59 pages • 1 hour read
James JoyceA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1916A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
The Myth of Daedalus
Stephen Dedalus shares a name with a figure from Greek mythology. According to the Greek myths, Daedalus was renowned for his intellect. He was summoned by the king of Crete to build an inescapable maze for the king’s monstrous son, the Minotaur. Though the maze he built was incredibly complex, Theseus was able to sneak through and kill the Minotaur, thereby enraging King Minos. In his rage, Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son, Icarus. Daedalus again used his intellect to build wings from feathers and wax, which allowed him and Icarus to escape. Despite Daedalus’s warnings, however, Icarus flew too close to the sun, and the wax in his artificial wings melted, sending him plunging to his death.
Stephen references the myth of Daedalus often. By a quirk of fate, he has an anglicized version of Daedalus’s name as his surname. Stephen sees aspects of himself in the myth of the “old artificer” (288), and uses the myth of Daedalus as a symbolic reference point for his own struggles. Many of Stephen’s worries mirror those of Daedalus. He is an intelligent person who is capable of great things. He feels trapped in mazes, however, both those of his own creation and those built for him by others. Like Daedalus, Stephen strives to be free. The institutions that burden him—academia, religion, politics—represent the mazes that trap Stephen and from which he can only escape through his own talents.
Stephen even extends the symbolism of his mythical namesake to Icarus, who fell in love with the liberating act of flight but whose love of flying caused him to forget his father’s words of warning. As much as Stephen recognizes Daedalus’s strive for liberation and longs to similarly build himself a form of freedom, he fears Icarus’s hubris. Stephen withdraws into himself so as to avoid flying too close to the metaphorical sun. In this sense, the myth of Daedalus acts as a warning for Stephen. He wants to be like Daedalus, but he must maintain a distance from his namesake, lest he get dangerously caught up in his pursuit of freedom.
In the final lines of the novel, Stephen turns again to the myth for inspiration. This time, he prays directly for Daedalus, showing that he has replaced the institution of Catholicism with his own brand of religion. He refers to Daedalus again as the old artificer, accepting his guidance and his protection. Stephen symbolically embraces Daedalus’s guidance in a way that Icarus never did, siding with his namesake and casting aside his fears of hubris as he entrusts himself to Daedalus.
Birds
Daedalus’s wings are not the only representation of flight in the book. Joyce uses nature symbolically in many ways throughout the novel, but the most prominent is his inclusion of birds, which, like Daedalus’s wings, represent freedom. In literature, birds are commonly used as a symbol of liberation and escape. They are not bound to the earth like humans, something that was particularly idealized before the widespread availability of air travel. To Stephen, birds possess an enviable ability to fly away from their troubles and the institutions which bind them. He often glimpses flocks of birds at moments of inspiration, particularly as he often looks toward the sky, a representation of his daydreaming and his detachment from the world around him.
Stephen himself connects birds to Daedalus. Watching a flock of them reminds him of his namesake and leads him through an exploration of mythology and poetry. Stephen even ponders how to use birds symbolically in his own writing. Ultimately, birds are the sign that Stephen needs; the freedom they symbolize inspires him to face the fact that Ireland is not the place for him, should he truly wish to pursue a future as an artist.
The City of Dublin
Dublin is the capital of Ireland and where Stephen lives for a large part of his life. Though he grows up in County Kildare, Stephen and his family are forced to move to Dublin when Simon Dedalus mismanages his finances. In this respect, the move to Dublin is associated with a downgrade in the quality of life. Stephen takes immediate note of the ramshackle nature of the house. The fire grate does not work properly, and the rooms are barely furnished. The urban space becomes a symbol for decline in Stephen’s mind, particularly as he initially fails to find anything beautiful to spark his literary mind. To Stephen, the city of Dublin cannot help but symbolize a move away from a rich and enjoyable youth to a period of poverty and confusion.
Once he becomes acclimatized to the environment, however, Stephen finds much to like about Dublin. While his homelife continues to be tumultuous, he ventures out into the streets. The portrayal of Dublin becomes much more vivid during these moments, as the nightly wanderings through the streets of the city inspire Stephen’s artistic mind. At home, Stephen is caught between his ideologically opposed parents. On the streets, however, Stephen can be anonymous. He can create identities for himself that are not burdened by Stephen’s guilt, shame, or responsibility. When he visits sex workers, they never know his name and Stephen chooses to believe that they never truly know him or his sins.
Likewise, in Dublin, Stephen can stand back from society and observe the interactions of others. He can act as the narrator, dictating the stories of the world. This changes Stephen’s conception of Dublin. The city is the people, rather than the rundown houses. Stephen comes to appreciate Dublin and its people, even though he maintains his social alienation.
Like everything in his life, however, Dublin becomes a place Stephen must leave behind. The city comes to represent everything Stephen believes is holding him back. Every bridge or street corner is infused with some element of Irish identity and the strive for independence. Stephen feels a need to detach himself physically from the city so that he can detach himself emotionally from everything hindering his ambitions. Stephen decides to leave Dublin and leave Ireland altogether: the streets, the sex workers, the buildings, the churches, and the people who have changed him so much. Like family, religion, and academia, Dublin has come to represent the burden of his past and its function becomes an impediment to his artistic future.
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By James Joyce
