A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Throughout Joyce's novel Stephen struggles to find his identity. In the beginning of the book he is innocent. He later becomes corrupted through women but repents and lives a strictly pious life. Once again Stephen alters his life, leaving the university to become an artist. At first Joyce's novel seems to argue that there is no such thing as individuality. Everything Stephen has come from others, from sinning women, from the Catholic Church. Stephen really begins to become aware of his conformity when talking to a priest about lighting a fire, "That? Is that called a funnel? Is it not a tundish? (168). In this passage Stephen is realizing that he has no language of his own, that his life has just been quotes and other's beliefs. At this point Stephen starts to become his own person while turning into an artist. It is here that Joyce advocates the idea of individuality and the freedom it brings.