Sunday, March 30, 2008

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man - on Stephen's early signs of being an artist

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man on Stephen’s early signs of being an artist

Even from the very beginning of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, it is apparent that Stephen Dedalus is artistic. He uses his senses to describe what is happening to him. This is first shown on the very first page. His mind even at such a young age perceives his surrounding through four of his five senses: his sight, “he had a hairy face,” smell, “That had the queer smell,” touch, “When you wet the bed first it is warm then it gets cold,” and hearing, “O, the wild rose blossoms On the little green place”. These are early indications of how he will progress into an artist.
Stephen’s artistic outlook on life is not understood by his peers. Stephen is unlike the athletic boys of his age and so he is outcast for it. The way Stephen describes these athletic boys shows how he is skillful in coordinating words as opposed to his physical self, “The evening air was pale and chilly and after every charge and thud of the footballers the greasy leather orb flew like a heavy bird through the grey light,” (4). This quote is a good example of how Stephen uses his observations to paint a picture.
As a child Stephen also uses his personal experiences to paint pictures with words as well. One example is from Stephen’s flogging incident with the prefect of studies. When Stephen is unjustly accused of being a “lazy little schemer,” (51) both his hands are smacked several times with the pandybat. The way Stephen details this painful experience leaves the audience rubbing their hands with the same sensation he felt, “A hot burning stinging tingling blow like the loud crack of a broken stick made his trembling hand crumple together like a leaf in the fire: and at the sound and the pain scalding tears were driven into his eyes,” (51) and “The scalding water burst forth from his eyes and, burning with shame and agony and fear, he drew back his shaking arm in terror and burst out into a whine of pain,” (52). These descriptions of burning, scalding, and pain are repeated throughout the passage to get the point across that he feels a burning sensation. This also shows how he still has much room to develop as an artist sense he is very repetitive of these same throbbing sensations of burning.
While the audience can easily depict Stephen as unique and artistic, Stephen himself describes how much he loves words. After being pushed into a cesspool by a bully named Wells, Stephen imagines a dramatic death based on a nursery rhyme. He describes the rhyme in his own words :

How beautiful and sad that was! How beautiful words were where they said Bury me in the old churchyard! A tremor passed over his body. How sad and how beautiful! He wanted to cry quietly but not for himself: for the words, so beautiful and sad, like music. The bell! The bell! O farewell!

Stephen’s exclamations show how excited he is for these words. He is picturing his death and yet feels such a gratitude for this nursery rhyme that he forgets about how he was originally trying to feeling pity for himself. He knows that these words are beautiful and mean something to him. This enthusiasm for words carries on throughout his life and helps him discover who he is as an individual, as an artist.