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A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
James Joyce

Synopsis:
James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tells the story of the growth of a human soul from early childhood to young manhood. They entail the revolt against his ‘nice mother’ and the mother church; his real and subconscious movements of love toward immaculate virgins and prostitutes; his encounters with sin, injustice, cruelty, and all the other “realities of experience” as he emerges from the sinless paradise of his childhood.

Themes:
A simple theme of this novel could be that the young boy’s soul is naturally wild and wants to be free (no matter what type of up-bringing he has) and to question the authority that has ruled his life thus far.

Point of View:
This story is told from the third person, who narrates and knows all in the story and tells it and its character’s emotions as they happen.

Characters/types:
The obvious character in this novel about the life of Stephen Dedalus is the story’s protagonist and obvious main character: Stephen Dedalus. The entire novel revolves around this character and his different adventures throughout life with all kinds of different peoples associated with each stage in his life. From parents to rebel against, to teacher’s and characters of guidance from his Jesuit schooling, to his friends all about him. No real antagonist or foil characters can be pointed out as such steady throughout the novel.

Figurative Language/literary devices: note extensive or unique uses as well as
describing the overall effect.
Most all respectable literary devices are used in Joyce’s novels, and this would be a prime example. Such devices as metaphors, hyperbole, direct and indirect characterization, imagery, personification, simile, title reference, and many others. Unfortunately, the actual difficulty in reading this book must be noted and is understated here; Joyce takes on his own style of writing still criticized and studied today.

Which element was the most important to the development of the novel? Explain
why.
The most important happening or element of this story is when the boy, Stephen Dedalus, begins to question his religion and upbringing. This happens and sets the tone of the whole novel and the rest of Stephen Dedalus’ actions.

Identify the elements of plot below. Justify your answer.
A. Initial Incident
Stephen is educated at the Jesuit school and church and told basically of how his life should be and what kind of moral codes to follow. He grows up and begins to come into conflict with his parents beliefs and the ideals of his church.
B. Climax
Stephen totally rebels against all that he has been taught and goes fully against his mother, puts distance between he and his father, and goes against the ideals of his church. He makes his moves toward sin and begins a downward spiral of sin into his late teen-age years.

Give an example of conflict. Identify the type of conflict and how it is / why it is not
resolved.
An easy to identify example of conflict would be that internal conflict between Stephen and the church ideals that he is supposed to maintain as a proper Christian. He rebels against the church and runs away, never quite solving the problems created with the split in this ideals and morals.

Give an example of irony from the novel. Identify the type and explain how or why it
is ironic.
As stated above, Stephen has an ever-occurring problem morals and ideally with the church that has brought him up, which causes him great toils and troubles. This is quite ironic in the fact that, by definition, the church and their ideals are supposed to be a sort of haven for the contemporary Christian with his beliefs, yet here with Stephen Dedalus: the church is a source of conflict, especially spiritually.

Identify a flashback from the novel and explain the effect of the use of this device.
One flashback from this novel, as they appear quite often throughout the story, is on the multiple times when the narrator tells of Stephen remembering back or thinking of his past parental units: a priest, a parent, a teacher. Such uses of the literary device of flashback are abundant, while others are a little harder to find.

Give an example of foreshadowing from the novel. Explain the effect of the use of
this device.
Easily identified foreshadowing from this book is when Stephen is misbehaving and rebellious as a student at his Jesuit school in his young childhood. This is obviously showing how Stephen is rebellious to his elder figures and is going to be a questioning adult who wants to think for himself and be his own individual self.

From what point of view is the story told? What effect does this point of view have
on the reader?
This story is told from the third person narrative point of view showing that the narrator knows all and is telling the story from his point of view, unbiased. This gives the reader a precise knowledge of what is going on in the book, however difficult the reading is made by Mister James Joyce.

Describe the setting of the novel.
This novel seems to take place in the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s in different parts of Ireland. It is in a time period of British domination and of an underlying emphasis by the Irish people (nationalists) on religion, especially Christianity, to unite the Irish people against the oppressing British.

Identify two major characters from the novel. For each character: A. Identify the
type. B. Give three quotes, with page numbers, which illustrates the character.
Character one: Stephen Dedalus
- Protagonist
“Do you know that you are an excitable man?” (p. 239)
“Ay, Stephen said somewhat bitterly, bright, agile, impassible and, above all, subtle.”
(p. 240)
“…Tell me, would you rob?
I would beg first, Stephen said.” (p. 246)
Character two: Cranly
- A Secondary Character
“Cranly dislodged a figseed from his teeth on the point of his rude toothpick and gazed at
it intently.” (p. 229)
“My dear man, said Cranly urbanely, you are incapable, do you know, absolutely incapable
of thinking.” (p. 231)
“Tell me, for example, would you deflower a virgin?” (p. 246)

Give a one sentence statement of theme for the novel.
The young boy’s soul is naturally wild and wants to be free (no matter what type of up-bringing he has) and to question the authority that has ruled his life thus far.

Identify one symbol from the novel and explain the symbolism.
Obvious individuals in the novel, the prostitutes which Stephen encounters could easily symbolize not only the realism of the sick, dirty streets of the real world, but also the unguided souls on the world who (like Stephen) have refused the Christian life and gone on their own and reverted to sin for a living.

Identify one allusion from the novel and explain the allusion.
One allusion from this book which is easily remembered through reading the novel is the times in conversation about his country, Ireland, when he speaks of this homeland and its yearning for God-given freedom.

Identify six different types of figurative language or literary devices used in the
novel. For each type: A. Identify type. B. Give a quote with page number. C. Explain
the effect.

A. Direct Characterization
B. “He’s the only man I see in this institution that has an individual mind.” (p. 201)
C. This is a comment by Temple to Cranly about Stephen and directly shows that this man thinks of Stephen as an individually thinking person.

A. Simile
B. “The artist, like the God of creation,…” (p. 215)
C. This quote entails a comparison between artists and creators who stand back and watch their creations, invisible to all.

A. Indirect Characterization
B. “If I am to listen to your esthetic philosophy give me at least another cigarette.” (p. 207)
C. This indirectly characterizes Lynch as a cigarette loving cynic who often mocks people.

A. Allusion
B. “…whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church…” (p. 247)
C. This is an allusion to Ireland and its church, which is supposed to be his also.

A. Hyperbole
B. “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire!” (p. 239)
C. This is an obvious exaggeration made by Cranly at a fig which he just was told to put away.

A. Metaphor
B. “…her life simple and strange as a bird’s life…” (p. 217)
C. This compares the life of a woman to the gay in the morning, restless all day, and tired at sundown life of a bird.