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FULL TITLE A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

AUTHOR James Joyce

TYPE OF WORK Novel

GENRE Bildungsroman, autobiographical novel

LANGUAGE English

TIME AND PLACE WRITTEN 19071915; Trieste, Dublin, Zurich

DATE OF FIRST PUBLICATION 1916

PUBLISHER B. W. Huebsch, New York

NARRATOR The narrator is anonymous, and speaks with the same voice and tone that

Stephen might.

POINT OF VIEW Although most ofA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is in the third

person, the point of view is Stephen's: as Stephen develops as a person, the language and

perspective of the narration develop with him. We see everything in the manner in which he

thinks and feels it. At the very end of the novel, there is a brief section in which the story istold through Stephen's diary entries. This section is in the first person.

TONE The tone is generally serious and introspective, especially during Stephen's several

heartfelt epiphanies.

TENSE Past

SETTING (T IME) 18821903

SETTING (PLACE) Primarily Dublin and the surrounding area

PROTAGONIST Stephen Dedalus

MAJOR CONFLI CT Stephen struggles to decide whether he should be loyal to his family,

his church, his nation, or his vocation as an artist.

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RISING ACTION Stephen's encounters with prostitutes; his emotional reaction to Father

Arnall's hellfire sermons; his temporary devotion to religious life; his realization that he must

confront the decision of whether to center his life around religion or art

CLIMAX Stephen's decision in Chapter 4 to reject the religious life in favor of the life of an

artist

FALLI NG ACTI ON Stephen's enrollment in University College, where he gradually forms

his aesthetic theory; Stephen's distancing of himself from his family, church, and nation

THEMES The development of individual consciousness; the pitfalls of religious extremism;

the role of the artist; the need for Irish autonomy

MOTIFS Music; flight; prayers, secular songs, and Latin phrases

SYMBOLS Green and maroon; Emma; the girl on the beach

FORESHADOWI NG Stephen's heartfelt emotional and aesthetic experiences foreshadow

his ultimate acceptance of the life of an artist. Additionally, Joyce often refers to Stephen's

vague sense, even very early in his life, that a great destiny awaits him.

CHARACTERS * Stephen Dedalus; Simon Dedalus; Mary Dedalus; The Dedalus Children; Emma

Clery; Mr. John Casey; Charles Stewart Parnell; Dante (Mrs. Riordan); Uncle Charles; Eileen Vance;

Father Conmee; Father Dolan; Wells; Athy; Brother Michael; Fleming; Father Arnall; Aubrey Mills;

Vincent Heron; Boland and Nash; Cranly; Davin; McCann; Temple; Dean of Studies; Johnny

Cashman