of birds and flying to show that Stephen is trying to 'fly away' from all of his problems.  ~ While on the playground, Stephen watches the other children play, but does not participate himself. " The evening air was pale and chilly and after every charge and thud of the foot ballers the greasy leather orb flew like a heavy bird through the grey light." (p.4)  ~ During Christmas dinner, the text says"- Now then, sir, there's a bird waiting for you.    When all had taken their seats he laid his hands on the cover and then said quickly, withdrawing it:- Now, Stephen." (p.25)~ The diaolouge seems to draw a connection between the 'bird waiting for him' and Stephen.

Symbols- Water

~ When Wells (interesting- wells are filled with water) pushes Stephen into the 'square ditch' where he gets wet. He brings up "how cold and slimy the water had been" (p. 11) multiple times, showing that he was strongly disturbed by the experience.  ~ When Stephen is sick, he hears waves"The fire rose and fell on the wall. It was like waves. Someone had put coal on and he heard voices. They were talking. It was the noise of the waves. Or the waves were talking among themselves as they rose and fell. He saw the sea of waves, long dark waves rising and falling, dark under the moonless night." (p. 22)

Symbols- Maze/Labryinth Imagery~ The labryinth is also prominent in the story. Stephen often faces situations where he believes he has found a solution, only to be disappointed (much like a labryinth has fake exits). This idea also forshadows that Stephen will find many more 'dead ends' in his experiences throughout the book.  ~ Before Stephen tells the rector about how he was wrongly punished, he is very nervous. "He had reached the door and, turning quickly up to the right, walked up the stairs; and, before he could make up his mind to come back, he had entered the low dark narrow corridor that led to the castle. And as he crossed the threshold of the the door of the corridor he saw, without turning his head to look, that all the fellows were looking after him as they went filing by." (p.48) ~ His disorientation is shown through the sentence structure and the description of the hallway is somewhat confusing.

A. History/Government

(21 April 1875 – 5 April 1880) • Known as “uncrowned king of Ireland”• An Irish freedom fighter/politician and victim of the British

government and the catholic church• Founder and leader of Irish Parliamentary Party (whose main

goals were for Irish legislative independence and land reform)•  “Parnell! Parnell! He is dead! They fell upon their knees,

moaning in sorrow” (p 38) It is apparent that Joyce is quite fond of Parnell, and he weaves this throughout his text. 

Charles Stewart Parnell

The Fenian Movement 

The Fenians wanted freedom from British rule in the 1850's. They felt that the Great famine was because the British did as little as possible to help the Irish. The names of the two founders were James Stephens and John O'Mahony. (Maybe Stephen has something to do with the lead character's name). The movement attracted many young supporters. They were willing to (and did) use violence to get their point across. However the Roman Catholic Church did not support them, creating the split we see in the text.

Terence Bellow MacManus

~ (1823-1861)  ~ Radical who was in the Young Irelander Rebellion of 1848~ Fought to end oppression on the Irish people~ He was sentenced to death for treason, but escaped to the United States~ Often viewed as a hero "Didn't the bishops of Ireland betray us in the time of the union when Bishop Lanigan presented an address of loyalty to the Marquess Cornwallis? Didn't the bishops and priests sell the aspirations of their country in 1829 in return for catholic emancipation? Didn't they denounce the fenian movement from the pulpit and in the confession box? And didn't they dishonour the ashes of Terence Bellow MacManus?" (p.33)

Hamilton Rowan"He wondered from which window Hamilton Rowan had thrown his hat on the haha and had there been flowerbeds at that time under the windows." (pg. 22)• (1751-1834) Born in London to Irish parents; studied

at Westminister School and Cambridge University; traveled to America

• In 1792, he joined the Dublin Society of United Irishmen, an organization seeking Parliamentary reform, and later became the Secretary of the Society.

•  Under this title, he was charged for seditious libel (making a public statement that urges people to rebel against authority) and found guilty. He went to prison for two years and paid a fine.

• He escaped from prison and fled to France and America before returning to Ireland upon being pardoned in 1806.

Michael Davitt

• 1846-1906• "Dante had two brushes in her press. The

brush with the maroon velvet was for Michael Davitt and the brush with the green velvet back was for Parnell." (p 20)

• Irish Republican and was part of the Irish national Land League 

• he also worked for Irish Independence (with other Fenians)

• Worked with Parnell to create the Land League in 1879. 

Lord Leitrim's Coachman

"'Princes of the church, yes,' said Mr. Casey with slow scorn.'Lord Leitrim's coachman, yes,' said Mr Dedalus." (44)• 1806-1878•  A ruthless landlord known for mistreating

and evicting tenants cold heartedly, earning him many enemies.

•  While being driven to Milford he and his coachman were assassinated.

• Despite a large reward, their assassin was never found.

• A "Lord Leitrim's coachman" has come to refer an unpatriotic Irishman, which Mr Dedalus uses to describe the priests.

Irish Politics and Today~ Parnell- He was a freedom fighter, just like people like Martin Luther King today. He wanted real change, and many people revered MLK like they did to Parnell.

~ Catholics vs. Nationalists- That can be compared to the Democrats and Republicans of today. Each party is so stalwart in their beliefs and is unwilling to change.

~ Catholics vs. Protestants- Today, the two religions are split, but there is not too much of an argument.

B. Greek Mythology

King Minos

- strong character, mighty king, but a harsh leader not many liked.- ruler of one of strongest nations of the ancient world (Greece) and feared by many- made Daedalus build him a Labyrinthine Palace- most honored son of Zeus

Minos' Wife, The Bull, And The Minotaur

    Minos was adored by the gods because he was favored by Zeus. The gods presented him with a beautiful immortal wife named Pasiphae. Minos, in return, asked his uncle Posiedon to give Minos his healthiest bull as a sacrifice to the higher gods. The bull was in fact so beautiful that he kept it for his own herd. Upon seeing the bull Pasiphae coupled with the bull and gave birth to the minotaur. Minos was so infuriated by the birth of this beast that he trapped the minotaur in a labyrinth that he ordered Daedalus to build.

Myth of Daedalus~ King Minos asked Daedalus to create a labryrinth to hold the Minotaur; a monster that was half man and half bull. Then, King Minos locked Deadalus and his son, Icarus in a tower that was inside the labryinth. Daedalus saw birds outside the tower and was inspired to escape. They create wings using feathers and wax. However, they know that if they fly too close to the sun, the wax will melt. During their escape, Icarus becomes excited and forgets about the sun. His wings melt and he falls to his death in the sea.

Myth of Daedalus (relative to the book)

~ Joyce tells his readers from the beginning that the myth of Daedalus is important with the opening quote, "Et ignotas animum dimittit in artes" or "And he applied his spirit to obscure arts." (This line was said by Daedalus in the myth) ~ The comparison between Dadalus as an artist and Stephen as an artist hints at the innovation that Stephen may later create ~ The labryinth is also prominent in the story. Stephen often faces situations where he believes he has found a solution, only to be disappointed (much like a labryinth has fake exits). This idea also forshadows that Stephen will find many more 'dead ends' in his experiences throughout the book.

Quiz1. Why do the other students see Stephen as a hero? 2. What holiday does Stephen's family argue at?3. Stephen's attitude toward approaching the rector about his punishment could best be described as:A) confidentB) angryC) irritatedD) nervous 4.  True or False: Stephen does not feel accepted by his classmates5. As a child, who's smell does Stephen take comfort in?

Quiz (continued)

6. In Stephen's early days at school, what leads to his stay in the infirmary? 7. True or False: The labryinth was built by Icarus.8. What does the master in the dark hallway symbolize?9. Considering Greek mythology, and Joyce's themes, Stephen's full name symbolizes:    A) strength    B) fear    C) flight    D) power10. True or False: in the beginning of the chapter, water symbolizes cleanliness and a fresh start

Answers1. He speaks out against being wrongfully punished. 2. Christmas3. D) nervous4. True5. His mother's6. The boys pushing him into the wet ditch.7. False8. God9. C) Flight10. False 

Bibliography 

The Legend of King Minos, Makrigialos, Crete, Greece." The         White Houses, Makrigialos, Crete, Makrigialos, Crete,                 Greece. Web. 22 Sept. 2010. <http://www.makrigialos.com        /default.php?param=minos>.

"SEARC'S WEB GUIDE - Archibald Hamilton Rowan (1751-1834)." Searc's Web Guide to Irish Resources on the Internet 1997-2009 ©. Web. 21 Sept. 2010. <http://www.searcs-web.com/rowan.html>.