Comment
on the extent of the influence of Stephen’s father on him in Portrait of the
Artist as a Young Man. / Comment on the extent of the influence of The Father
on Stephen, the Artist
A
psychological novel, James Joyce’s A
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man places a great amount of emphasis on
the circumstances which help to shape the hero.
As a young man evolving from infancy through childhood and adolescence,
Stephen is shown in the novel to have been greatly influenced by his home,
religion and country. However, among the
members who constitute his family, religious and national influences, Simon
Dedalus, his actual father, and the ecclesiastical fathers are really the ones
whose influences are most clearly seen. In
this paper, I will trace their influences and discuss how they make him
determined to leave his home country and be an artist.
It is
by no means casual, but rather significant, that the novel should begin with
Stephen’s father telling him the story of a moocow. This story is in itself a highly imaginative
story to an infant. We are told that
Stephen identifies himself with the “nicens little boy.” From this simple incident, we can see
imagination, which is the soul of art, has first sparkled in the infant’s
mind. In this sense we can say his
father is the one who sows the seed of art into his mind. In fact, the story is part of Ovid’s tale of
Daedalus, whom Stephen addresses at the end of the novel as “old father, old
artificer.” In this connection, we are
led to think that Simon Dedalus is equal to Daedalus, and Stephen is Equal to
Icarus. Simon Dedalus teaches his son
the art by telling him the story, just as Daedalus teaches his own son the art
by showing him how to make wings. Finally
Stephen revolts against his father just as Icarus does not pay any attention to
his father’s warning when they are soaring in the sky. Anyway, it is clear that Joyce is here
attributing Stephen’s tendency toward art to his father’s influence................
Hi. I’m Designer of Blog Magic. I’m CEO/Founder of ThemeXpose. I’m Creative Art Director, Web Designer, UI/UX Designer, Interaction Designer, Industrial Designer, Web Developer, Business Enthusiast, StartUp Enthusiast, Speaker, Writer and Photographer. Inspired to make things looks better.
0 comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.