A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man

One of the most important symbols in the novel
was one of the characters herself; Emma. She is never really a main character, but is present from the beginning to the end and often on Stephen's mind. She is a symbol of purity and perfection; everything Stephen is not. Stephen sees Emma as an angelic creature, free of all sin and impurity. For much of the novel, Stephen places Emma up on this untouchable pedestal. She is above sin, above sex, and above him. It is not until chapter 5 that Stephen begins to rationalize his image of Emma. It first begins with the scene when he picks a louse off his neck, but crystallizes once he has a conversation with her at the university. Through talking with her, Stephen realizes that she is an ordinary individual, not the saint he imagined her as. She was still special to him, but no longer was above him. This transformation of Stephen's opinion regarding Emma symbolizes his struggle with religion. His religious extremism, from prostitutes to perfect piety, is portrayed by his realization Emma is not an angelic being. Stephen seeing her as an ordinary individual, instead of placing her on the pedestal is just like how he eventually sees a more middle of the road path with religion. He knows he does not want to live in continuous sin, but at the same time the life of perfect piety is no for him. He searches to find a balance with his religious life he finds it, just as he sees Emma for who she really is.


"Hell is a strait and dark and foul smelling prison, an abode of demons and lost souls, filled with fire and smoke. [...] There, by reason of the great number of the damned, the prisoners are heaped together in their awful prison, the walls of which are said to be four thousand miles thick: and the damned are so utterly bound and helpless [...] They lie in exterior darkness. For, remember, the fire of hell gives forth no light. [...] It is a never ending storm of darkness, dark flames and dark smoke of burning brimstone, amid which the bodies are heaped one upon another without even a glimpse of air. [...] The horror of this strait and dark prison is increased by its awful stench. All the filth of the world, all the offal and scum of the world, we are told, shall run there as to a vast reeking sewer when the terrible conflagration of the last day of purged the world. The brimstone too which burns there in such prodigious quantity fills all hell with its intolerable stench; and the bodies of the damned themselves exhale such a pestilential odour that as Saint Bonaventure says, one of them alone would suffice to infect the whole world." (128-129)

This extensive quote is only a small part of Father Arnall's powerful speech on hell and death. I choose this quote because this whole passage describing Father Arnall's description of hell is one of the most descriptive pieces of writing I have ever read. I know Stephen was greatly influenced by the speech, and I could relate to his reasons why. Nearly all the senses were touched in the description. It was difficult to even fathom the horror and terror the Stephen was being exposed to. Joyce's brilliance was extremely apparent in the way he was able to make his words touch the reader's senses. The exaggeration used was vastly effective in making the reader feel exactly what Stephen was feeling. The analogies Joyce uses to describe the smell and other senses are truly unbelievable. The descriptions drove the point home in a way that was nothing short of genius. I don't blame Stephen for being scared into confession. There is nothing worse that I can think of in this world than the horror of how Father Arnall's hell sounds. Hell is always described as a wretched place, but no description can come close to this one. Reading it was quite an experience.


When I read Invisible Man, I thought that was the most complex novel of the year. Well, there is a new novel that can claim that title now. Like Invisible Man, many messages and hidden meanings can be discovered by close reading of Portrait. I have never read a stream of consciousness in a novel of this length and complexity. I have mixed feelings towards it. At times, it was so confusing and complex that it seemed to in-depth. I almost felt as if I was reading Hawthorne; it was like I know Joyce was trying to say something, but felt that I had to wade through paragraphs to figure out what it meant. I also had trouble deriving what everything was supposed to mean on my own. Once we discussed things, they made sense and I could see what the symbols meant and were supposed to represent. On the flip side though, the novel contained some of the most descriptive passages I have ever read. The ability for Joyce to make me feel what he felt was truly awe inspiring. It was great to read Joyce's recount of his own experience. He was able to superbly describe what he had felt. The detail of Stephen's life, which is really Joyce's life retold, shows the excellent use of stream of consciousness. Overall, I enjoyed the novel because of the writing ability of Joyce. There may have been complex parts, but the insight Joyce gives into Stephen's mind made for a fantastic novel.