James Joyce
Stephen Dedalus, the main character in most of James Joyce's writings, is said to be a reflection of Joyce himself. In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the reader follows Stephen as he develops from a young child into a young artist, overcoming many conflicts both internally and externally, and narrowly escaping a life long commitment to the clergy. Through Joyce's use of free indirect style, all of Stephen's speech, actions, and thoughts are filtered through the narrator of the story. However, since Joyce so strongly identifies with Stephen, his character's style and personality greatly influence the narrator. This use of free indirect style and stylistic contagion makes Joyce's use of descriptive language one of his most valuable tools in accurately depicting Stephen Dedalus's developing ideals of feminine beauty.As a very young child Stephen is taught to idealize the Virgin Mary for her purity and holiness. She is described to Stephen as "a tower of Ivory" and a "House of Gold" (p.35). Stephen takes this literally and becomes confused as to how these beautiful elements of ivory and gold could make up a human being. This confusion is important in that it shows Stephen's inability to grasp abstraction. He is a young
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Bird Girl, Emma Clery, Virgin Mary, Romantic Adventure, Portrait Artist, Praise God, Father Arnell's, Blessed Mary, House Gold, Outside Blackrock, virgin mary, feminine beauty, stephen able, ideals feminine beauty, conflict stephen, blessed mary, emma clery, ideals feminine, attraction emma clery, human desires, stephen realizes, indirect style, free indirect style,
Approximate Word count = 2571
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
 |
