I was pleased to get to read another book written from the perspective of a child. The first few sections of Portrait are narrated through the mind and eyes of young Stephen Dedalus, and I think Joyce does a most wonderful job of presenting this. We know Stephen/Joyce is a very intelligent person, but we do not really get any of the unbelievability as we did in Ake even though Wole was supposed to be very smart. Stephen's thoughts and thought patterns are in fact very believable to the reader. We are given a glimpse into this stream of conscience regarding colors, his place on the planet and again when he is sick. All of his repetitions with words ring true to most of us probably as most of us are English majors and we know that Stephen comes to have a love for writing.
Another great thing about the first portions of Portrait is that we get to see Stephen grow and change quite rapidly. He goes from a four-year-old to a pre-teen in a matter of chapters, and we are given the opportunity to see how his love for words continues and augments. We are see him learn from interactions with others, be they family or schoolmates, and from this, we see how Stephen is developing into an older, more sophisticated young man.
Of course, we also see his personal thoughts and changing views on Catholicism in a very honest, direct light. This, however, is worthy of an entire blog entry of its own.
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I agree with you on how Joyce excellent portrayed Stephen as a child in this novel. I loved the scene where Stephen wonders about the name of God in different languages and how God knows that when he is called Dieu a French person is praying. By using this example, Joyce shows how Stephen is both childlike and a little precocious at the same time. Only a child would automatically assume that God's name is really God and not anything else. At the same time, not many children would dwell so deeply on the concept of God.
ReplyDeleteI agree as well that Stephen is portrayed in a realistic view of a child, his thought processes are wonderful. The language grows up with Stephen and shows just how vast Joyce's thinking of words go. It is a great example for English majors to show depth in papers. Many are torn with Joyce's works but he does make it known there is a matter of respect to be given to his usage of words. The art of incorporating words beautifully in his prayer to God and thinking how it cross references to those in other languages. Joyce in my opinion processes things to get the beauty of what a reader may think simplistic and menial.
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