Examine the major symbols in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to show their bearing on the novel’s theme.

Examine the major symbols in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to show their bearing on the novel’s theme.

Joyce probes into the consciousness of his characters with a clever use of symbols. Joyce makes an extensive use of symbols in his works. A proper understanding of these symbols leads to a better understanding of the novel and arises appreciation from the reader. C.G. Anderson in Christian Symbolism in a Portrait addresses the complexity of Joyce’s symbolism, defining his symbols as expressions of something invisible that deepen and expand meaning. Thus, in order to clearly describe the hidden and the concealed, Joyce makes use of symbols which in their turn also increase the expressiveness of his language. The major symbols used in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are birds and flight, water, music, skulls and masks, and color. These are discussed as follows: 

Birds and Flight: Symbolism/ Imagery/Allegory          

The association of flight with Stephen’s experience stems from his affiliation with Daedalus. As we mentioned elsewhere, Daedalus was known for creating wings of feather and wax; this is the source of the "hawklike man" image that pops up now and again. Stephen envisions his soul flying on metaphorical wings of his own construction; like Daedalus, he must fly to escape what he perceives to be his prison (Ireland), and the "nets" it casts to entrap him (religion, language, nationality). The bird association also stretches to the Egyptian god Thoth, mentioned once in Chapter Five by Stephen. Thoth, a bird-headed deity, was the god of scribes – and by extension, writers.

Bird flight represents the freedom Stephen longs for, and whenever it shows up in the book, you can be sure that he’s feeling particularly antsy. For example, when Stephen watches the birds wheeling above in Chapter Five and asks, "What birds were they?" Joyce clearly ties his protagonist’s unrest to the erratic patterns the birds weave in the sky. Birds are a sign of the mysterious, distant future he sees for himself – in the ancient world, divination by observing the flight of birds (augury) was a common practice, and Stephen makes reference to it, seeking meaning in the birds he observes............

TO GET COMPLETE STUDY MATERIAL JOIN NSOU ENGLISH COACHING

SHARE

Milan Tomic

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.

• 
• 
• 
• 
•