What Impression Of An Artist Do You Find In The Novel A Portrait Of The Artist A Young Man
...Dedalus is the main character in the novel, which follows his life from when he was very young until he is in his early twenties. The young Stephen is a studious, intelligent, sensitive boy. He attends two Jesuit schools, Clongowes Wood College and then Belvedere College. At Belvedere he wins a reputation for piety, and he seems to be destined for a career in the church. But he also feels the pull of sensuality, and has his first sexual experience with a prostitute at the age of sixteen. This and further visits to prostitutes cause him great feelings of guilt. After Belvedere, Stephen attends University College, Dublin. He no longer feels any desire to become a priest, and he loses his religious faith. Instead, he feels a calling to become an artist, and he develops an aesthetic theory that places the highest value on beauty and art. He is determined to pursue his own creative calling, and he knows that he will have to leave Ireland in order to do so. He rejects his family, the church and any political involvement in the Irish cause, determined to shape his own destiny rather than have it shaped by others.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is above all a portrait of Stephen Dedalus. It is through Stephen that we see his world, and it is his development from sensitive child to rebellious young man that forms the plot of the novel. There are many Stephens, often contradictory. He is fearful yet bold, insecure yet proud, lonely and at the same time afraid of love. One Stephen is a romantic who daydreams of swashbuckling heroes and virginal heroines. The other is a realist at home on Dublin's most sordid streets. One Stephen is too shy to kiss the young lady he yearns for. The other readily turns to prostitutes to satisfy his sexual urges. One is a timid outsider bullied by his classmates. The other is courageous enough to confront and question authority. One...
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