Sign Up Now
Get instant access to over 1 million+ study documents
OR
Already registered? click here to login
By creating your account, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and student honor code.
Symbolism in "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man"
In "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," James Joyce utilizes symbolism to help readers understand Stephen's character development. From a confused young boy to a confident man, Stephen transforms and certain symbols allow us to see this transition to occur. Joyce also uses symbolism to help readers comprehend the setting I which Stephen lives, which influences many of his choices. Symbols allow us to identify with the character and grasp his world.
The kiss early in the novel symbolizes Stephen's youth. When his schoolmates ask him if he kisses his mother goodnight, he realizes something different between them. Stephen desires to be esteemed in the schoolyard primarily because of experiences like this. The question troubles him and he can feel "his whole body hot and confused" (Joyce 14) because...
He did not know if it was acceptable to kiss one's mother and he did not know how to satisfy his schoolmates with any answer. The kiss represents how Stephen still has much growing up to do.
Wings are a powerful symbol in the story because they his name comes from Deadulas, the man who made a pair of wings, primarily from wax. When Stephen watches the water, he sees a "winged form flying above the waves" (169) and this prompts him to think of Deadulas. He wonders if he is witnessing a kind of prophecy of the "end he has been born to serve and had been following through the mists of childhood and boyhood, a symbol of the artist forging anew in his workshop out of the sluggish matter of the earth a new soaring impalpable imperishable being" (169). Here we see how Stephen is growing and maturing because he sees his life in this…
Symbolism in Portrait of the Artist If we were to concern ourselves strictly with plot, we might well say of James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man that there is no there. Not a great deal actually happens in this essentially autobiographical tale of Stephen Dedalus, and the narrative follows no clear single trajectory of cause and effect. Rather, in one of the first important uses of
In this scene, Stephen is experiencing a conflict because he wants to establish a schoolyard presence but he does not know exactly what to do or what to say. He struggles to find an answer - a correct answer. We read that his body "feels hot and confused" (14) simply because he cannot answer the question. In this scene, we see how he is separating himself from others. Stephen
Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor. Specifically, it will focus on the use of comedy/humor, foreshadowing, and irony in the work. Flannery O'Connor is one of the South's most well-known writers, and nearly all of her works, including this short story, take place in Southern locales. Her work embodies the Southern lifestyle, which includes close family ties, attention to family roots, and a more laid-back and
Baroque Painters The Techniques of Five Baroque Painters The Baroque era painters, different as they were in terms of personal style, approach, and technique, had in common the ability to imbue their works with a certain dramatic quality much in demand in the era. The Baroque had followed on the heels of the High Renaissance with its humanism and emerging scientifically revolutionary theses. The Protestant Reformation had begun and religious and political
Religious Image as Depicted by Three Different Artists: The Virgin Mary in Renaissance art Portraits of the Virgin and Christ Child began to proliferate in Florence during the Italian Renaissance. There was "a new demand for devotional images on a domestic scale" (Botticelli, Virgin and Child with an Angel). While epic religious portraits remained in vogue in some quarters, in others a new vision came to the forefront that stressed the
Clinical Psychology Dissertation - Dream Content as a Therapeutic Approach: Ego Gratification vs. Repressed Feelings An Abstract of a Dissertation Dream Content as a Therapeutic Approach: Ego Gratification vs. Repressed Feelings This study sets out to determine how dreams can be used in a therapeutic environment to discuss feelings from a dream, and how the therapist should engage the patient to discuss them to reveal the relevance of those feelings, in their present,