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.
This is definitely one of the coolest aspects of the book. The transformation in how Stephen interacts with other people, and with himself, is really perfectly laid out. You can trace his thought process and what things early on caused him to want to speak out later on in the novel, for instance with Cranly. I keep trying to think of a way to create some sort of visual representation of this because that would be so neat.
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