Stephen Dedalus’s Journey: Religion and Politics in Ireland
Portrait Religion
Religion’s Influence on Stephen Dedalus
Joyce fills his work with what actually happened in Ireland at that moment (1916), so it’s a clear reflection of life in Ireland, not only Stephen’s life and development. Religion is one of the main topics of the work. Religion is what surrounds Stephen at school: he attends Clongowes Wood College, and his childish mind starts seeing his teachers, who are priests, as really intelligent people. Stephen has a Christian view of the world; he believes in something bigger than himself, more powerful and important: “It was very big to think about everything and everywhere. Only God could do that.” When he is bored, he writes things like: “Stephen Dedalus is my name, Ireland is my nation, Clongowes my dwelling place, and heaven my expectation.” He is always surrounded by religious attitudes that influence him: pg 63 “urging him to be…” Also, he’s really close to Dante, who is an obsessive and even extremist Christian. His mother and uncle Charles are more neutral.
The Christmas Dinner Argument
At the Christmas dinner, a huge argument occurred among Dante, Stephen’s father, and Mr. Casey (p22). His mother and Charles try to calm down the situation, but Dante defends God and bishops above all: “God and morality and religion come first.” On the other hand, Mr. Casey and Stephen’s father criticize the bishops’ attitude, calling them traitors because they don’t care about Irish people. At that moment, Stephen is really ignorant about religion, but finally, this ignorance/indifference towards that topic begins to change when he begins to understand and have his own experiences: he obviously changes his mind about the moral superiority of priests when he is hit by one of them in class. He is unfairly beaten. Opposing the authority, he decides to tell the rector Conmee what has happened (p42). At this point, Stephen loses the respect he felt towards priests. Also, he sleeps with a prostitute, and he starts feeling as if he was a demon condemned to hell because of it: he decides to confess his sins (101) after he got obsessed about divine punishment. After confessing, he seems to recover happiness and the redemption of God. In that moment, he realizes that he wants to be an independent artist.
Politics
Politics and Irish Identity
Politics dominated Stephen’s early childhood. In those times, England was the most powerful nation in the world, and England didn’t care about Ireland. An important fact is that Irish were Catholic. Ireland wanted to get rid of the Protestant English. In class, Stephen interrogates his location in the university, but he skips from Ireland to Europe, excluding the UK as an incorporating item (pg 10). The omission of the UK confounds the history of Ireland as a colony. Thus, Stephen refuses to accept that Ireland and England are united politically: “Stephen Dedalus is my name, Ireland is my nation.” He is sent to Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit school which is relatively free from the nation, prior to Catholic emancipation. In the Christmas dinner scene, there’s an argument between Mr. Dedalus and Dante, the aunt. The family reunion and the peace of Christmas are broken. Dante sides with the church; then, she is anti-Parnellite and anti-Irish nationalist. On the other hand, Mr. Dedalus insists that the struggles for the free Irish nation are fettered by the Catholic Church.
Stephen’s Political Awakening
Stephen remembers Dante admonishing Parnell, as he recalls, Dante had two brushes…(p3). As he matures, Stephen takes the first steps of developing his own political ideas, begins to understand his position in life, and decides to rise above the turbulent Ireland of the early 1900s in a rebellion against society. At the end of the book, Stephen makes the decision to leave Ireland to move to Europe and become a writer. He even says that Ireland is the old sow that eats her farrow. He also says these words: ‘When the soul of a man is born in this country, there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight. You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets.” He finally abandons his heritage and old identity in order to become an independent artist.