My View on Joyce

Okay, I'll admit it... I waited until 9 pm the night before the blogs were due to start. Yes, I could use that I had a lot of other work, or I was sick this week, or basketball got in the way, but the real reason I didn't start was because I really didn't have anything to say.

Usually I'm one of the people who always has an opinion on books and speaks a lot in class, but for this book I felt differently. Although I did sympathize with Stephen once or twice, I didn't really connect with the characters. I thought it would be hard not to feel something for a character around my age, who goes to Catholic school, and was raised very Catholicly, but alas, I didn't.

Throughout the book I just felt like Joyce was trying too hard to make this something it's not. When Stephen's family has to move house to house because they lost their money, I didn't really feel bad for them. I guess you could say I'm heartless, but I was more caught up in Stephen's inner monologue. The whole book was a little too pretentious for my taste. I feel like Joyce was looking back and trying to make a great story out of his childhood, and while many regard this as one of the greatest works in literature, I felt like he was trying too hard.

Stephen often gets so caught up in his own mind that he starts to see things as symbols, and truly believes it. In class earlier this week we were talking about how Stephen saw the girl in the water, and seemed to see her as a symbol. I pointed out that I thought that was quite pretentious, and someone said that he wasn't pretentious because he wasn't trying to be something he's not, he actually believes what he sees. I think that is a very valid point. Stephen saw that girl and thought it had a deeper meaning. When he saw her he truly believed it meant something, so I cannot hold that against him.

I know this may not be a popular view, but I figure I would just put it out there

From Beginning to End

At the beginning of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Stephen doesn't participate in conversations. For example, in the Christmas dinner scene Stephen's family and friends are yelling harsh insults, he simply listens. As readers, we hear the dialogue, but we also get Stephen's perspective. Although he seems confused, which may be why he doesn't talk, but this attitude continues throughout the novel. Stephen tends to think, but not speak. When reading this novel you can tell when Stephen ages based on his thoughts. At the beginning he darts from one idea to another, almost losing the reader in the process. When Stephen ages it is easier to connect his thoughts.

Although his thoughts are easier to connect, Stephen still chooses not to participate during the birthday party scene. Stephen would rather watch from a distance than act happy like the other children. "His silent watchful manner had grown on him and he took little part in the games." pg.71.

When we near the end of the book Stephen starts to become more active in conversations. He not only listens, but talks, and talks, and talks to anyone who will listen. Eventually the novel turns into Stephen's journal entries. We know less of what he thinks, and more of what he does. The novel seems to turn into a way of Stephen telling us what he did. It becomes action based rather than thought based.