In most novels there are always certain aspects of the protagonist's life that serve as the basis from which the character is motivated to create or to encounter particular events. Often times these motivations are the key that the protagonist needs in order to realize their meaning in life and where their destinations lie. James Joyce cleverly uses the presence and appeal of women in his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to allow his protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, to become cognizant of his role in life, but not without first being subjected to manipulation and confusion. Stephen's stringent childhood of strict Irish Catholicism and all-male boarding schools combined with an already intuitive yet misguided aesthetic mind, confront and conflict with the women who obliviously shape his emotional development.

Since Stephen was destined to be an artist, as a child he is already hypersensitive emotionally and can be easily influenced. Stephen's earliest memories are when the first woman is presented to him, his mother Along with his mother is his nanny Dante who are both symbolic as they ignite the development of Stephen's conscience (Ben-Merre 14). Both women are tradit

While Stephen is attending Clongowe's, an all male boarding school, he frequently desires the affection of his mother, especially during times of hardship he wishes to be back home under her veil of security (Henke 84). But these feelings change throughout his stay at Clongowe's. Stephen has not yet been able to differentiate between filial love and erotic love so he becomes baffled and unable to tell the difference between what is moral and truly immoral (85). In one circumstance in the novel, one of Stephen's class mates ask him if he kisses his mother, and Stephen is not sure how to respond, so he says yes and he becomes the victim of their teasings. They turn around his kissing of his mother into some sort of incestual activity for their own amusement (86). When one of Stephen's classmates asked him if he "loves his mother," all Stephen can muster up to say is, "I don't know what your words mean." This lack of understanding of women influences Stephen to feel another web of guilt that forms self and mental confinement to the points to where he wants to give up all allegiance to his motherly figures (85). Stephen realizes that the world is male-dominated and that most women are merely mellowing agents strategically placed here and there so he resolves that his mother can no longer be a sanctuary in his life (86). Being in this all male school allows for misogyny and terror of females to breed within Stephen.

He was finally able to realize that women embody his creativity (Poupard 213). His confrontations and sexual experiences with women clarified for him that to be an artist one

New York: Marshall Cavendish Corp., 1993.

Sullivan, James. "James Joyce." Magill's Survey of World Literature. Frank Magill, ed. vol. 3.

his life's purpose. He has discovered that he can see with the eyes of a man and...

invites him to express his natural reaction of wonder...and, ultimately, she kindles

Some common words found in the essay are:
Irish Catholicism, Eileen Protestant, Clongowe's Stephen, Virgin Mary, Stephen Dedalus, Stephen Underlying, Dedalus Dante, Stephen Cliff, Heavenly God, Misogyny Artist, portrait artist, james joyce, 14 women, irish catholicism, stephen dedalus, women served, joyce's portrait artist, joyce's portrait, 15 stephen, dedalus dante, stephen's exposure,
Approximate Word count = 1913
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)