Closing Thoughts on Portrait

Women have been a central part of the book since the start. With Stephen’s attraction to his neighbor, to meeting Emma, to the Virgin Mary as well as his own mother, women have played a key role in shaping Stephen’s path in the book. But what is interesting is the fact that in the end of Chapter 5, we see an end to the influences that women have on Stephen. He no longer cares about his heartbroken mother’s feelings, the Virgin Mary no longer guides him (in fact he has pretty much lost faith in religion), he is no longer seduced by the prostitutes, and he is willing to leave Emma (the same girl who he spent so much time contemplating about and writing poems about). It is almost as if Stephen starts a new life by the end of Portrait.

I would also like to address the change in narrative style in Portrait. I found the last section that we had to read quite interesting in terms of structure: Stephen’s first person diary entries. I’m glad that wasn’t the format of the entire book, because I would have truly been bored to hell and by brains would have boiled. In his entries, Stephen is a lot more liberal, addressing grave issues such as the encounter with Emma and Cranly as minute and almost insignificant. One thing these entries do reaffirm, however, is the fact that Stephen is still trying to find his voice, something which we have seen him do throughout the novel.

To the good part now-- I’ll be quite frank. I haven’t enjoyed our first novel. At all. This is the primary reason that I have been relatively silent in class discussions as well as on my blog. I don’t have a disgust for the book but I simply didn’t enjoy it. That doesn’t mean this book is bad, but it just isn’t my style. I prefer books where there is a mystery, more specifically, where the story is heavily plot based (i.e. I can’t stop reading it, because I want to find out what’s going to happen next). And until I get that feeling in a book, I just don’t like it. What’s interesting is that my life has many parallels to that of Stephen’s, especially the early childhood phase. Yet, the slow pace of the book and the sudden upbeats were not enough to stir me up. I look forward to Catcher in the Rye because I’ve heard a lot about the book, but never actually read it.

Friday, January 30th

Does Coming-of-Age fit as a concept......

When do you come of age? Coming of age is a very diluted concept in that one can never really understand it. Life comes across many paths and to fit into one particular one, that just never happens. If we take Stephen, his journey in the book is a complete rollercoaster (although that implies that it ends where it begins, which is false). He begins as a shrugged kid, unable to fit into society. But when Stephen goes to the Rector, his life changes completely. Although the kids don’t cheer for him exactly, he still recognizes that he has done something which none of the other children wouldn’t have ever dreamt of doing, which makes him think that he is not only different but also above the rest of the children. He feels he is superior. And while he stands full of pride, the music dims at the end of chapter 1, the audience shrugging at Stephen’s “achievement”. Although his superiority complex resides over the rest of the book, his actions vastly differ. In Chapter 2, we see him indulging in not so good acts and continuing doing so into Chapter 3. Towards the middle of Chapter 3, however, due to the priest's’ sermon, he realizes what a grave mistake he has committed. What is interesting however, is that we see a completely changed man in a relatively short time (while the time isn’t specified, we can easily estimate that it hasn't been that long). Does this all of sudden change mean that Stephen has come of age, or that he has improved for the better? Most certainly not. While he has changed himself, that change still reflects his previous personality. Interestingly enough, women still drive the future of his life. He still thinks of how the women will be saying their dirty secrets and he will get to hear them. He keeps watching a woman (albeit not in a necessary “bad” way, but still)... He still writes a poem for Emma and denies the opportunity of becoming a priest, a job that his parents basically paid a lot of money for him to do.

So, what does all this mean? This means that even almost towards the end of the book, Stephen is still coming of age, and that he will likely continue to do so (in the fictional world of Stephen Dedalus) well after the book (unless he dies :D). But the best example would probably be me, because I kind of know myself the best. I wouldn’t say that I have ever “come of age”, but I have definitely grown and adapted. Having lived in three different continents and each for a significant part of my life, I have learned much about cultures and people. The central part of my childhood was spent in France, which also happen to be some of the worst years of my life. I can relate to Stephen’s experience in Chapter 1 because that was me for four years. I was unable to play with the others. Due to that, similar things occurred in 5th and 6th grade in the U.S (everybody already knew each other, so I wasn’t able to fit in). 6 years of private life really change me significantly. I became more open and more adjusting to the people around me. This wasn’t a OMG I have just come of age, YEEEES. No. It was a gradual change. Similarly, I have had multiple gradual changes throughout my life. I am a completely different person than what I was when I was a subbie (ok, I am adding this about 2 hours after I have written this blogpost. I’m not COMPLETELY diffrent, but I am significantly different to say that I am a better [and more knowledgeable] person). In a few months, I will most likely be in college and that will be a different experience than one I have ever been in. By the end of college, I will probably be a much different guy than what I am now. What I’m trying to get at is the fact that there is no passage or chapter that we can point to and say that AH HA, look, this is where Stephen has come of age. Same thing with LITERALLY every book. Humans change as time goes by.    

Wednesday, January 28th