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Name: ________________________________________
STEPHEN DEDALUS: CHRISTMAS MEMORIES (Part One)
Read the section of Part One which describes the Christmas dinner and then
respond to the following questions.
1) What is the dominant impression you get of the Dedalus household as they
gather to celebrate Christmas?
2) What is your impression of the following people:
a) Stephen’s other
b) Stephen’s father
c) Aune Dante
d) Stephen
3) Based on your reading of this section, what do you understand about the
attitudes in the Dedalus household regarding:
a) Religion
b) Politics
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4) Try to imagine that you are Stephen viewing this scene and listening to
what people are saying. How do you think that he felt during this time,
especially when he saw his father’s eyes full of tears?
5) How do you think the attitudes about politics and religion expressed in this
section will affect Stephen later in the novel?
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STEPHEN DEDALUS: THE WHITSUNTIDE PLAY (Part Two)
1) What is Stephen’s reputation at Belvedere College?
2) Describe Vincent Heron. Which of the motifs of the novel is/are seen in his
name and description?
3) What word in this passage is repeated in a way similar to “Apologise” in the
opening sequence? ____________________________________ This word reminds
Stephen of an earlier incident with Heron. In this flashback incident (pages
78-82), Stephen refuses to be untrue to his intellectual beliefs. What is the
topic of their discussion?
4) Identify the following:
a) Bertie Tallon
b) Mr. Tate
c) Lord Byron
5) Why does Stephen run off so abruptly at the end of the performance?
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6) What evidence is found in this sequence of Stephen’s growing anger?
7) How is Stephen seen as a martyr in this sequence?
8) At the end of this sequence, what earthy, unpleasant smell calms Stephen
and makes him feel connected to the real world?
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STEPHEN DEDALUS: FROM MUTTON STEW TO COMMUNION WAFER (Part
Three)
1) Stephen lists the seven deadly sins on page 106 These sins are:
2) The retreat master is _________________________________________________.
3) What is the purpose of the retreat?
4) The four last things are:
a) _____________________________________________________
b) _____________________________________________________
c) _____________________________________________________
d) _____________________________________________________
5) In recounting the story of the fall of Lucifer, the preacher quotes Lucifer’s
defiant declaration which later becomes Stephen’s motto. Lucifer says:
_______________________________________________________________________.
6) Describe the physical torments of Hell.
7) The spiritual torments of Hell include the four spiritual pains:
a) _____________________________________________________
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b) _____________________________________________________
c) _____________________________________________________
d) _____________________________________________________
8) Why would the priest want to frighten these boys like this?
9) What imagery is used to explain the theology of eternal punishment?
10)
Why is the Sermon on Hell called the “moral center of the novel?”
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STEPHEN DEDALUS: THE EPIPHANY (Part Four)
1) Why does Stephen’s mother object to his plans to attend University
College?
2) What is Stephen’s reaction to the Christian Brothers who pass him on the
wooden bridge? How does this relate to his earlier decision to reject the
priesthood?
3) What is significant about Stephen’s musings about words such as “[a] day
of dappled seaborne clouds?”
4) What is prophetic about the names that Stephen is called by the
swimmers?
5) How does the vision of the “hawklike man” represent a moment of rebirth
for Stephen?
6) What motifs of he novel are present at Stephen’s moment of epiphany?
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7) How is Stephen both Daedalus and Icarus?
8) How does the girl Stephen sees on the beach relate to important symbols in
the novel?
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STEPHEN DEDALUS: THE ARTIST (Part Five)
The following are found in Part Five of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
1) State the following definitions:
a) Plato’s definition of beauty (page 208)
b) St. Thomas Aquinas’ definition of beauty (page 207)
c) Stephen’s definition of art (page 207)
2) Why does Stephen call his definition of art “applied Aquinas”?
3) Stephen cites St. Thomas Aquinas on the three things that are needed for
beauty. What are these three things and how is each defined? (pages 212213)
a)
b)
c)
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d)
4) List and define the three forms of art that Stephen presents (page 214).
a)
b)
c)