A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

During the summer, Stephen and his family go to a town outside Dublin named Blackrock. Stephen spends time with Uncle Charles, disliking Charles’s “villainous awful tobacco” (67) habit but enjoying the older man’s company. They walk through the market together each morning and Stephen eats fruit from the stalls. Mike Flynn, a friend of Stephen’s father, tries to convince Stephen to take up running. Stephen is reluctant and cannot envision success, particularly due to Mike Flynn’s poor health. After a training session, he attends church with Uncle Charles. Stephen notes his uncle’s religious devotion; he respects Charles’s belief, but he does not share his uncle’s “piety” (69).

Stephen listens to his father and his uncle talk about Irish politics and their childhood. Many of their comments go over Stephen’s head. He reads The Count of Monte Cristo in the evenings and loves the adventure and romance of the novel, picturing himself as one of the characters. He recreates the setting out of paper and tinsel, and daydreams about the character Mercedes. The novel offers him an escape from the growing worry about his family’s fortunes. His father is mismanaging the family finances, but Stephen is only aware of the problem “in a vague way” (72). Stephen is not sent back to school in September; though he’d made friends with a boy named Aubrey over the summer, they no longer have time to spend together, leaving Stephen alone to brood over the unsettling tension in his household.

Stephen regards himself as different from his fellow children. He is uninterested in the games they enjoy—instead, he is caught up in his daydreams, both of Mercedes and of the more abstract fantasy for which his soul longs. He imagines meeting her and being “transfigured” such that he loses all traces of “weakness and timidity and inexperience” (73).

Stephen’s family is forced to move due to financial problems. They move to Dublin, where Stephen discovers a newfound freedom. While his father is busier than ever before, his uncle slips into senility. Without adult supervision, Stephen wanders around Dublin. He explores the docks and thinks about The Count of Monte Cristo, then visits elderly relatives. Stephen thinks about his mood and his seemingly foolish impulses. He wishes he could exercise more self-control. When he talks to his aunt, he struggles to make himself understood. When he attends a birthday party for a child of similar age, he does not have fun. Stephen watches the other children from the side with his “silent watchful manner” (77). He spots one girl, Emma Clery, who he refers to as E___ C____, and feels drawn to her. He leaves the party with her and they share a tram ride back to their homes, talking with one another while sitting in different parts of the carriage. Stephen notes her black stockings, which remind him of Eileen. Though he wants to “hold her and kiss her” (79), he does not act on his romantic urges. When he returns home, he tries to write a poem in the style of Lord Byron and dedicates it to “E.C.” This rush of romantic feelings is strange, and Stephen feels overwhelmed. At the end of the summer, Stephen is told that his family can no longer afford the fees at Clongowes, so he will be forced to swap schools.

As a teenager, Stephen attends Belvedere College. The school is run by Jesuit priests. To celebrate Whitsuntide, the school puts on a play, and Stephen plays the “chief part” (83) of a teacher. He is assigned the role due to his height and his seemingly dour, serious demeanor. Stephen watches his fellow actors prepare and then takes a walk, running into his friend Heron. Stephen meets Heron’s friend Wallis; the boys encourage Stephen to base his performance on the rector of the school, which they claim will be a “ripping good joke” (85). They also mock Stephen for his dislike of cigarettes and mention that they saw his father arrive at the theater accompanied by a young girl. Stephen imagines that their “indelicate allusions” (87) refer to Emma, then refuses to divulge any information about her when Heron and Wallis want to know more about his romantic escapades.

In the past, Stephen argued with Heron and other boys about the respective merits of English poets. Stephen argued for Lord Byron as “ the greatest writer” (90) but the others disagreed. The memory of the argument makes Stephen think of his father’s advice, when he made Stephen promise to be “a good Catholic” (94) and a gentleman. Now, the promise rings hollow. Stephen abandons his revery, remembering that the play is about to begin. He performs well in the play but does not talk with his father afterward. Instead, he takes a long walk around the city “amid the tumult of sudden-risen vapors of wounded pride and fallen hope and baffled desire” (97).

Stephen rides a train with his father. They are traveling to Cork, where his father hopes to sell some property. Stephen quickly tires of his father’s endless anecdotes and does not approve of his alcohol consumption. He falls asleep and dreams about the people in the villages that they pass through. Stephen wakes up briefly, prays, and then returns to sleep. In Cork, Stephen and his father stay at the Victoria Hotel. Stephen lays in bed and listens as his father sings a song while washing himself. Stephen praises his father’s singing. The next morning, Stephen eats breakfast while his father and the waiter talk “at crossed purposes” (101), both misunderstanding each other. Later, Stephen visits the school where his father studied medicine. In one lecture hall, he is shocked to read the word “Foetus” (101) carved into a wooden desk. He imagines a student with a mustache carving the word while his peers watch. After leaving the college, Stephen is bored again by his father’s nostalgic anecdotes. As his father talks about the need to be friends with “gentlemen” (104), Stephen feels suddenly overwhelmed. He feels so ashamed and alienated that he must repeat his own name “slowly to himself” (105) to gain reassurance. As they walk between bars, Stephen thinks disapprovingly about his father’s drinking. He also does not approve of his father’s “curvetings and oglings” (106) of the female bar staff. While his father talks to an old friend, Stephen thinks privately about poetry and solitude, as well as his “dead or lost” (108) childhood.

Stephen accompanies his father inside the Bank of Ireland while the other members of the family wait outside. Stephen has won £33 for his entry in a literary competition, and he is cashing the check. He listens to his father talk about the building in patriotic terms. After, the family talks about their dinner plans. Stephen wants to go to a pricey restaurant, part of a round of “presents for everyone” (111) that he purchases with his prize money. The money is quickly spent, however, and Stephen is annoyed with himself. The gifts have failed to bring the family together, as Stephen had hoped, and they continue to bicker. Stephen continues to feel alienated and distant from his family. On one of his regular late night walks around the city, Stephen contends with his growing sexual urges. He meets a sex worker dressed in “a long pink gown” (114). She invites Stephen to her room, where he has sex for the first time.