From Hero To Artist:Transformation Of Stephen Dedalus’s Self In A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man

As an autobiographical novel of James Joyce(1882-1941),A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man(1916)is both a self-portrait of the author and a book about Dublin.The story is about Stephen Dedalus’s resolution to break the moral constraints within the Irish culture and become an artist.This thesis focuses on the formation and transformation of the protagonist’s self,aiming to solve the following questions:why it is necessary for Stephen to reject the authoritative discourse on the matter of self-formation;how Stephen practices his rejection by developing his aesthetics;and for the Irish race,what would be the significance of Stephen’s self-transformation as an Irishman.To solve the above problems,this thesis turns to Michael Foucault’s research on"technologies of the self" for academic support."Technologies of the self ’ is the self-constituting practice conducted by an individual according to certain morality or ethics.But either morality or the self is the outcome of a precise historical moment and of a specific social environment,and therefore is neither universal nor invariable.That is to say,like the self,morality can be reexamined and refashioned.In A Portrait,the conflict between the authority and Stephen,in essence,is the conflict between the domineering morality which refuses to change itself and the individual morality which seeks for self-transformation.Whether it be a person or a nation,to refuse the change usually results in one’s sinking into inertia and paralysis,as well as getting trapped in motionless by one’s own insufficiency.By analyzing respectively the authoritative morality in Ireland and Stephen’s aesthetic ethics,and putting these two moral systems into comparison,this thesis conducts its discussion in the following aspects.Firstly,the moral ground taken by the authoritative discourse is not unquestionably solid.Under the historical background of British colonization,authoritative figures of the Irish nation,the religion,and the household lay on Stephen the moral obligation to revive the past glory of Ireland,asking him to sacrifice himself as a Celtic warrior,a Catholic servant,and a domestic gentleman.However,be they his father-like nationalist acquaintances,his religiousFather or his biological father,they all hold essentially the same hegemonic logic as the British colonialists,and therefore the authoritative morality itself has many snares and self-contradictions.When the moral system is flawed,the self that is produced will be rigid,unnatural,and incomplete.Secondly,as a rejection of the authoritative morality,Stephen devotes himself into the self-creation through art.By evoking his instinct of self-expression,constructing his self-narrative,and transcending the boundary between the self and others,Stephen accomplishes his self-evolution from the lyrical artist,via the epical artist,to the dramatic artist.Finally,through his metamorphosis from a fixed image as a hero to an unfixed image as an artist,Stephen escapes from the restraints caused by the authoritative morality on the individual,constituting for himself a new ethical system as well as an identity that may truly serve the Irish nation.And such a transformation of Stephen also implies a transformation of the outlook on national cause.Therefore,it may be of great enlightenment to other Irish individuals who are also subject to cultural traditions and desire to achieve national liberation.