Stephen Dedalus in James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist...

Stephen Dedalus in James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets The spirit of Ireland is embodied in young Stephen Dedalus, the central character of James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Like the Dedalus of Greek myth, Stephen must grow wings so that he may fly above the tribulations of his life. As he matures, Dedalus begins to understand his position in life, and decides to rise above the turbulent Ireland of the early 1900s in a rebellion against society, a struggle against his beliefs and a struggle against his†¦show more content†¦Any opinion Stephen voiced was usually met with mixed feelings, reflective of the divided political and religious factions. Stephen felt the need to rebel: to break into a new setting-one in which he could be free to express all his thoughts. The IRB was formed in 1858 as a group of Irish intellectuals who wanted to see an Ireland independent of British rule. The IRB put their support behind Charles Stewart Parnell, a protestant landowner with very radical nationalist ideals. Parnell is a topic of discussion during a political debate Stephens family has over Christmas dinner, and is first mentioned while Stephen is at Clongowes Wood School, reminiscing about his Aunt, or Dante as he calls her - a holdover from when he was a baby and could not properly pronounce Auntie. Stephen remembers Dante admonishing Parnell; this is Stephens first introduction to politics. As Stephen recalls, Dante had two brushes in her press. The brush with the maroon velvet back was for Michael Davitt and the brush with the green velvet back was for Parnell. (20) One day Dante ripped the back off the brush that represented Parnell and denounced Parnell as a bad man. [Stephen] wondered if they were arguing at home about that. And to the young Stephen ThatShow MoreRelatedJames Joyces Alter Ego in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man929 Words   |  4 PagesJames Joyces Alter Ego in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Works Cited Missing In James Joyces A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus, a young man growing up, has many of the same traits of the young James Joyce. For example, On 1 September 1888, at the age of half-past-six, Joyce was taken by his parents to be enrolled in the finest Catholic preparatory school in Ireland, Clongowes Wood College, situatedRead MoreA Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man1038 Words   |  5 PagesJames Joyce created all of his literary pieces from his own personal experiences throughout his life and the culture he grew up in (Norris 3). In his novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce and his character, Stephen Dedalus, share a wide variety of similarities, all the way from childhood aspects, to challenges of adulthood. 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