Religion is an important and recurring theme in James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Through his experiences with religion, Stephen Dedalus both matures and progressively becomes more individualistic as he grows. Though reared in a Catholic school, several key events lead Stephen to throw off the yoke of conformity and choose his own life, the life of an artist.

Religion is central to the life of Stephen Dedalus the child. He was reared in a strict, if not harmonious, Catholic family. The severity of his parents, trying to raise him to be a good Catholic man, is evidenced by statements such as, "Pull out his eyes/ Apologise/ Apologise/ Pull out his eyes." This strict conformity shapes Stephen's life early in boarding school. Even as he is following the precepts of his Catholic school, however, a disillusionment becomes evident in his thoughts. The priests, originally above criticism or doubt in Stephen's mind, become symbols of intolerance. Chief to these thoughts is Father Dolan, whose statements such as, "Lazy little schemer. I see schemer in your face," exemplify the type of attitude Stephen begins to associate with his Catholic teachers. By the end of Chapter One

f a position as a priest is met by memories of his childhood at Clongowes and thoughts such as, "He wondered how he would pass the first night in the novitiate and with what dismay he would wake the first morning in the dormitory." Stephen realizes that the clerical collar would be too tight for him to wear. A walk on the beach confirms this thought in Stephen's mind through the statement, "Heavenly God! cried Stephen's soul in an outburst of profane joy." The sight of a woman and the knowledge that, as a priest, he could not even talk to her, finally convinces Stephen to abandon religion. His running escape from the woman also symbolizes his run from religion and restriction, a run to freedom, to the life of an artist.

As Stephen grows, he slowly but inexorably distances himself from religion. His life becomes one concerned with pleasing his friends and family. However, as he matures he begins to feel lost and hopeless, stating, "He saw clearly too his own futile isolation. He had not gone one step nearer the lives he had sought to approach nor bridged the restless shame and rancor that divided him from mother and brother and sister." It is this very sense of isolation and loneliness that leads to Stephen's encounter with the prostitute, where, "He wanted to sin with another of his kind, to force another being to sin with him and to exult with her in sin." He wants to be loved, but the nearest thing he can find is prostitution. In the aftermath of this encounter and the numerous subsequent encounters, a feeling of guilt and even more pronounced loneliness begins to invade Stephen's being. Chapter Three represents the turning point of the novel, for here Stephen turns his life around. After t!

end of Stephen's life in

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Approximate Word count = 1169
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)