James Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

James Joyce's novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tells a pseudo-biographical tale of Joyce's life through the eyes of the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus. The novel, written in the bildungsroman genre, chronicles the development of Stephen from his infancy to his becoming a man. Stephen's adulthood however is not defined in the physical sense but in his accepting the truth that he chooses to devote his life to: his worship of beauty and aesthetics as an artist. This truth that he must accept is his point of equilibrium that will put his soul in balance growing up in a world that pulls him desperately to one of two extremes: the humanist or spiritual. Stephen's upbringing in twentieth century Ireland is wrought with conflict on these two fronts and is an outward interpretation of his coming to terms with his inner personal conflict. Through a prolonged meditative journey, Stephen Dedalus becomes a man by finding his balance between the secular and the spiritual.

From the beginning of the novel during his childhood, it is made clear that Stephen has a desire to achieve balance in his life. He prefers to take no part in the games his schoolmates play during class and would rather meditate on the sound of a cricket bat (39). While participating in an academic competition, Stephen instead ponders on the colors of the roses that the opposing teams wear. He sees the red and the white roses that separate the two and ponders why a green rose is non-existent (p.9). In these instances, one can see that Stephen is withdrawn from his peers but at the same time is often withdrawn into his own head, satiating his senses with the sights and sounds of nature. These feelings of isolation are only exemplified by being teased by bullies and having few friends to connect with.

When not being stressed by the pressures of the school's social norms, Stephen is then being pulled toward the church and religion. As a member of a Catholic school, Stephen is subject to the tutelage of the Priests and encouraged to engage in rigorous prayer. He is raised not to question the ways of the church which can be seen in his practice of regular prayer before bed and his submission to the priests' lessons. However his practices stray away from the Catholic fashion and more towards the secular side when he chooses to pray his own way for the lives of his loved ones and not with the written creeds (15). His rejection of the church's institutional system is similar to his rejection of his peers in his community at the school.

Stephen's heightened sense of awareness combined with his acute senses and loner persona give him the ability to look beyond convention. In doing so he can see the faults in the opposing natures of the secular and the spiritual. By witnessing the argument between his father, Dante, and Mr. Casey on the subject of Irish nationalism versus the Catholic Faith, he becomes aware that the subject of secular politics can cause powerful rifts between people. With Dante's storming off it can even divide people under the same roof no less (34). This proves counterproductive when the ideal notion of nationalism is to unite people. Yet the church proves fallible itself when Stephen is wrongfully lashed by Father Dolan for forgetting his glasses (44-45). Dolan shows that as representative of God's church, that he and the church are not morally absolute but are made of men capable of wrongdoing.

Stephen now has healthy suspicions of the secular nature of his school in both faith and community. That a priest beat him maliciously for no reason shows that the clergy does not always enforce Godly justice. Yet his classmates quiver at the thought of standing up to the prefects. Therefore Stephen can look to neither in helping with his upbringing. The fact that he alone decides to stand up to the prefects to gain justice serves as a declaration of independence in choosing his own way in life. The church has admitted that it was wrong while his schoolmates elevate him (literally) to a hero status (51). Stephen is now fully isolated and in charge of how he will lead his life.

Stephen now being free from the academy is also free to experiment with what his truth is. He spends his days day-dreaming that he is Edmond Dantes, his hero from The Count of Monte Cristo. Dantes proves an ironic choice in role models for a youth finding his way in the world. Both found themselves isolated by the society that they were apart of and both saw that God's laws superseded the limitations of mankind, even the clergy. Having just been betrayed by the church, Stephen like his hero, decides to engage in material wealth and splendor the world has to offer him. This involves the excessive spending of money and frequent visits to brothels. Also like his hero, Stephen gets too caught up in what he is doing that he forgets the moral implications to his actions. By delving into his material and sexual wants without thought of the spiritual implications, Stephen has fully embraced the humanist extreme by giving into sin and temptation.

It is by his senses and divine intervention that Stephen is brought back from the extremes of secular sin and then towards the more heavenly counterpart. Father Arnell, an old prefect from Stephen's younger school days happens across his current school with a sermon about hell that awakens him and his senses to the danger to his soul:

"He desired till his frame under the strain of his desire and until the senses of his soul closed. They closed for an instant then opened. He saw...An evil smell, faint and foul as the light, curled upwards sluggishly" (120).

The power of Stephen's senses don't give him a fear of hell, but a preview to what the experience will be like. He now truly fears for his soul and has fled to the spiritual side of the spectrum.

This newfound sense of holiness however proves to be another form of excess that denies Stephen the balance that he needs in his life. He denies his senses the temptation of sin through mortification. He looks away from every woman, eats bad tasting food, and sniffs his own urine (131). His prayer to the scriptures is rigorous and unrelenting to the point of giving him a more prickly and unforgiving demeanor. This does not prove beneficial to Stephen's upbringing however because in a state of constant denial of the senses, he cuts himself off to the one truth that has always been apparent to him since birth: the beauty of the nature and its affects on his senses. This causes a restlessness within that is only realized upon his chance to fully devote himself to the church as a clergyman.

Stephen has one final awakening to the girl he deems an angel walking on the beach. It is here that his balance is finally obtained in how he feels the touch of divine that inspires him that is at the same time rooted in the physical world. It is his senses all along that were guiding him to this medium in life and it isn't until he fully tunes them through his experiences in the excess that he knows how to truly please them. When he learns to follow his nose and the rest of his senses that is when he truly finds balance in his life. The path of the artist is the worship of beauty and the truth it provides to his senses. This is a fine line to walk between the secular and the spiritual in how Stephen must remember to look to his surroundings in the nature to find the beauty that his senses pay homage to while at the same time respecting the divine power of nature. Through these elements, Stephen will be able to be inspired to add beauty to his world that now rests in perfect balance and harmony.