So in this blog post I am supposed to be analyzing James Joyce’s brilliant mind. Pretty much impossible. He is so distinct and speaks directly to human nature and through process and exposes thing beyond words that it makes it a feat of skill just to understand what you are reading. So I guess I will have to go with what I feel I can mostly understand. One of these things is the theme or idea that it is ones environment that can dictate how you are but not necessarily who you are. All of Stephen’s life he had been told exactly what to do whether it be by his parents or the society around him or the religion that has been deeply instilled with in him. Everyday my generation is barraged with fast paced instant messages of faith and social norms so by all logic we should be superficial instant gratification junkies who prefer McDonalds as a religion. But that’s not me. I may have been raised in a developing instant world but I do not relish these things. Instead I prefer thought and art which takes time and passion and patients. Science is interesting and also challenging. There is not instant yes or no answer. I am youth who questions. So too is Stephen and through Stephen James Joyce. His writing constantly brings up the theme of questioning being natural and correct. He questions his feelings towards women and at first is ashamed and disgusted himself but finally has a revelation relating it to nature and all that is natural is good. This idea of nature being true and beautiful and questioning ones values is in the forefront of most peoples lives. This theme of allowing for one to self determine exactly who they are is amazing and a prominent thought through out the novel. It adds strong and pronounced eloquence to the conflict of Stephen’s youth creating the plot of the novel itself.
A particular passage I enjoyed in the fifth part of the book was Stephens’s ideas and definitions of beauty and what defines art. “If a man hacking in fury at a block of wood make there an image of a cow, is that image a work of art? If not, why not?” (232). It is this sort of pondering that makes him an absolute genius. He is speaking of intentions. If a person does not go in to an act with the express intention of creating art is there no art to be made? He is pondering the serendipity of actions and what qualifies beauty. He feels it’s beyond just how something looks. Its singularity with in the world or its capability to be defined as itself is one of his first qualifying tasks. I almost feel as though he is trying to define himself as beautiful and see himself and the people around him as beautiful. The whole novel is about him separating from the society in which he lives and defining himself as a singular and complete entity. The second characteristic is the harmony in which it exists. This harmony and unity amongst the universe creates the universal pleasure one can feel when seeing something beautiful. As a person he is trying to integrate himself into the universe and be capable of expressing, creating, and being a part of the natural beauty that exists within the earth. Finally the third attribute of art is its universal appeal. Fire exists for all and has a natural mystery about it but do we deem it beautiful because we require its warmth for life and does that make life the true beauty that we wish to preserve through flame. The natural radiance contained within an object, that unexplainable fascination and attraction that we feel towards it is part of his definition of beauty and I still have trouble comprehending because he himself does not fully understand it. But within the questions he poses the answer waits to be discovered and defined by the words he works so hard to tame and contort into the beauty he tries to explain. I like this passage so much because he manages to break a elusive thing most people take for granted and add dimension to it and also paradoxes along with new questions to be pondered. There still is no answer to who or what defines art and beauty but I feel through his works there is a better general feel and a better perception of its existence.
Overall this work of art made me think. Most books contain a moral come to through a clear and direct plot and conflict but this novel did not distract the reader with flashy events and an overdramatic climax. It was far too busy posing questions of existence and art and what defines human character to be bothered with mundane and banal issues of plot clear and drawn out plot. This books purpose was to make the reader think not only about Stephen but about themselves and the world around them. Joyce wanted the reader to be inspired and encouraged to pick his thoughts up where he left off. He wanted the reader to converse with themselves and the sky and to come to personal realizations not through stuffy lectures from some moral hero but from a human being. This book has merit simply from the fact that it is as real as it gets when thinking of human mentality. No shame was spared from embarrassment and showed the true progression of real life. Its very rare to come across reality in this world and more importantly honesty of thought. This book contains that and much much more.
