Filtered Water
James Joyce's autobiographical novel, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, is a multi-layered story. The author uses many techniques to indicate his surroundings, his attitudes, his maturity and his development. From styles of writing reminiscent of his infancy to youthful diatribes on the validity of the priesthood, Joyce takes us through his youth and his changing mindset. Furthermore, this intricate novel can be read from many different perspectives simultaneously. These perspectives include religious rebellion, sexual confusion, artistic freedom, political conviction, and family influence. It is a maze of vivid images and lucid dreams that define and describe Joyce's early years. It is my opinion that his water imagery most effectively expresses the complexity of Joyce's youthful composition
One of the most intense water images was the first one. The water is dark and dirty and cold. Another student, Welles, whose name is suggestive of water, throws Stephen into a cesspool. "The cold slime of the ditch covered...
. . " 1 as he struggled to pull himself out of the disgusting pit. He will recall this experience, many times throughout the novel. He remembers very clearly both the discomfort and the humiliation. "How cold and slimy the water had been," 2 he remembers. The water was dark and it was impossible to see below. Stephen had been terrified that one of the boys said that a rat was seen jumping out of the cesspool. Other references to water throughout Stephen's schooling are dungy and dismal such as the sound of dirty water running down a drain, the filthy hole of the bogwater, or the dirty water that went down the hole and had made a sound like the word "suck," only louder.
Just like the pit, Stephen's psyche was deep and dark. He was just
learning about himself and how he fit into the world. He was discovering the
power of
human sexuality and his fears about his own sexuality in the confines of a Jesuit school teaching that such impure thoughts would lead to eternal suffering. He was also confronting the essence of his spiritual beliefs and apparent hypocrisy within the priesthood. He was meeting head-on the reality of his religious beliefs at boarding school. 3
Just as the Welles had forced him into the water, leaving home had forced him to jump into his inner self. It was cold and scary, but Stephen made it out of the pit without hurting himself. The dark water was not life threatening.
When Stephen's period of religious piety is over, the image of water takes on a different meaning. Although it is flattering when the director of studies at Belvedere…
