Postmodern Eyes

Stephen has very little interaction with girls in this coming of age book. One of the most memorable interactions was with E.C. in chapter 2 at the party. It begins with Stephen being his usual antisocial self, hidden in a corner mysteriously watching the party go forth. Naturally, Stephen feels too sophisticated to take a social role in the party however a girl catches his eye, E.C. They exit the party and take a train ride together where they converse during the entire train ride. Stephen feels attracted to E.C.’s black stockings. He wonders if E.C. wants him to touch or kiss her. I think this shows the more social side of Stephen. As we see later on in chapter 5, Stephen doesn’t converse at all with the bird girl and instead just stares at her. At least in chapter 2, he has more normal social skills. Another important interaction with girls for Stephen would be in chapter 2 when Stephen encounters the prostitute. Stephen seems a little reluctant and hesitant at first but eventu...

In the beginning of James Joyce’s coming of age novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce introduces us to the main character, a young boy named Stephen. Throughout the first two chapters, Joyce gives us chronological information about him ranging from his very early life to his teen years. James Joyce begins A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man with a small and relatively incoherent section about Stephen’s very early life. Joyce carefully constructs this first section with rambling incoherent thoughts from Stephen. Knowing that this is a coming of age book, one can clearly understand the first section is part of Stephen’s very early life by the type of language used. For example, Joyce writes a lot of small factual thoughts that lead from one fact to another with very simple child-like connections. Joyce also suggests Stephen’s young selfish immaturity through restating facts in terms of possession, “He sang that song. That was his song.” (page 3). Restating facts i...