James Joyce Critical Essay

In society, politics is all about the struggle for power. In order to gain this power, an understanding of society and its habits are required to achieve and manipulate this power. In James Joyce’s “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” Joyce displays the evolution of the young protagonist in the story, Stephen Dedalus to show his coming of and how Stephen attains power. While growing up, innocent Stephen is suddenly thrown into the adult world of corruption and sin where he is to fend and learn for himself how the world works. Stephen’s environment and strong religious beliefs aid him in his quest for adulthood. Stephen’s evolution brings him the understanding of the world which gives him the political strength he needs to make it through. His control over himself and others seem to be bleak at the beginning of the novel but as he grows older and learns more, this power of his evolves and transforms Stephen into an independent and wise adult. Through Stephen’s journey of dealing with politics in the corrupted world, Joyce implies that power is found through trial and error in the real world. Life is not just simple as black and white or easy as one, two, and three. One can not just do something wrong or do something right since much of people’s actions are backed by thoughts that might be justified. The real life in society is concealed from children. When the children come to the appropriate age, they are left to find out for themselves how to survive in this world which is so diverse. Who one is around, who one associates, or just what one thinks all play effective roles in how one evolves into the adult they want to be. With those people and thoughts, people commit mistakes and it takes these mistakes for people to learn from them in a world so cold and dark.

In school, Stephen’s lack of political strength leads him into trouble in his first encounter with an adult of higher stature and through this, Joyce constitutes that sight is power. Stephen accidentally breaks his glasses on the cinder path and is excused to have to take notes by his teacher, Father Arnall. Then when class is in session and another teacher, Father Dolan acknowledges that Stephen is the only one in the class not writing and is quick to confront him. When Father Dolan asks Stephen about his situation, Stephen “could not speak with fright” (55) Joyce uses the words could and fright to show the magnitude of the intimidation Stephen feels because Stephen lost his vision. Since Stephen has lost his vision, this is what makes Stephen inferior to the rest of the kids and to Father Dolan who also sports a pair of glasses. Joyce uses glasses in this case as a symbol defined as sight is power and superiority. Stephen is put down to a lower level than the other kids because he is “blinded” (55) and is unable to perform like the other children. He is picked out of the crowd because of this. His obvious weakness is seen by Father Dolan and he is attacked because of it.

This idea of being blinded also refers to the Oedipus complex. Oedipus blinded himself by gouging his eyes out after he had discovered the prophecy he had unintentionally fulfilled and then was driven out of his city Thebes, by his own people. Without Oedipus’s eyes, his control over his people was reduced to nothing and then was he vulnerable to be driven out. Sheldon Brivic states that “the loss of eyes is an image of castration” (Sheldon Brivic, 253). Brivic uses the word castration to suggest that the power is lost when vision if lost. Stephen, like Oedipus loses his eyes and becomes vulnerable to be attacked by others. Then Stephen “closed his eyes and held out in the air his trembling hand with the palm upward.” (55) Joyce suggests that Stephen castrates himself as he performs this gesture of surrender relieving himself of any power. This castration Stephen performs on himself takes the man out of Stephen. Since the general man likes to be in control of situations and able to lead, Stephen just takes all of that away when he places his arms up to the Father.

The almighty God has limitless powers as defined in human bibles and in human faith. If the messenger of god connects normal humans to this god then priests must have great political power as well. They forgive wretched sin and purify the evil and corrupt souls. Since these priests follow this god and achieve power through this god one can believe that power can be attained by following these priests who possess great power. Stephen with his sinful and shameful conscious comes to the priest in hopes that Stephen can find strength to overcome this shame that disturbs him so much. He enters the booth and starts the process of confessions and the priest is there to aid and help Stephen. In the booth Stephen “made the sign of the cross and prayed of the priest to bless him for he has sinned” (129) Joyce makes Stephen perform this task because it empowers Stephen with the faith that he has with god to be open and confess the truth of his sins. This strength Stephen conjures up creates a sense of confidence and boldness. Then when Stephen finishes confessing, “The last sins oozed forth, sluggish, filthy.” (130) Joyce uses the terms oozed, sluggish, and filthy to substantiate the magnitude of the sins which in turn reflects on the readers idea of how difficult this confession of sins is for Stephen. To the reader those three words give imagery to the texture and movement of the sin. It conjures up thoughts of dirty and viscous slime which add substance to the truths that Stephen pours out to the priest. After the confession, Stephen “bowed his head, overcome.” (130) in which Joyce defines the degree of Stephen’s overwhelming with the term overcome. With that Joyce suggests that his sin was heavy and so substantial that it overwhelmed Stephen to just confess it all.

Loaded words are words that carry more than what is perceived and in this case, Stephen has loaded words when it comes to his sins. This substance of the sin is created through the psychoanalytic belief of the maternal goal and the paternal threat. Steven lacks power at this point in his life “because his mind generates the paternal threat whenever it approaches the maternal goal, Stephen cannot sustain the active male role.” (Sheldon Brivic, 255) Stephen’s anxiety that created the substance filled sins all stemmed from this idea. The strumpet is Stephen’s maternal goal and God is the paternal threat in this case. This unconscious realization within Stephen creates this anxiety and shame. The paternal threat is the shame and anxiety that God hands to Stephen because he did achieve the maternal goal. Thus Stephen can not sustain the active male role which is the conventional, empowered, and self-disciplined man.

Power that purifies a man’s soul. Power that cleanses a man’s conscious. With the couple words of a prayer, a life is changed. The priest changes Stephen’s attitude with just that. The priest “knelt to say his penance, praying in a corner of the dark nave: and his prayers ascended to heaven from his purified heart like perfume streaming upwards from a heart of white rose.” (131) The simile Joyce uses creates the feeling of innocence in the scene. Perfume conjures thoughts of refreshment and enlightenment and the color white conjures thoughts of innocence and heaven which can describe how the healing in Stephen is happening. Joyce suggests that power is attained with being pure. Stephen after the confession changes to a whole new man. He is no longer distraught and depressed but empowered and happy. On Stephen’s way home Joyce writes that “the muddy streets were gay.” (131) Joyce forms this paradox because it presents and emphasizes the newly changed mood of Stephen. The word muddy is generally perceived as a negative term since it relates to being dirty but gay is defined as happy. Usually anything negative and happiness do not go hand in hand so it is a paradox. To see the dirty street and to describe it as happy shows his change in mood. Before Stephen steps into the church, he is pessimistic about his whole life. Then god forgives him and everything changes within him. This new mood within Stephen presents his political strength he attains. His depression just in the aftermath of his committed sin seemed to cripple him. His mind was a mess and he was not able to do anything or think logically. After his encounter with the priest, he “strode homeward, conscious of an invisible grace pervading and making light his limbs” (131) His limbs are made light which shows what strength he attains. His body with the sin was heavy for him to handle and it held him down. Now with the new strength god hands him, he feels that his body is light and easy.

Fear is what drives many people to do what they do. Fear is what scares people into thinking certain thoughts and not doing what we do. To overcome fear requires power and strength. One must find it within themselves to stand up strong against what they fear and oppose it. Stephen and Cranly watch through Pembroke and talk about their new lives. They talk about their futures and what they are going to do and not do. Also, they talk about their experiences and their experiences through their lives so far. Stephen talks about his fears to Cranly and says

- You made me confess the fears that I have. But I will tell you also what I do not fear. I do not fear to be alone or to be spurned for another or to leave whatever I have to leave. And I am not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake, a lifelong mistake and perhaps as long as eternity too. (213)

Stephen uses I repeatedly to stress empowerment in himself and put himself above Cranly to show strength and superiority. Then Stephen uses mistakes with a greater meaning word each time after each sentence to again show his superiority by suggesting that he is fearless to commit any mistakes. At this point Stephen is confident I himself and is politically powerful because he is able to make this bold statement. At no other point in the book is he able to make a statement so specific and so strong. He mentions that he does not fear to be alone when that is what bothered him through the whole book. He is able to confront his fears and stand up strong to it. Stephen’s evolution is to hit this point. His adventures are all there to take him to this point. A point where there is a realization of what to expect in life and what to not and be afraid of. Having the strength to confess such thoughts, is a sign of Stephens psychological development. When one is able to speak out against or voice such strong thoughts, the individual is politically on top and in control. In this instance, Stephen has control of the conversation since he is able to turn the conversation from being about fear to what he does not fear. This scene is not like when Stephen was sitting in fear listening to Father Dolan but Stephen is actually in Father Dolan’s position at this point. Stephen is able to take control of the conversation, manipulate it, and turn it around on Cranly. Stephen goes from confessing the fears that he has to that he “will tell… also what… does not fear.” (213) Just by saying that he will tell Cranly shows the strength within Stephen. Stephen is not asked to reveal to Cranly what he is does not fear but he voluntarily does. This puts Stephen in a position higher than Cranly since Stephen is clearly on the offensive when he turns the conversation around.

The information people gather from the sources around them all contribute into shaping and forming of a personality and proper morals. Stephen develops and grows up substantially over the course of time in the book. His superego develops as he does with every incident and in the end it transforms him into his powerful self. “The superego is ‘outside,’ since much of what it tells us to do or think we have learned from our parents, our schools, or our religious institutions.” (What is Psychoanalytic Criticism, 237) Stephen through what he experiences and what he learns from the church father, his education, and his parents all bring him to this point where he shines. All these incidents where Stephen loses his political strength and has no power over anything, it serves as a lesson for Stephen to learn about the world in his journey through the new world he is to discover. Father Dolan overwhelms Stephen in a political sense even with his mistaken intuition. Stephen with his blindness is reduced to nothing as a man with a strong voice and a higher hierarchal position. With vision, Father Dolan has authority that Stephen did not and that helps Stephen realize later on in his life that people are quick to jump to dishonest conclusions even when accidents happen. The Priest plays another role in helping Stephen to realize proper morals and to obtain political strength. After the sin, Stephen is distraught with anxiety in his mind and he does not function right. Just the realization of his actions to a woman made him go berserk with shame. This anxiety and shame render him powerless. He is left vulnerable to attacks from people and his negative thoughts. Finally when he comes to realize that the only way to heal this disease of sin and strength absorbing anxiety, he was to go to god. God’s morals taught by the priest through to the people help empower the people with righteous thoughts. When people have righteous thoughts, people believe in what they do and they perform in confidence and force. People will see the morals as logical and perform it without any thoughts of deceit or evil. Stephen talks to the priest and admits his sin. This acknowledgement of his actions and that he is forgiven by god sanctions him with political strength and changes his thought process upside down. His insecurities fade away and he is his own confident man. Confidence is a result of power because through confidence, nor fear or anxiety is affecting any actions performed. With confidence, Stephen is able to walk the streets and just live life with no worries and open to carry out any task. The morals Stephen learns from the school and priest help Stephen develop his superego strength and system of morals. With a developed superego, one can go about life in confidence knowing what they do is either right or wrong and to be able to fight for what they believe in and this will to fight for what one believes is a clear presentation of strength.

Joyce conveys the idea that power and strength is obtained through trial and error. As Stephen matures, he learns and has to fend from the world. He is clueless in the beginning of his adventures which leads him to have so many troubles and insecurities. As the book goes on and the adventures, he makes mistakes and learns from them and also learns from the people that he observes and happens to stumble upon. When he is a child, he gets in trouble because he is blind at school which can be seen as that he is blind to the world ahead of him and Father Dolan is there to give him a taste of the corrupt and dishonest world that lies before him. This blindness is Stephen’s loss of power. He is inferior to everyone around him since this blindness stuns him from completing the work that he should be doing. He is powerless to complete any task or even perform any task. Even though the father comes to the wrong conclusion, it is actually a learning experience to Stephen so he will know that there are people out there who will try to find ways to cheat the world. Then as he grows older, he commits sin with a strumpet which is morally wrong on both their behalves and seeks the aid of a priest to help him. At this point of time in Stephen’s life, Stephen is blinded by the guilt, anxiety, and depression. These emotions handicap Stephen so much that he can not find the strength or power to think or work properly. His mind is clouded and dark so that he can’t do anything straight. Stephen gains strength from the Father and the Priest and also gives him an understanding of the world. Knowledge is power and with this knowledge Stephen obtains, he develops his righteous superego that gives him power to do whatever he likes without fear or anxiety.