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NOVEL II Lecture 4. SYNOPSIS. SYNOPSIS. SYNOPSIS. Insights in the beginning of the story. Chapter 1. The novel begins in the mind of Stephen Dedalus , the protagonist of the story. We see his first childhood memory of a bedtime story involving a moocow and baby tuckoo .
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Chapter 1 • The novel begins in the mind of Stephen Dedalus, the protagonist of the story. • We see his first childhood memory of a bedtime story involving a moocow and baby tuckoo. • The novel then follows Stephen to his boarding school where he doesn’t seem to fit in and longs to go home. • While in school, he falls ill and gets to escape the torment by his fellows. • The story jumps to Christmas dinner with his family, where his nurse Dante starts a heated political discussion. • Back at school Stephen breaks his glasses and gets flogged unfairly by a Priest. He gathers his courage and stands up for himself to the rector in an attempt to prevent being punished again. • He is accepted as a hero by his peers.
SensoryExperiences References from the text… “There was a cold night smell in the chapel. But it was a holy smell. It was not like the smell of the old peasants who knelt at the back of the chapel at Sunday mass. That was a smell of air and rain and turf and corduroy.” “There was cold night air in the chapel and the marbles were the colour the sea was at night.”
SensoryExperiencesReferences from the text… • “Fleming knelt down squeezing his hands under his armpits, his face contorted with pain, but Stephen knew how hard his hands were because Fleming was always rubbing rosin into them.” • “The fellows were practicing long shies and bowing lobs and slow twisters. In the soft grey silence he could hear the bump of balls: and from here and from there through the quiet air the sound of the cricket bats: pick, pack, pock, puck: like drops of water in a fountain falling softly in the brimming bowl”
SensoryExperiencesReferences from the text… • Joyce employs a variety of sensory experiences in an effort to provide the reader with a familiar sense. • For example, in the last quotation above Joyce relates or compares the sound of cricket bats to drops of water falling softly into the fountain below. • Thus, even if the reader is not familiar with the sounds of a cricket bat a connection or familiar sense may still be established. • Furthermore, Joyce occasionally offers rather extensive or exaggerated description, as in the first quotation above, to maximize the reader’s ability to relate to the text or situation.
Political Context Conflict between Protestants and Catholics
Conflict between Protestants and Catholics History of Conflict: • As early as 1200 the Irish and English have been fighting for control of Ireland. • In 1916, the Easter Sunday Uprising occurred, starting the fighting between the Irish Republican Army and the English. • 1921-Ireland is independent but Northern Ireland is kept as English • Most Irish are Catholic and most English are Protestant http://www.softpicks.net/screenshots/UK-and-Ireland-Online-Map-Locator.gif
Conflict between Protestants and Catholics • Joyce wrote A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man before 1916 so in the story Ireland is still technically a part of England, but the Irish people are unhappy with this. • Joyce illustrates the tension between Catholics and Protestants early when Stephen says he will marry Eileen when he grows up and Dante says: “…the eagles will come and pull out his eyes.” At first the reader does not know what is wrong with Eileen but it is apparent that Stephen’s family has a strong opposition to her. • Later, the reason for Dante’s dislike of Eileen becomes apparent: “…she did not like him to play with Eileen because Eileen was a protestant…” Even as a small child, these tensions govern his relationships.
Perceived Hypocrisy and Betrayal of Catholicism • Stephen’s time at catholic school leads him to notice that true Catholicism is not being practiced, especially by the priests. • For example, the boys in the school judge and treat Stephen poorly because of his father’s status rather than treating him as a fellow Catholic. • Also, the priests unfairly punish Stephen for his broken glasses; however, Priests are supposed to forgive people for their sins
Stephen Dedalus • Modeled after Joyce himself, Stephen is a sensitive, thoughtful boy who reappears in Joyce's later masterpiece, Ulysses. • In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, though Stephen's large family runs into deepening financial difficulties, his parents manage to send him to prestigious schools and eventually to a university. • As he grows up, Stephen grapples with his nationality, religion, family, and morality, and finally decides to reject all socially imposed bonds and instead live freely as an artist.
Stephen Dedalus • Stephen undergoes several crucial transformations over the course of the novel. • The first, which occurs during his first years as Clongowes, is from a sheltered little boy to a bright student who understands social interactions and can begin to make sense of the world around him. • The second, which occurs when Stephen sleeps with the Dublin prostitute, is from innocence to debauchery. The third, which occurs when Stephen hears Father Arnall's speech on death and hell, is from an unrepentant sinner to a devout Catholic.
Stephen Dedalus • Finally, Stephen's greatest transformation is from near fanatical religiousness to a new devotion to art and beauty. • This transition takes place in Chapter 4, when he is offered entry to the Jesuit order but refuses it in order to attend university. Stephen's refusal and his subsequent epiphany on the beach mark his transition from belief in God to belief in aesthetic beauty. • This transformation continues through his college years. By the end of his time in college, Stephen has become a fully formed artist, and his diary entries reflect the independent individual he has become.
Stephen Dedalus • Stephen is characterized through Joyce's technique of stream of consciousness. • There are entire pages where one enters the thoughts of Stephen and we begin to understand who he is through these passages. • Stephen is portrayed as an innocent child who is growing up in a country with political and religious tension. • Joyce uses Stephen to show how Ireland is affecting the youth.
Stephen Dedaluslation, Differences Weaknesses • Stephen feels isolation and differences in his home and at school. Stephan talks of this girl Eileen who he is going to marry, “When they were grown up he was going to marry Eileen.” (pg 20) But his mother then quickly claims that he will apologize, and his Uncle says if he doesn’t eagles will come and pull his eyes out. • Stephen is childish with his yearning to marry this girl, but she is different, and his family has stricken him down to not only taking back the comment but apologizing. • Stephan has not yet been able to discriminate against others, and with that innocence he remains different from his parents still.
Stephen Dedaluslation, Differences Weaknesses • At school, Stephan is going through his awkward, adolescence, self-conscience phase. As he watches the other boys play their sports, he stays out of the way. • Stephan shamefully thinks “He felt his body small and weak amid the throng of players and his eyes were weak and watery.” (pg 20) Stephan feels less because he is not as developed and athletic as the other boys. • Not only does he describe his body as small and weak, but also his eyes. Insinuating that he even feels that his mind and spirit are weak compared to the others, distancing him from them.
Stephen Dedaluslation, Differences Weaknesses • When Stephan gets placed in an academic competition he gets uncomfortable and nervous. “Stephen tried his best but the sum was too hard and he felt confused. • The little silk badge with the white rose on it that was pinned on the breast of his jacket began to flutter. He was no good at sums but he did his best so that York might not loose…’The red rose wins’…Stephan felt his own face red too.” (pg 24) Stephan lost. • As he felt the rose on his jacket flutter, his insides were starting to cave and diminish also. He had tried his hardest, and failed. • His embarrassment, seen through his blushing face, further made him feel like a misfit and an awkward.
Stephen’s Concept of BeautyBeauty/Art/Books/Words • Stephen has a different kind of respect for beauty. • He can see beauty in almost anything and things as strange as a pale face can cause him to picture a gorgeous scene. In this example, Stephen felt his face go white and immediately thought of white roses and red roses and how “those were beautiful colours to think of.” (24) • Stephen also found joy in a song that he pictured would play at his funeral. He repeated many times “How beautiful and sad that was! How beautiful the words were where they said Bury me in the old churchyard!” (36) • For Stephen, words were as beautiful as pictures or places.
Simon Dedalus • Simon Dedalus spends a great deal of his time reliving past experiences, lost in his own sentimental nostalgia. • Joyce often uses Simon to symbolize the bonds and burdens that Stephen's family and nationality place upon him as he grows up. • Simon is a nostalgic, tragic figure: he has a deep pride in tradition, but he is unable to keep his own affairs in order.
Simon Dedalus • To Stephen, his father Simon represents the parts of family, nation, and tradition that hold him back, and against which he feels he must rebel. • The closest look we get at Simon is on the visit to Cork with Stephen, during which Simon gets drunk and sentimentalizes about his past. • Joyce paints a picture of a man who has ruined himself and, instead of facing his problems, drowns them in alcohol and nostalgia.
Simon Dedalus • Joyce is able to convey a character who has blind acceptance of the church and portrays her in a negative way. • Stephen's father and Mr. Casey are portrayed more reasonably. The actions Joyce has them carry out are polite and kind. They also have a sense of humor. • This makes one believe that Joyce sides more with them in that he believed that the Catholic church had no business in Irish Politics.
Emma Clery • Emma is Stephen's "beloved," the young girl to whom he is intensely attracted over the course of many years. • Stephen does not know Emma particularly well, and is generally too embarrassed or afraid to talk to her, but feels a powerful response stirring within him whenever he sees her. Stephen's first poem, "To E— C—," is written to Emma.
Emma Clery • She is a shadowy figure throughout the novel, and we know almost nothing about her even at the novel's end. • For Stephen, Emma symbolizes one end of a spectrum of femininity. Stephen seems able to perceive only the extremes of this spectrum: for him, women are either pure, distant, and unapproachable, like Emma, or impure, sexual, and common, like the prostitutes he visits during his time at Belvedere.
Evaluation/Establishment of Identity • To establish the character's identity Joyce uses dialogue and stream of consciousness. • With Dante, he characterized her through her intense views and respect for the church during the argument at Christmas dinner. • She laughs little and is snappy, while refusing to let the subject go.
Charles Stewart Parnell • Parnell is not fictional, and does not actually appear as a character in the novel. However, as an Irish political leader, he is a polarizing figure whose death influences many characters in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. • During the late nineteenth century, Parnell had been the powerful leader of the Irish National Party, and his influence seemed to promise Irish independence from England. When Parnell's affair with a married woman was exposed, however, he was condemned by the Catholic Church and fell from grace.
Charles Stewart Parnell • His fevered attempts to regain his former position of influence contributed to his death from exhaustion. Many people in Ireland, such as the character of John Casey in Joyce's novel, considered Parnell a hero and blamed the church for his death. • Many others, such as the character Dante, thought the church had done the right thing to condemn Parnell. These disputes over Parnell's character are at the root of the bitter and abusive argument that erupts during the Dedalus family's Christmas dinner when Stephen is still a young boy. • In this sense, Parnell represents the burden of Irish nationality that Stephen comes to believe is preventing him from realizing himself as an artist.
Charles Stewart ParnellA Political Insight… • Had the nickname of “the uncrowned king of Ireland” • Charles Parnell was an Irish politician and is remembered by the Irish as a freedom fighter for home rule of Ireland (freeing Ireland from rule of London) • Against the Irish Land Laws and supported land reform • In the novel, Mr. Casey and Stephen’s father were fond of Parnell, however, Dante told Stephen that Parnell was a “bad man.” (pg.28) Both Mr. Casey and Stephen’s father were very saddened by Parnell’s death
Cranly • Stephen's best friend at the university, Cranly also acts as a kind of nonreligious confessor for Stephen. In long, late-night talks, Stephen tells Cranly everything, just as he used to tell the priests everything during his days of religious fervor.
Cranly • While Cranly is a good friend to Stephen, he does not understand Stephen's need for absolute freedom. Indeed, to Cranly, leaving behind all the trappings of society would be terribly lonely. • It is this difference that separates the true artist, Stephen, from the artist's friend, Cranly. In that sense, Cranly represents the nongenius, a young man who is not called to greatness as Stephen is, and who therefore does not have to make the same sacrifices.
The Fenian Movement • The Fenians Movement was an Irish Republican organization. It started in the United States, founded by John O’Mahony and Michael Doheny in the 1850s. • The group was known for wanting Independence for Ireland, and it was acknowledged that they would use violence to get their point across. A problem they faced was that the Roman Catholic Church did not support them. • The priest’s power held great authority and influence amongst the people, thus giving them the ability to weaken the Fenian’s cause.
The Fenian Movement … • In the novel Mr. Dedalus and Dante have a fight at the dinner table during Christmas break. • Mr. Dedalus spoke fondly of a friend who had disapproved of the Catholic Church getting involved in Irish politics, and who then told priest so. • Dante felt that no one had a right to criticize the Catholic Church or any Priest. “The Priests were always the true friends of Ireland,” explained Dante (pg 49.) Her disagreement with Mr. Dedalus soon turned into a heated debate.
The Fenian Movement • Mr. Dedalus, in the end, replies back to Dante saying “Very well, then, he shouted hoarsely, if it comes to that, no God for Ireland.” (pg 50) Dante, furious, leaves the table. • The problem with the Catholic church involved in the Irish political stream is a sparked controversy seen in the novel and The Fenians Movement.
Howit all relates to today… Catholics vs. Nationalists • Most Catholics were Irish so they wanted an independent Ireland, but nationalists were more extreme. • Similar to today’s moderates and the more extreme members of parties.
Catholics vs. Protestants • Not so much a religious dispute as a dispute between Irish and English.
Daedalus – “The Great Artificer” • Daedalus is known as “The Great Artificer (cunning worker)” • He was father of two sons, Icarus and Iapyx • He created the labyrinth of Crete that held the Minotaur.
Daedalus – “The Great Artificer” • Daedalus was shut up in a tower on Crete so that he could not pass on information to escape from the Labyrinth. • He could not leave by sea because the king kept close watch on all vessels in the area.
King Minos Greatly feared, but greatly respected One day, a white bull appeared in his kingdom. Poseidon demands that he sacrifice the bull, but Minos is intrigued by the creature. He tries to fool Poseidon and sacrifice a different bull. The gods are enraged and decide to punish him. They make King Monos' wife fall in love with the white bull.
Minos’ Wife and the Bull • Minos’ wife’s name was Pasiphae. • Because Minos did not sacrifice the bull that Poseidon had given him, Poseidon made the bull mad and made Pasiphae fall in love with the bull. • Daedalus made Pasiphae a device that allowed her to approach the bull. • Pasiphae became pregnant because of the bull and gave birth to the Minotaur, a being with a part-bull and part-human body.
The Minotaur • In Greek mythology, The Minotaur is a creature with the head of a bull and the body of a man. The Minotaur grew ferocious. • Minos went to the Oracle at Delphi, and was advised to make a giant labyrinth to keep the Minotaur. • Thus, he lived in the center of the Cretan Labyrinth, until he was killed by Theseus with the sword of Aegeus.
The Labyrinth • Elaborate maze designed and built by Daedalus to house the minotaur. • It is said that Daedalus himself could barely escape it.
The wings • In the story of Icarus, Icarus’s father, Daedalus, makes Icarus and himself a pair of wings out of wax and feathers. • To escape from the Minotar in Crete, Daedalus and Icarus planned to use the wings to fly off the island • Before departure, Daedalus warns Icarus not to fly too low because his wings might get wet and to not fly too high because the sun would melt his wings
The Development of Individual Consciousness • Perhaps the most famous aspect of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is Joyce's innovative use of stream of consciousness, • a style in which the author directly transcribes the thoughts and sensations that go through a character's mind, rather than simply describing those sensations from the external standpoint of an observer. • Joyce's use of stream of consciousness makes A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man a story of the development of Stephen's mind.
The Development of Individual Consciousness • In the first chapter, the very young Stephen is only capable of describing his world in simple words and phrases. • The sensations that he experiences are all jumbled together with a child's lack of attention to cause and effect. • Later, when Stephen is a teenager obsessed with religion, he is able to think in a clearer, more adult manner.
The Development of Individual Consciousness • Paragraphs are more logically ordered than in the opening sections of the novel, and thoughts progress logically. • Stephen's mind is more mature and he is now more coherently aware of his surroundings. • Nonetheless, he still trusts blindly in the church, and his passionate emotions of guilt and religious ecstasy are so strong that they get in the way of rational thought.
