A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Book Review + Analysis
Stephen Dedalus's epiphany to be an artist means he must vanquish his adolescent ideals taught through religion, his family, and politics. He needs to think for himself. We witness Stephen's internal battles of two extremes: falling into unhealthy sexual pleasures with prostitutes and devoting himself to every catholic practice when it doesn't align with his soul. Both do more harm to his life, so he must find balance. In this book review + Analysis of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce, we discover how he finds creativity and becomes a free artist.
This story is heavily autobiographical of James Joyce’s life and his journey to becoming an artist.
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*This book review + analysis reveals spoilers*
Join the conversation and stick to the end to see my rating of the 1900s classic novel; I hope you enjoy this review of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce!
A Book Review
Woodsworth Editions Limited 1992
196 pages | Classic Novel | James Joyce
APortrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Summary
In late nineteenth-century Ireland, Stephen Dedalus must sever the restraints of his family, religion, and Irish nationality to express his love of art and beauty. He is a writer. Finding his path is challenging, especially when the teachings bestowed to him do not create harmony inside his soul. He questions everything and falls into the arms of prostitutes causing his guilt to rise when the priest expresses what the afterlife is for sinners. His great act is to decide how to live his life as an artist while remaining true to himself.
Structure & Theme
Joyce paints the beginning of this story in blue, white, and gray. As we read through the book, he draws imagery of hell, giving us red, orange, and black hues; we enter the dark night of Stephen's soul. The book is shaded, lost, and grim. The end of the story transforms into color. Stephen sees the muse through the hues from the sunset. The vibrant colors show him as an artist and living with his eyes open; they are his acceptance and creativity.
Stephen's life is complex; he doesn't understand who he is. Therefore, he can't be in the world peacefully or creatively. But once he opens to life and beauty, the lens widens; the limited boundaries of religion, family ideas, and Irish nationality become a fraction of what he can see.
The prose is poetic and breathtaking in moments, but sadly Joyce loses his momentum and describes details that seem to be on repeat. He overwrites. The author's complex and redundant sentences made the reading experience extremely challenging.
Theme:
Beauty in Creativity -
“‘To speak of these things and try to understand their nature and, having understood it, to try slowly and humbly and constantly to express, to press out again, from the gross earth or what it brings forth, from sound and shape and colour which are the prison gates of our soul, an image of the beauty we have come to understand - that is art.’”
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Daedalus accepts his calling to create; he leaves behind all of his ideas about the world he was taught as a child and chooses art. Stephen needs to find and express beauty. He has an epiphany at the beach when a young and beautiful woman is walking along the shore. She is a symbol of the muse. Her purity and beauty propel him to fulfill his calling - one he must share with the world regardless of the pressures around him.
“Her eyes had called him and his soul had leaped at the call. To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life! A wild angel had appeared to him, the angel of mortal youth and beauty, an envoy from the fair courts of life, to throw open before him in an instant of ecstasy the gates of all the ways of error and glory.”
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Guilt within religion -
“‘Banish from your minds all worldly thoughts and think only of the last things, death, judgment, hell, and heaven.’”
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
Stephen is told as a boy right from wrong through the Catholic church and believes them until he grows and begins to see and feel the world or himself. He questions the rules they dictate to the boys at his Jesuit school, one of which is engaging in sexual pleasures before marriage.
Stephen is timid and shy. He doesn't talk to girls but admires them from afar; he writes Emma romantic poems. Emma is a young and beautiful girl he is attracted to but is afraid to approach. To quell his sexual urges, he falls into fornication with prostitutes. While on a religious retreat, he feels guilty about this sin after the priest expresses hell for sinners. He becomes crippled by fear.
Stephen questions the confessional: why can’t I speak directly to God himself and be rid of sin?
Stephen is afraid to confess because he believes he will go to hell for the mortal sins, as the church teaches. A mortal sin taints the soul and sends them to hell. According to Catholicism, confession absolves all mortal sins, but without it, one's soul will go to hell. After many conversations with himself, he confesses, and his soul feels new again.
The repressed guilt leaves his spirit leading him to radical spiritual changes. He wants to remain pure. His devotion to the religion gives him recognition; he is asked to join the Holy Orders but declines because it doesn’t align with his soul.
This book heavily shows the fundamental side of Catholicism: the rules. And in the end, Stephen doesn’t turn his back on God, but the religion loses him. His greatest qualm is that the rigid rules do not give him a full human experience. Beauty and love must be experienced in purity and excitement without the guilt they impose on their followers.
Afterthoughts
I love the prose; Joyce writes beautiful verses, but he also overwrites. It seemed like I was reading about his guilt throughout the entire novel. It was challenging reading this book; I had to listen to an audio version while holding the book in my hand to focus on most of the second half of this story - that’s not good. The most frustrating element was not understanding any of the characters outside of the protagonist. Characters are my favorite component of storytelling, and I felt a lack.
This book is extremely dense; I didn’t anticipate such depth when I approached it or added it to this book list. This review expresses all of my initial impressions upon the first read. I did some light research about this story which was necessary. However, this book must be read multiple times to understand the many layers Joyce is conveying.
Like Stephen, I grew up Catholic and have wrestled with similar questions and thoughts reflected in this story. I’ve had to pick the pieces of the religion that propel me for a better lifestyle and dismiss those that inhibit my life. This book was cathartic and relatable to my life for that element and the obvious one: I am a writer. Similar to Stephen I chose the road less traveled. Shaping my life to pursue this craft has many hardships; I've turned my back on certain people, jobs, and other opportunities because I need to create. The act alone can pull you away from these elements in life.
But you can't run away from it. I disagree that Stephen had to leave everything to pursue his creativity, I think that if you find a balance everything can coexist in harmony. But for the author to get his point across, it makes sense from a storytelling perspective. Also, the time period this story is written impacts his choice. I understand it can be some artist's journey, I simply don't believe it's the only path to be a creator.
Rating
3.5
*I may re-read this book and add more thoughts on this review in the future.* The more I research, and turn back to the book, I grab a deeper understanding of what Joyce is writing. I respect the piece. I encourage seasoned Joyce readers to share their thoughts below because there is plenty to discuss.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man questions with The Classics Club
What was your experience reading Stephen's guilt?
Stephen leaving behind is nation, family, and religion tells us he couldn't be an artist with them, do you agree with this? Explain your thoughts.
Share your favorite part of this book.
Please comment your answers below; feel free to add any of your thoughts about A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and about this book review!
“Thanks be to God we lived so long and did so much good."
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
