Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Chapter 1 -- Every Trip Is a Quest (Except When It's Not)
Analyze one of the quests in this novel using insights from HTRLLAP. You may make an original comment, or respond to someone else’s comment. However, do not repeat another comment. You must say something original. In your post, be sure to include specific quotes from the text, with page numbers, to support your conclusions.
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Chapter 1 – Every Trip is a Quest (Except when it’s not)
ReplyDeleteIn How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster explains the journey of a teenager ending with self-knowledge is a quest. However, the teenager’s journey must “consists of five things: (a) a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there” (Foster 3) in order to be a quest. In James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, there are many quests young Stephen, the protagonist, encounters. One such quest involves (a) Stephen Dedalus, (b) the rector’s room, (c) justification from wrongful punishment and humiliation, (d) doubt, darkness, fear, and (e) self-fulfillment. Stephen starts out timid and unsure of the end result, whether or not the rector will side with him or Father Dolan. He begins his journey after dinner; he travels up the stairs instead of out the corridor and down the hallway that extends through the castle to the rector’s room. On his way, Stephen faces challenges; He doubts the rector will understand, “he could not see” (Joyce 48) down the dark narrow hallway. Stephen asked a servant where the room is and finally he knocks on the door. The rector permits him to enter, and Stephen tells the rector why he wants to talk with him. At last, Stephen feels justice when the rector says, “It is a mistake and I shall speak to Father Dolan myself” (50). Stephen began his quest in search for justification and finds it, but also finds his inner strength and confidence; he now knows how to defend himself, and correct what is wrong.
Works Cited:
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading between the Lines. New York: Harper, 2008. 3. Print.
Joyce, James, John Paul. Riquelme, Hans Walter Gabler, and Walter Hettche. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 48-50. Print.
Stephan Dedalus was born into an Irish and Catholic family, and was raised as such. He grew up wondering who he really was, as most children do. A quest he struggled with was what exactly he wanted to do with the rest of his life. Years of schooling and conflicts with peers and family assisted him in discovering himself. Stephan at one point had an epiphany when he attended a retreat where Father Arnall spoke about Heaven and Hell. He felt the need to confess after such a speech. “Ah yes, he would still be spared; he would repent his hear and be forgiven: and then those above, those in heaven, would see what he would do to make up for the past: a whole life, every hour of life.” (110). After his confession is when he considered becoming a Jesuit. He devoted every day of his life to God.
ReplyDeleteStephan attended the University, which is where he met Cranly. Cranly is the one boy he confessed his true feeling of becoming a Jesuit to. “I tried to love God… it seems now I have failed it. It is very difficult.”(212). Stephan proceeds to address his concern of his religious beliefs and want to Cranly. Stephan has now formally stated that he no longer wishes to become a Jesuit, and would rather be an artist. He makes the decision to leave and further his true aspirations.
Thomas C. Foster sets a claim in his work How To Read Literature Like a Professor, that “the real reason for a quest is always self knowledge."(3) James Joyce’s classic, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man becomes filling in the cookie cutter that is Fosters definition. Take for instance when young Stephen Dedalus leaves the director’s office of the university after being appealed to become a priest and accept “the holy orders”(140) As he walks through the campus he begins the quest that physically leads him to the seawall but emotionally leads him to decide his future. This events that take place on this walk leads him to decide though that in “the end he had been born to serve yet did not see had led him to escape by an unseen path: and now it beckoned to him once more and a new adventure was about to be opened up.”(144) The quest that he had embarked on, allowed him to acquire the self knowledge of what he believed he was destined to do, thus leading him to reject the calling of the holy order, for something that he believed had a deeper meaning. Thus the quest that Stephen Debalus embarks on after leaving the director’s office does not consist of dragons and knights, yet it is still noble in its cause.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited:
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading between the Lines. New York: Harper, 2008. 3. Print.
Joyce, James, John Paul. Riquelme, Hans Walter Gabler, and Walter Hettche. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 135-150. Print.
According to the author of HTRLLAP, Thomas Foster, "a quest is educational" in literature(Foster 3). At one point in the novel, Stephen Dedalus sins and ultimately has a goal to admit his wrongdoings to God, a powerful influence in Ireland at the time. To further what Sarah Duggan wrote, Stephen's quest in this part of the novel is to go to the church to repent his sins. He did not want to face the humiliation and shame when he repented though, so he waited months before he had the courage to step in the church. In this case, he went through mental challenges that were encouraging him to repent, especially when Father Arnall discussed the horrors of hell. By the end of Arnall's lecture, Stephen was finally able to admit to himself that he "sinned so deeply against heaven and before God that he was not worthy to be called God's child," however "God had spared him still" (Joyce 109,114). By admitting to himself that he had a problem (his sins), he was able to go to the church to repent. Even though confessing was his main goal, he becomes grateful for life and for God. From this, Stephen becomes a matured person, gaining knowledge about himself and doing the right thing when a problem arises.
ReplyDeleteWorks Cited:
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading between the Lines. New York: Harper, 2008. 3. Print.
Joyce, James, John Paul. Riquelme, Hans Walter Gabler, and Walter Hettche. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man: Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Contexts, Criticism. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007. 109-114. Print.
Chapter 1- Every Trip Is A Quest (Except When It’s Not)
ReplyDeleteAccording to Thomas C. Foster, every journey in literature is actually a metaphor for a quest. This concept holds true in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, when the protagonist / hero, Stephen Dedalus, travels with his father to Cork, Ireland. Foster breaks a quest up into five main steps. Number one, every quest must have a “quester,” in this case that would be Stephen Dedalus (Foster 4). Number two, every quester must have a specific destination. Stephen’s destination is Cork, Ireland. Number three, the quester must have a stated reason for undertaking a quest. Stephen accompanies his father to auction off property. Number four, the quester must encounter “challenges and trials” along the way (Foster 4). Stephen is dragged from bar to bar, forced to watch his father humiliate himself and over-drink. In addition, he experiences what he perceives as a terrifying vision of a boy carving the word “foetus” on a desk of Cork’s medical school. Number five, the last part of a quest, concerns the real reason for the quester to have undertaken the quest. According to Foster, this generally concerns the gaining of self-knowledge. Stephen begins to formulate an identity while at Cork, as shown by his statement, “I am Stephen Dedalus” (Joyce 81). In addition to being a quest, this portion of the novel also relates to the legend of the Fisher King. Where Stephen’s father, Simon, is the aging, weakening Fisher King who has lost control of his declining finances, and quickly finds himself drunkenly trying to relive his glory days. Stephen, in this case would be the young Percival, who sets out on his quest to revive his life.
In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Joyce incorporates quests to reveal or emphasize some of Stephen Dedalus’s qualities. Now, according to Foster’s HRLP, in order for any trip to be classified as a quest, it must “consist of five things: a) a quester, b) a place to go, c) a stated reason to go there, d) challenges and trials en route, and e) a real reason to go there” (Foster 3). A short trip Stephen recounts in chapter two fulfills all five of the above listed characteristics. Stephen Dedalus (a) had to go to the post office, or nineteenth century, Irish equivalent, to send a letter (b, c). On his way, Stephen unexpectedly encounters “his rival” (Joyce 85) and his two cronies Boland and Nash (d). The trio decides to mock Stephen about the “public chiding” (89) he receives as a result of accidental heresy in his essay, because he unintentionally miss worded a phrase. Thoroughly agitating Stephen, the three hooligans scoff at Stephen’s literary favorites and even resort to violence, “cutting at Stephen’s legs with [Heron’s] cane” (91) when he refuses to scoff as well. Immediately following the episode, Stephen was humiliated and furious at the three boys, but now, when he looks back on the fight “he [bares] no malice” (91). Stephen realizes anger does not benefit the situation (e), and no longer allows the emotion to build within himself; instead he divests of it “as easily as a fruit is divested of its soft ripe peel” (91). Therefore, through the incorporation of a quest, Joyce reveals one of Stephen’s most important traits.
ReplyDeleteThomas C. Foster says in his book “How to Read Literature like a Professor” a quest is only a quest if it meets the five requirements. These five requirements are (a)a quester, (b) a place to go, (c) a stated reason to go there, (d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) self- knowledge (3). In James Joyce’s “A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man” the protagonist Stephen goes on many “quests” throughout the novel. One quest Stephen goes on takes place in Chapter Two. The quester, Stephen, returns to the Jesuit school, a place to go, after vacation. Although Stephen must return back to school after vacation he has more of a specific reason to return to school. He has a meeting with the director. Throughout the conversation Stephen faces a trial when the priest begins to discuss with Stephen if he believes the Capuchin should be abolished. Jokingly the priest calls them jubes. Stephen thinks about the article of clothing which leads him to think about women. Finally Stephen must decide with his self knowledge whether or not he wants to enter the vocation. The priest says to Stephen “there is one boy or perhaps two or three boys whom God calls to the religious life” (137). Stephen’s quest is all about making the final decision of entering the priesthood and it is his self knowledge of himself that makes the ultimate decision.
ReplyDeleteIn Thomas C. Foster’s "How to Read Literature Like a Professor," he states that whenever a protagonist travels to a place, usually a quest occurs. Consisting of “(a) a quester, (b) a place to go…(d) challenges and trials en route, and (e) a real reason to go there” (Foster 3), James Joyce, in "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man," sets protagonist Stephen Dedalus on a quest, described by the choppy diary entry of April 15th. From the start, Stephen, the quester, had no intention of running into “her”, meaning Emma Clery, on Grafton Street, destination of the hero. However, he “met her…pointblank” (Joyce 222), like running into a challenge on the route of moving on with his own life. The two talk for catch-up, and although Emma Clery is not breathing fire or casting curses like the villains of fairytale quests, she still acts as the antagonist that initiates another step in the identification of Stephen as a person. Throughout the novel, woman had played a heavy influence on Stephen. His mother hovered over his life, prostitutes tempted him to sin and the Virgin Mary originally came as his savior, yet he never really directly faced his “dream girl.” Part e of a quest entitles a real reason for departure and such reason is “always self-knowledge.” (Foster 3) For Stephen, who had been pushed around by women all his life, his face to face confrontation with Emma placed himself on the same level as her. Instead of watching from afar and wondering for her thoughts, he speaks to her, bringing her to a human level. Noticing the change, Stephen notes in his diary that he had “liked her today,” but the recent encounter created a “new feeling” that was different from before. In his journey, Stephen finds in himself a new view on woman, bringing down from the clouds to the earth of his mind, allowing him to finally approach Emma like he approaches the various males of the novel.
ReplyDelete