Literature overview and key concepts

¶ … Youth: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

In James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the main character Stephen says that great art carries the qualities of Wholeness, Harmony, and Radiance. Yet Stephen is making this statement as an adolescent, one who is not yet whole nor harmonious, but one who is still developing and adapting to himself and his world. As literary art, the problem this leads to is how an adult reader can create an adolescent character honestly, a character less developed then they are. The reader then has the same challenge, to read about this character and judge them on who they are, without directing their own biases on the character. The writer and the reader can both be guilty of viewing the adolescent character either condescendingly or sentimentally. As well as this, the writer and reader either creating or reading about the adolescent character tend to be overwhelmed by the yearning for lost youth, rather than focusing on the character themselves. These are biases that impact on how effective literature with adolescent characters can be and are a danger the writer must strive to avoid. Yet, a good writer is capable of creating powerful literary works with adolescent characters and can use a number of methods to achieve the intended effect. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a good example of a novel that qualifies as literary art, with the author using various techniques to avoid the dangers associated with the adolescent character. There are three main methods used to achieve this. Firstly, that the book is written in first person and narrated by the adolescent character. Secondly, that how the narrator speaks is linked directly to his inner state of mind and thirdly, that it is an honest account of the journey of youth.

Firstly, the adolescent narrating the story is important in keeping the adult point-of-view out of the story. An adult voice looking back at youth, or a third person account would be more likely to incorporate the author's own perspective on the youth and so have the yearning for lost youth feel. For the reader also, this first person narration emerges them in the world as the youth sees it, not in the world as they see it. Reminding the reader of how the adolescent sees the world does not allow the reader to place their own biases on the understanding of the story. Instead of the story being interpreted with adult perspectives, the story is told through the eyes of the adolescent. In doing this, it is a real account of what it is like to be an adolescent and therefore maintains its integrity.

Joyce also changed how the narrator spoke, with this matched to inner changes in the youth. In the early stages of the novel, his thinking is unclear, with the short staggered sentences depicting this. In the later stages, his thinking becomes more complex as he develops, with the complex sentences representing this. This approach means that the way the adolescent thinks is as important as what he thinks. This keeps the writer in tune with the adolescent's thought processes, while also doing the same for the reader. Like the first person narration, it is a method of keeping the writer emerged in how the adolescent sees things, instead of placing their own perspectives on what the adolescent is doing.

Finally, Joyce creates an honest account of the journey of youth. This honesty is likely a product of the first person narration and changing writing style, which keeps the author in the mind of the youth. Stephen's journey through adolescence is captured with honesty, maintaining the credibility of the character. Joyce manages to avoid adding an adult perspective to the character, instead creating an adolescent character who is realistic, even down to his faults. Joyce does manage to recapture youth, but recaptures it accurately, not with either a condescending or a sentimental feel. This may also be linked to the autobiographical nature of the work, with Joyce recalling his own real life, rather than trying to relive a youth he never had.