Study Questions on Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

1. The following are a few important background items that I recommend you look into as
you begin your study of this novel. Key terms: Bildungsroman and Kunstlerroman
(check a handbook of literary terms); allusions: Prometheus, Daedalus, and Icarus (see
a handbook of Classical mythology); St. Stephen, Epiphany (history and liturgy of the
early Christian Church); Charles Stuart Parnell and Michael Davitt (Irish history).

2. “Once upon a time,” the novel begins, “and a very good time it was.” What mood and
outlook are suggested by this opening? How is it developed in the little story of the moocow
and the “nicens little boy named baby tuckoo”? How does “he,” the child Stephen, respond to
the story and to the song (“Lily Dale”) sung to him by his father? What is “the green wothe”?
What is implied in the child’s contrasting views of his father and mother?

3. At Clongowes Wood School, how is Stephen set apart from the other boys? How are his
responses to his surroundings different from theirs? What is suggested about his sense of his
own identity (present and future) by the list he writes inside the flyleaf of his geography book?

4. What is the effect upon Stephen of the scene of the Christmas dinner at home? What
elements in the scene make the strongest impression on him?

5. Sights, sounds, smells, tastes, the various sensations of touch (pleasure, pain)—the first
chapter of the novel puts a great deal of emphasis on young Stephen’s sensory responses to
his world at home and at school. At the same time, Stephen is fascinated by certain words
(e.g., “suck,” “kiss,” “wine,” “pock”), by both their sound and what they refer to in the real world.
What function does language have for him here? How is language like actual sensory
experience, and how is it different? How does Stephen use language to win a victory at school
over Father Dolan?

6. The first chapter contains many references to water—bedwetting, the slimy water in a ditch,
the sound of water draining out of a basin, bathwater, and the comparison of the sound of
cricket bats with “drops of water in a fountain falling softly in the brimming bowl.” What is
suggested by these water images? Other image patterns to consider: hands (Eileen’s, Mr.

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Gleeson’s, Fleming’s, Father Dolan’s, the prefect’s, Christ’s, Stephen’s); colors (red, green,
white); eyes; and birds. Are there other recurrent images that you have noticed?

7. In Ch. II, how is Stephen’s sense of himself as set apart further developed by his interaction
with the adult world beyond the school and by his reading, especially Dumas’ The Count of
Monte Cristo with its romantic hero, Edmond Dantes, and heroine, Mercedes? What sort of
ideal does Stephen envision for his own future? How is this ideal undermined by his
experiences in the real world?

8. What does Stephen learn afterward about his apparent victory over Father Dolan back at
Clongowes? How does the first paragraph of Ch. III comment implicitly on the closing
paragraphs of Ch. II?

9. What specific effects do the sermons at the retreat have on Stephen? What uses of
language do you find in the sermon? What images from earlier in the novel reappear here?
Describe and account for the impact upon Stephen of the descriptions of hell. What is Lucifer’s
sin said to be? Compare the ideal of the Virgin Mary with the ideal represented earlier by the
heroine Mercedes. Try to account for Stephen’s feelings after his confession.

10. Compare the tone and atmosphere of the final two pages of Ch. III with the opening
paragraphs of Ch. IV. How do the latter implicitly comment on the former? How does Stephen’s
sensory experience here compare with that emphasized in Chapter I or at the end of Ch. II?

11. Why, despite his many priest-like attributes, does Stephen ultimately decide against
accepting the priesthood as a vocation? What does he admire about the priests he has known?
In what ways is he critical of them? How are both attitudes conveyed during his interview with
the director in Ch. IV?

12. The two encounters that conclude Ch. IV, both involving Stephen’s detachedly observing
bathers in the River Liffey, together constitute the most famous “epiphany” (Joyce’s term for a
sudden revelation) in the novel. What is on his mind just before the first encounter? How does
he respond to his friends’ greetings? What is suggested by the juxtaposition of their verbal

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horseplay and his unspoken thoughts about his own name? The second encounter occurs after
Stephen himself enters the river (recall his earlier aversion to water). Describe and account for
his responses to the girl. What sort of language is used to describe her? What does she
represent to Stephen? Compare/contrast her as a female image with Mercedes and the Virgin
Mary. Why “profane joy”?

13. How does the first page of Ch. V comment on the style and mood of the last few pages of
the preceding chapter? What patterns or rhythms are established by these chapter endings and
beginnings? What is the effect of these patterns upon our perceptions of Stephen’s
development? What other fluctuations of mood and style can you find in the novel as a whole?

14. What sort of person is Davin? Why is Stephen drawn particularly to him despite their
obvious differences? What criticism does Davin make of Stephen? How does Stephen respond
to this criticism? What do you make of Stephen’s relationship with Cranly? Why does Stephen
refuse to honor his mother’s request that he take communion? Why does he determine to leave
Ireland?

15. What is the function of Stephen’s aesthetic theories? Do his definitions of the lyric, epic,
and dramatic modes in some sense fit this novel itself? How does the discussion of these terms
contribute to your understanding of and feelings toward Stephen? Why does artistic
detachment seem so important to him? Why, after the discussion of aesthetics, does Joyce
present the episode of Stephen’s writing the villanelle? Is it a good illustration of his theories?
Is it a good poem?

16. What metaphors does Stephen use to express his vision of his destiny as an artist? What,
according to this vision, is the relationship between the artist’s imagination and the reality in
which the artist (like all humans) lives? In what sense may Stephen’s rejection—his “non
serviam”—of the “nets” of home, nationalism, and the Catholic priesthood be seen as an
affirmation?

17. The novel ends, as so many of the chapters do, on a note of high triumph. Do you, as a
reader, share Stephen’s sense of triumph? Or is there perhaps an ironic distance between
Stephen’s views of his development and our own views? What is the effect of Joyce’s switching
at the end to diary narration? Is Joyce’s viewpoint entirely to be identified with Stephen’s, or is
there evidence here of that detachment whereby “the artist, like the God of the creation, remains
within or behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of existence, indifferent,
paring his fingernails” (p. 215)?

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