A Portrait of the Artist
as a Young Man
By James Joyce
Chapter 2 Presentation
Period 2
Seth Abrams, Kristin Tincup,
Bradley Van Winkle, Justin Grant,
Colin Burnett, Amanda Lowery,
Sawyer Kilgore
Summary - Chapter 2, Scene 1
The second chapter starts with Stephen spending time
at his home with his family. During the first part of
summer, Stephen began to spend time with his Uncle
Charles. They went on daily walks and spent time with
Mike Flynn who trained Stephen to be a runner. Uncle
Charles also took the boy to the chapel even though
Stephen didn’t share his view on religion. Stephen
heard about politics on his walks with his uncle and
began to read The Count of Monte Cristo. Stephen
began to dream about being the hero in the story and
reenact battles with his new friend Aubrey Mills. Mr.
Dedalus began to have serious financial troubles
which meant the family had to move and Stephen had
to attend Belvedere College.
Summary - Chapter 2, Scene 2
About two and a half years later, Stephen is about to go on
stage when he is confronted by two of his classmates.
Stephen remembers how insecure he felt his first year at
Belvedere College when a teacher accused him of writing
hearsay. Afterwards, his classmates instigate a fight over
favorite writers. The memory is still vivid to Stephen but he
feels no malice towards the boys because he's a girls
admiration for him outweighs the boy’s taunts. Stephen
travels with his father to the auction that will sell the
remainder of Mr. Dedalus’ property. Stephen realizes his
father is out of touch with the world and that he too had
fantasies about women as a young man. At a pub, Stephen
is embarrassed by his father’s actions and slowly resigns
himself to the fact “his childhood was dead or lost and with
it his soul.”
Summary - Chapter 2, Scene 3
Stephen wins money from an essay he wrote. He
goes on a lavish spending spree. After the
money is all gone, Stephen realizes his actions
were foolish and dissociates himself from his
family. Stephen explores the streets at night
and has his first sexual experience with a
prostitute.
Growth and maturation from
chapter one to chapter two
Now that it is summer and Stephen has
completed another year of school, Stephen
is now more “mature.” It is apparent that
he believes he has much more personal
freedom, and he is open to trying many
more things, and he does so. In this chapter,
Stephen experiments with prostitutes and
prostitutes tend to be thought of something
older gentleman would use as opposed to
younger teenagers.
Growth and maturation from
chapter one to chapter two
continued
Also, Stephen still seems to get caught up in
the smallest things. For example, when
Stephen hears the band practicing in the
theatre, he becomes very interested and
stops what he is doing. We are reminded of
Stephen’s fascination with sounds and the
senses in general.
Growth and maturation from
chapter one to chapter two
continued
In general, Stephen does many things
throughout chapter two that most people
would think older people would do;
however, he conducts himself in a foolish
manner, and he is only doing these things
out of curiosity. He has become older, but
he has not necessarily “matured.”
Faith and Doubt in God and
Catholicism
•Stephen’s family is religious however, while
Stephen respects their beliefs he doesn’t share
their beliefs.
•“Stephen knelt at his side respecting, though he
did not share, his piety” (72).
•“In any case Byron was a heretic and immoral
too” (90).
•“He wondered why he bore no malice now to
those who had tormented them” (91).
Faith and Doubt in God and
Catholicism continued
•“he had felt that some power was divesting him of
that suddenwoven anger…” (91).
•His father and masters urged Stephen to be a
good Catholic: “These voices had now come to
be hollow-sounding in his ears” (92).
•“His prayer, addressed neither to God nor saint…”
(96).
Desire to Escape
• Stephen’s family has financial problems and he starts to isolate
himself from them.
• Stephen thinks that he is different from other kids his age and has
trouble relating to them and tries to escape to a different reality
through the book The Count of Monte Cristo with Aubrey Mills, a
friend.
• Stephen is disconnected from the world and everyone else. “While
he was still repeating the Confiteor amid the indulgent laughter of his
hearers and while the scenes of that malignant episode were still
passing sharply and swiftly before his mind he wondered why he bore
no malice now to those who had tormented him” (91). Stephen
doesn’t concern himself with other people, just what he is currently
interested in.
• Stephen doesn’t feel like a part of his own family.
Relationship with his family and
community
•
•
•
Stephen continues to feel this disconnect
between his father and himself, especially when
his father takes him to Cork to visit all his old
friends
Heron and his schoolmates make fun of him and
tease him for not being rebellious
After his schooling, he becomes detached from
his mother, sister, and brother; however, he
doesn't even make an effort to reconnect with
him after winning the money from the essay
contest
Relationship with his family and
community continued
•
•
Stephen also feels a disconnect with his
community and outside surroundings. For one,
he disregards his community's repulsion towards
heresy; the students, and teacher, at his new
Jesuit school are horrified when his essay
contained "heresy" in it and when Stephen's
favorite poet was a heretic.
Additionally, he feels no attachment to his
family's ongoing political talk, as he listens but
does not understand.
Perceptions of love
•All of Stephen’s knowledge of “love” comes from his
interpretation of The Count of Monte Cristo
•Stephen longs to find his own Mercedes, who he can later
reject
•This leads to the assumption that Stephen is confusing
love with power
•“He wanted to sin with another of his kind, to force another
being to sin with him and to exult her in sin.” (108)
•His experience with the prostitute at the end show that the
opposite actually occurs as he is weak to her, “He closed
his eyes, surrendering himself to her, body and mind…”
Sensory descriptions
•Auditory: “The sentiment of the opening bars, their languor
and supple movement, evoked the incommunicable
emotion which had been the cause of all his day’s
unrest…” (84)
•Visual: Use of the color yellow as a descriptor, “…lay
bobbing on the surface of the water in a thick yellow
scum…” “The yellow gasflames arose before his
troubled vision…” (108)
•Smell: “That is horse piss and rotted straw, he thought. It
is a good odor to breathe. It will calm my heart. My
heart is quite calm now.” (95)
Motifs and Symbols
● The count of Monte Cristo represents Stephens desire to escape
because he imagines himself as the hero and can identify himself
with the characteristics of the main character.
● Confiteor shows Stephen’s mixed feelings towards religion. He is
unsure of where he stands towards God yet when he is in a
situation he can control he repeats the Confiteor to himself which
calms him down.
● Darkness represents hopelessness and Stephen’s feelings of being
powerless and weak.
● “The spittle in his throat grew bitter and foul to swallow and the
feign sickness climbed to his brain so that for a moment he closed
his eyes and walked on in the darkness.”
Motifs and Symbols continued
● The different phases of light represent instability in Stephen’s life.
Nothing seems to be constant: the downwards spiral of Stephen’s
emotion, the family having to move, and the change from
Clongowes to Belvedere
● Heat and fire represent Stephen’s new found lust towards women.
“The yellow gasflames arose before his troubles vision against the
vapoury sky, burning as if before the alter.
● Poetry or Secular songs shows Stephens state of mind at that time.
“Of climbing heaven and gazing on the earth, wandering
companionless…?”
● This is when Stephen realizes that his childhood was lost and
thinks about the human ineffectualness.
Motifs and Symbols continued
● Water is used to characterize many things such as
temptation and Stephen’s changing feeling.
● Some of the seven deadly sins are recurring in this
chapter such as gluttony, lust, and sloth. Stephen
immediately spends all the money he received as a prize.
He doesn’t keep it or help himself in any way but spends it
on things that he doesn’t absolutely need such as
expensive chocolate and books. Stephens feels lust
towards the prostitute, Mercedes, and E. C. Stephen
doesn’t really believe in god and is unsure of his feeling
towards God which is considered sloth.
Motifs and Symbols continued
● Stephen compares himself to the moon.
Stephen repeats the lines of Shelley’s
fragment “To the Moon.” The Moon
represents loneliness or being on the
outside. The moon just goes around earth
but never affects the earth.
Stephen’s epiphany
•Occurs after Stephen receives and spends the
money from the contest
•After squandering the money, he realizes that it
had no actual effect on his or his families life.
•Joyce’s use of this epiphany brings to mind the
question of the usefulness of magnanimous
spending and what actually has an impact on
life.
Moment of stasis
• Before the end of the chapter Stephen is very upset and
confused with many different feelings.
• Stephen desires to sin with someone. “He wanted to sin with
another of his kind, to force another being to sin with him and to
exult with her sin”(108). Stephen finds a girl and goes back to
her house with her.
• In her room she undresses and tells Stephen to kiss her. Even
though Stephen wants to he has lost control of himself. “With a
sudden movement she bowed his head and joined her lips to
his and he read the meaning of her movements in her frank
uplifted eyes”(109).
Moment of Stasis continued
● Stephen goes into a trance like state, “ He
closed his eyes, surrendering himself to her,
body and mind, conscious of nothing in the
world but the dark pressure of her softly parting
lips”(109). Stephens forgets everything that
has happened and calms down.
Research and links to the text
The Count of Monte Cristo
Tale of young sailor Edmond Dantes, who is arrested for treason
at the feast before his marriage. Though innocent, he is
imprisoned in the Chateau d’If, where he meets a fellow
prisoner Abbe Faria, who tells him of a buried treasure on an
uninhabited island called Monte Cristo. After the death of
Faria, Edmond switches places with the body and is thrown
into the sea, escaping to the island of Monte Cristo. Finding
the treasure and becoming a rich man, Edmond dedicates
himself to getting revenge on those who wronged him, and
disguises himself as a figure known as the “Count of Monte
Cristo”. In the end, Edmond succeeds in his revenge and sails
away with the satisfaction of his enemies’ defeat.
The Counte of Monte Cristo
Research and links to the text
continued
The Count of Monte Cristo
Most of Stephen’s daydreams involve this
story. Edmond is a tall, dark, mysterious
hero, who’s in love with Mercedes, a
beautiful, mysterious woman. Stephen longs
for a Mercedes of his own.
Research and links to the text
continued
Cardinal Newman
•
•
•
When asked by Heron, Stephen refers to
Cardinal Newman as his favorite writer
Newman helped to found the Catholic University
of Ireland
He was a leader in the Oxford Movement, and
left the Church of England to become a part of
the Roman Catholic Church
Cardinal Newman
Research and links to the text
continued
Lord Byron
● The poet the boys all make fun of Stephen for admiring.
The others claim Byron wrote only for the uneducated
(ironically).
● One of the most famous English romantics of all time. He
was very handsome, had many love affairs, and was
exiled, by choice.
● Byron was known to be very self-conscious, especially
about his club foot, and the limp it caused him to have.
Had to learn how to deal with being made fun of, like
Stephen.
● He attended Trinity College in Cambridge, after being
raised by a single mother with very little money.
Research and links to the text
continued
Lord Byron
● At Trinity College he met a “protégé”, John Eddleston, and
based homoerotic poems in a collection called Thyrza, a
Pure Love on the affair. Some believe this was the cause
of Byron’s forceful removal from England while many
others claim that he left solely by choice and the
homophobic attitudes of early 19th century British society
had little to no involvement in his self-motivated exile.
● In late winter of 1824, he became very sick and doctors
applied leeches to his temples, he died shortly after the
primitive treatment and had his heart buried in
Missolonghi, Greece, and the rest of his body in England.
Lord Byron
Research and links to the text
continued
Percy Bysshe Shelley
● A friend of Lord Byron, born in Sussex, England.
● Eldest of 6 children, set to inherit a large estate
and high-up seat in British Parliament.
● Out of Oxford University, Shelley published his
first novel Zastrozzi, where he expressed his
atheistic views, and received much criticism for it.
Research and links to the text
continued
Percy Bysshe Shelley
● A few of the Shelley siblings, including Percy,
went to meet Lord Byron at Lake Geneva in
Switzerland. Percy Shelley claimed that his poetry
output was much stronger and he became a
much more prolific writer after he talked with
Byron for a few weeks. And, just as Byron was a
major inspiration for Shelley, Shelley became a
major inspiration for the future’s most notable
writers including Karl Marx and Henry David
Thoreau.
Research and links to the text
continued
Alfred Lord Tennyson - Victorian
Among the most famous of English poets, Lord Tennyson
was considered to be the chief representative of
Victorian age poetry. He had a lifelong fear of mental
illness, for several members of his family had mild
forms of epilepsy, which was then thought to be a
shameful disease. He excelled in penning short sayings
and phrases, many of which are still around today.
Research and links to the text
continued
The Confiteor
•The Confiteor, or Confession, is said during the Catholic Mass
as an act of ritual repentance of sin (begging forgiveness for
sins).
•Heron and Wallis attempt to force Stephen to admit he is no
longer a saint.
•Stephen recites the Confiteor sarcastically to Heron as a way of
submitting to him and escaping the situation.
•Interesting that he used a religious verse to escape after
questioning God.
•He also recites it after being questioned about heresy.
Discussion Questions
● Why was Stephen upset when his
father took him to Cork?
Discussion Questions
● What is the role of money in
Stephen’s growth during this
chapter?
Discussion Questions
● For what reasons does Stephen
defend the merits of Lord Byron?
Discussion Questions
● What is the significance of Heron
repeating the word “admit”?
Discussion Questions
● What role does the Confiteor
play in Stephen’s development?
Discussion Questions
● What caused the isolation
between Stephen and his family?
Discussion Questions
Discussion Questions
● What is the correlation between
Stephen’s maturity and his
religious outlook?
Discussion Questions
● For what reasons does Stephen
feel lust?
Discussion Questions
● How does Stephen relate to
Edmond Dantes from The Count
of Monte Cristo?
Discussion Questions
● How does Joyce use stream of
consciousness to represent how
the human mind works?
Bibliography
"The Count of Monte Cristo." By Alexandre Dumas Pere. Search EText, Read Online, Study, Discuss.
N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2013.
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2013.
"Joyce - Works: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man." Joyce - Works: A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2013.
"Opinionated Thoughts of a Cubicle Dweller." My Summary of The Count of Monte Cristo: An
Allegory. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2013.
"PeopleOfAr." PeopleOfAr. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2013.
"Saint Louis Catholic." : Blessed Cardinal Newman on the Church's Resistance of the Contraception
Mandate. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2013.