Development of an Artist in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man tells the story of Stephen Dedalus, a boy growing up in Ireland at the end of the nineteenth century, as he gradually decides to cast off all his social, familial, and religious constraints to live a life devoted to the art of writing. Thus Stephen develops, as Gerald Doherty states, from “finite to infinite, creature to creator, earthly to heavenly (or hellish) domains”. Stephen’s maturity comes through his bitter experiences of life; his rebellion is directed against all constituted authority in different forms: family, school, custom, race etc. In his early age, he fears the authority in the domestic atmosphere. “He hid under the table.” The only way to escape punishment is to submit or to “apologize”. He finds the “ conscience of [his] race” as corrupt and brutal. He also finds the social customs rigid and ready-made which he must conform. In his school he is “caught ...