Rahul Vazarkar A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man Study Guide Plot: Story told in third person with Stephens

perspective Stephen is a boy growing up during a socially tumultuous time in Ireland. He goes to Clongowes Academy, where he feels alienated from others, until he is forced to withdraw for financial reasons Moves to Dublin, where he sleeps with a prostitute and turns away from religion, becoming extremely sinful Stephen, feeling guilty, turns back towards extreme ascetic Catholicism Eventually, Stephen finds a middle ground between himself and societal/religious constraints and resolves to pursue his own individual interests and art Characters: Stephen: Main character who is based off of Joyce himself; the story follows his emotional/mental development as he grows older Emma: A girl Stephen becomes infatuated with; he acts as somewhat of a catalysts for Stephens changes and interest Themes: Development of identity: The book revolves around the development of Stephens identity, and by extension, deals with the concept in general. More specifically, Joyce may be outlining the developmental steps many artists go through Religion as an oppressive force: In the book, religion often acts as a bar rier to Stephens pursuit of his desires, or makes him feel guilty for doing so. In the end, Stephen decides that he does not want to fully conform to religious doctrine and expectations The nature of language: Joyce manipulates language sounds and other aspects of language throughout the book as part of demonstration of art Symbols: Emma: Represents desire and lust The Count of Monte Cristo: Representative of the life Stephen admires Quotations ...he longed for the play and study and prayers to be over (25) Sample quote to show the type of isolation and detachment from others Stephen feels I will not serve that in which I no longer believe whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church (248) Sums up Stephens final commitment to pursuing his individual desires Suck was a queer word.loudly (23) Example of exploration of the sound in language, this time with the word suck