Portrait Post

James Joyce has captured the cumulative signifigance of an individual's life in his novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Stephen--the protagonist--has always felt that he is "intended for greatness". However, throughout this novel there is no singular moment of evident triumph. Rather, each chapter ends in epiphany: complete unto itself. As a work, the novel details the developement of a conciousness, not a plot. It is interesting, and difficult, to examine because the novel must be viewed asa a whole. It is not a before and an after, but only a before--as it is set within an artist's youth. In which case, would Joyce agree that it is in our youth that our character is formed? That those who knew us as children know us best? Youth is so often discarded as a prelude to a story. Joyce has declared youth as the story itself: singularly significant.