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摘要：詹姆斯·乔伊斯的《一个青年艺术家的自画像》是一部关于斯蒂芬·迪德勒斯的成长小说。本文通过从三个不同的角度，即家庭宗教环境，学校宗教环境，社会宗教环境，来分析宗教对史蒂芬成长的负面影响。以此，读者可了解到乔伊斯在小说中表现的宗教主题，以及宗教负面影响对史蒂芬性格，生活的扭曲，对他追求艺术自由的阻碍。
关键词：宗教；负面影响；成长
Abstract：James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a bildungsroman about Stephen Dedalus’ growth. This thesis analyzes the negative effects of religion on his growth from three different perspectives which are family religious environment, school religious environment and social religious environment. Through these, readers can understand the religion theme shown by James Joyce in the novel and the negative effects on Stephen’s growth which twisted Stephen’s character, life and blocked his pursuit of freedom of art.
Keywords: Religion Negative Effect Growth
I.Introduction
The Ireland Island was divided into two parts in 1921. One is Northern Ireland which belongs to the United Kingdom, and the other is an independent country, the Republic of Ireland. Most of the people in the Ireland Island believe in Catholicism which has great influence on their lives. Catholicism is a major branch of Christianity. It sets strict rules to its believers. Their major religious activities are seven Sacraments, which are baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders and matrimony. When receives baptism, it mean that he believes in Jesus. And Jesus is the only savior. The water which contains the blood of Jesus can help them out of sins. Penance demands the believers confess their sin to God. This sacrament gives great mental stress to the believers, which makes them always feel guilty. To some degree, Catholicism may have some benefits. However, it indeed confines its believers’ thoughts and leads them to some illusions. Especially, when it is combined with politics and taken advantage by some politicians, the religion will lose its original doctrines and the trust of its believers.
James Joyce was born in Dublin into a middle-class Catholic family, whose social and economic status slowly declined during Joyce’s youth and adolescence. While Joyce’s mother was a devout Catholic, his father was ‘anti-clerical’, a man who fiercely objected to the interference of the Catholic clergy in Irish politics and whose attitudes to the church and politics Joyce himself would inherit. During his youth time in Ireland, he was totally disappointed at the religion he was converted to as soon as he was born. According to Sydney Bolt, the author of A Preface to Joyce, Dublin in his views was a musty sick-room, in which everybody conspired to keep the windows shut, instead of letting in the fresh air of truth. James Joyce chose to betray what he would never trust. In all his works, religion is undoubtedly a major theme, especially in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. He depicted a boy Stephen who was born in a Catholic family, received education in a religious school and suffered a lot from the strict demanding from family, school and church. This religious environment had enormous negative effects on Stephen’s growth, which also led to Stephen’s betrayal of Catholicism and his independence of art.
II.Negative Effects of Family Religious Environment
2.1 Unhappy Childhood
The words that are used to describe childhood usually are associated with happiness, candy, toy, laughter and sunshine, and etc. However, Stephen’s childhood was just filled up with God, Catholicism, Protestant, catechism and Parnell. He was born in a Catholic family, so he was destined to be converted to a Catholic which gave him a very unhappy childhood.
The most dreadful dispute happened at Christmas dinner. His father insisted that church should not meddle in politics and Mr. Casey sobbed loudly and bitterly for the death of Parnell. On the contrary, Dante stuck to her belief that “God and morality and religion come first. God and religion before everything! God and religion before the world.”
It should be a nice Christmas dinner. However, it was totally ruined by their arguments. He grew up in this environment. It was really hard for a child to grow happily and healthily in this kind of atmosphere.
2.2 Negative Effect on Stephen’s Love
It is normal that youth will fall in love with the opposite gender in their growth. He liked Eileen who was his neighbor. But Dante did not allow Stephen to play with her. It was just because Eileen was a protestant and “protestants used to make fun of the litany of the Blessed Virgin.”
Right family guide is important for youth’s growth. Stephen’s parents tried to avoid talking about love which was easy to lead people to commit sin in Catholics’ eyes. Their religious background also confined their thoughts that Catholics can only get married with Catholics.
2.3 Negative Effects on Stephen’s Character
2.3.1 Uncertain
Because there were always differences in his family, he was often confused about who was right and who was wrong, who he should agree with and who he should disagree with. Hence, when it was his turn to give an opinion, he often behaved as uncertain as grass atop a wall swaying in the wind. This family environment led him to be an uncertain boy both at home and at school. One day, Wells asked him whether he kissed mom before he went to bed. At first, he said yes. But as soon as other boys laughed at his answer, he said no immediately with blushed face. However, his changed answer still made others laugh. “He felt his whole body hot and confused in a moment.”
Stephen did not have his independent opinion. He was uncertain about many things. He was uncertain whether father was right or Dante was right. He was uncertain whether it was a sin to like Eileen. He was really a “to-be or not-to-be” boy.
2.3.2 Obedient
One rule of Catholicism is to obey God’s wills. Raised up in a Catholic family, Stephen was accustomed to being obedient. Just as Zhu Bingzhong, associate professor in Wuhan University and Zhang Zhengping, lecturer in Xunyang Normal University mentioned in their essay “On the Growth of Protagonist in “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” that
“For Stephen, obedience is spontaneous and readily psychological mode of thinking and behavior model. He is weak, respectful and submissive in nature, and is a meek obedient person in front of authority, no matter the authority is from family, church or society.”
To some degree, obedience is good. Others’ warnings or experiences can help him avoid meet difficulties which they had suffered. However, two much percentage of it in one’s character will lead to the opposite direction. He would turn to a dull person with empty soul, a person who did not have his own idea and follow others unconditionally and unhappily.
III.Negative Effects of School Religious Environment
3.1 Chilling School Environment
Religious schools are always decorated with some sculptures and pictures which are stories and characters from Bible or ancient time. Some stories are about heroes, and some are about monsters which are really horrible, especially, when walking in the evening in this kind of environment, thinking the story, inevitably the sense of horror will rise.
Most people are afraid of monsters, especially the little kids. Stephen went to the religious school at an early age, when he should stay by his mother’s side and fell asleep with mother’s sweet story. However, the religious school life made him feel really scared in the evening. When it was time to go to bed, the dark night and ever heard horrible story made him feel cold and afraid. No sweet things happened in his dream.
School should be a place full of sunshine, which encourages students to lead a happy and positive life. However, the atmosphere of the school was cold, dark and mysterious, which was really not a good place for the growth of an adolescent. 3.2 Hurts from Cruel Teachers
The cold, dark and mysterious school environment had been a stress for Stephen, while some cruel and unfair teachers added more hurts to Stephen’s spirit.
In a Latin Lesson, Father Arnall shouted to the class because no one could answer his question. And he punished Fleming by making him kneel in the middle of the class for Fleming wrote a bad Latin theme and missed all the questions in grammar. Then the prefect of studies, Father Dolan came to the class. He used the pandybat to punish Fleming. It was worse that Father Dolan also punished Stephen, for Stephen did not write in the class, though Stephen explained that his glasses were broken and was allowed by Father Arnall not to write in class until the new pair was sent by his parents. However, Father Dolan only thought that was a trick and warned that he would come to punish him tomorrow.
This experience had hurt Stephen both on body and psyche. On one hand, physically, his suffered the hurts from being beaten by pandybat and kneeling in the middle of class for a long time.
On the other hand, in spirit, he felt ashamed for being punished in front of the class and felt the teachers were cruel and unfair because he was really innocent.
As teachers, when students make mistakes, they should help students know where they are wrong and encourage them to do better later instead of shouting at them with bad temper, rude words and serious punishment, which will totally leave hurt on them forever. Unlucky Stephen just met this kind of cruel and unfair teachers in the strict religious school and indeed was hurt when young.
3.3 Negative Effects on Stephen’s Character
3.3.1 Pessimistic and Sensitive
Two Chinese old sayings go as new born calves are not afraid of tigers and a young man has not really tasted sadness. They tell us that youth possess the character of bravery and optimism. However, the impression that Stephen left on others was that he was a pessimistic and sensitive boy. When he came into something which did not go smoothly, he only considered the dark side instead of the bright side and was sick at heart.
He caught a cold at school. When he lay alone in the bed, he thought sadly that he would die.
Generally, for little kids, death is something far away. Some kids even do not know what death is. Maybe for some kids, sickness is an excellent excuse for school absence. What’s more, it is a good chance to get more care and delicious food from family. It was different that what Stephen thought when he got sick was death. This was connected with the education he received and the environment he was in. He was told that people either went to heaven or to hell after death. Those who were bad would go to hell which was described super horrible. When he lived in school, “He had to undress and then kneel and say his own prayers and be in bed before the gas lowered so that he might not go to hell when he died.” Hence, every evening, in order not to go to hell, “he put on his nightshirt quickly and knelt trembling at his bedside and repeated his prayers quickly…”Then it was not hard to understand why Stephen was so pessimistic and sensitive. That was the education and what he witnessed everyday taught him. 3.3.2Self-denied
In Catholicism, God is almighty. Then all human beings are small and weak. Having received religious education since a little boy, Stephen also felt he was weak and small. When he came into difficulty, God would help him.
When he tried with great efforts to rule out what was after the universe, he gave up at last because he thought only God could rule out. It was really big for him to think about everything and everywhere. He also felt small and weak when he did not know where the universe ended. A young man’s imagination and creation were killed at this moment.
It was not good for youth to be self-denied. They should believe in themselves and try to overcome difficulties independently instead of depending on something that does not exist.
IV.Negative Effects of Social Religious Environment
4.1Life Occupied by Religious Activities
Living in a religious country, Stephen had no choice but to be born in a catholic family, go to catholic schools, attend regularly to all the religious activities, remember all catechism and wait for God’s call to be a priest. People’s everyday life is filled up by religious activities. Only those who attend the church activities regularly show their loyalty to God and can go to heaven.
Baptism is a very important rite in Catholicism. People become true believers in Catholicism after baptism and can be absolved from guilt. In Catholicism, wine and bread stand for the saint blood and body of Jesus. Hence, regular rite of eating the bread and drinking wine is held to show their respect to Jesus. However, gradually, Stephen began to doubt the reason and authority of these religious rites which he was so familiar with and fed up with.
Stephen began to doubt the reason of religious activities. He wondered why biscuits and wine represent the body and blood of Jesus. If they went bad, did they still represent Jesus? Gradually, there religious activities seemed to be more and more formal and nothing but an empty soul.
4.2 Torture in Spirit
4.2.1Confession
In religious society, religious activities took major part of their lives. Confession is one part of those religious activities. People told their sins to a priest in confession, and then they will get the help from God and be absolved from guilt.
Stephen sinned with a prostitute. Just after that, he began to doubt the reason and authority of religion again. However, soon the mass held to remember Saint Francis Xavier terrified him very much. Because in the mass, the priest said that sinners would be sent to hell which was described as the center of evil. After the mass, Stephen was really terrified by the horrible hell. “He came down the aisle of the chapel, his legs shaking and the scalp of his head trembling as though it had been touched by ghostly fingers.” He couldn’t get out of the shadow of committing sin with a prostitute. He was afraid of being sent to hell. Hence, he confessed in a small church to get his soul free from guilt after the mass.
Confession did not set Stephen free from his sin wholly. On the contrary, he was always hovered by the fear of hell.
4.2.2 Destiny
In a religious society, it is normal for children to go to religious school and then be raised up to be a priest. In Stephen’s growth, he did not escape this routine. When he was born, all the voices around him urge him to be a Catholic.
Father in school told him that “Once a priest always a priest, remember.” Due to excellent performance in school, Stephen was chosen to be a priest. But this call from God, although, expected highly by his family, school and church did not make him happy at all. On the contrary, this call made him feel confused and depressed about his future. He thought “It was a grave and ordered and passionless life that awaited him, a life without material cares.”10 He couldn’t bear that “He saw himself rising in the cold of the morning and filing down with the others to early mass and trying vainly to struggle with his prayers against the fainting sickness of his stomach.”11 Priest, a profession enjoyed by popular confidence, was a burden and hell for Stephen.
V.Conclusion
According to all the above discussion, we can see that Stephen’s growth was twisted by the negative effects of religion from family, school and the society. Born in a religious family, he was used to obeying all the dull and strict religious rules imposed on him by family members. Divergences in family members’ religious views made him always live in quarrel and confused about what is right and what is wrong. He also became obedient and uncertain in this family religious environment. Meanwhile, cold, dark and mysterious religious school also affected his growth a lot. The absolute authority of teacher made him feel they were so cruel and unfair. Received education in the religious school, he turned to be a pessimistic and self-denied boy. Growing up in a religious society, to be a priest is a destiny of most youth which is also a high expectation from Stephen’s family, school and church. However, what this destiny gave Stephen were only sorrow and torture. It confined his development and his pursuit of freedom of art. Hence, through Stephen’s growth, readers can understand the religion’s negative effects on Stephen’s growth, which confine his thoughts, block his way to pursue the freedom of art. Notes:
1. Bolt, Sydney. 2005, A Preface to Joyce, Beijing, Peking University Press, P14,
2. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 28,
3. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 25,
4. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 9,
5. Zhu Bingzhon, Zhang Zhengping.2004, On the Growth of Protagonist in “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Foreign Literature Study , Page 26,
6. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 12,
7. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 12,
8. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 95,
9. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 123,
10. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 123,
11. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics,Page 124.
Bibliography:
[1]Attridge, Derek James Joyce, Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press,2000
[2]Bolt, Sydney. A Preface to Joyce, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2005
[3]Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London: Wordsworth Edition Limited, 1992
[4]Zhu Bingzhong, Zhang Zhengping, On the Growth of Protagonist in “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”, Foreign Literature Study, 2004, (06):26
关键词：宗教；负面影响；成长
Abstract：James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a bildungsroman about Stephen Dedalus’ growth. This thesis analyzes the negative effects of religion on his growth from three different perspectives which are family religious environment, school religious environment and social religious environment. Through these, readers can understand the religion theme shown by James Joyce in the novel and the negative effects on Stephen’s growth which twisted Stephen’s character, life and blocked his pursuit of freedom of art.
Keywords: Religion Negative Effect Growth
I.Introduction
The Ireland Island was divided into two parts in 1921. One is Northern Ireland which belongs to the United Kingdom, and the other is an independent country, the Republic of Ireland. Most of the people in the Ireland Island believe in Catholicism which has great influence on their lives. Catholicism is a major branch of Christianity. It sets strict rules to its believers. Their major religious activities are seven Sacraments, which are baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders and matrimony. When receives baptism, it mean that he believes in Jesus. And Jesus is the only savior. The water which contains the blood of Jesus can help them out of sins. Penance demands the believers confess their sin to God. This sacrament gives great mental stress to the believers, which makes them always feel guilty. To some degree, Catholicism may have some benefits. However, it indeed confines its believers’ thoughts and leads them to some illusions. Especially, when it is combined with politics and taken advantage by some politicians, the religion will lose its original doctrines and the trust of its believers.
James Joyce was born in Dublin into a middle-class Catholic family, whose social and economic status slowly declined during Joyce’s youth and adolescence. While Joyce’s mother was a devout Catholic, his father was ‘anti-clerical’, a man who fiercely objected to the interference of the Catholic clergy in Irish politics and whose attitudes to the church and politics Joyce himself would inherit. During his youth time in Ireland, he was totally disappointed at the religion he was converted to as soon as he was born. According to Sydney Bolt, the author of A Preface to Joyce, Dublin in his views was a musty sick-room, in which everybody conspired to keep the windows shut, instead of letting in the fresh air of truth. James Joyce chose to betray what he would never trust. In all his works, religion is undoubtedly a major theme, especially in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. He depicted a boy Stephen who was born in a Catholic family, received education in a religious school and suffered a lot from the strict demanding from family, school and church. This religious environment had enormous negative effects on Stephen’s growth, which also led to Stephen’s betrayal of Catholicism and his independence of art.
II.Negative Effects of Family Religious Environment
2.1 Unhappy Childhood
The words that are used to describe childhood usually are associated with happiness, candy, toy, laughter and sunshine, and etc. However, Stephen’s childhood was just filled up with God, Catholicism, Protestant, catechism and Parnell. He was born in a Catholic family, so he was destined to be converted to a Catholic which gave him a very unhappy childhood.
The most dreadful dispute happened at Christmas dinner. His father insisted that church should not meddle in politics and Mr. Casey sobbed loudly and bitterly for the death of Parnell. On the contrary, Dante stuck to her belief that “God and morality and religion come first. God and religion before everything! God and religion before the world.”
It should be a nice Christmas dinner. However, it was totally ruined by their arguments. He grew up in this environment. It was really hard for a child to grow happily and healthily in this kind of atmosphere.
2.2 Negative Effect on Stephen’s Love
It is normal that youth will fall in love with the opposite gender in their growth. He liked Eileen who was his neighbor. But Dante did not allow Stephen to play with her. It was just because Eileen was a protestant and “protestants used to make fun of the litany of the Blessed Virgin.”
Right family guide is important for youth’s growth. Stephen’s parents tried to avoid talking about love which was easy to lead people to commit sin in Catholics’ eyes. Their religious background also confined their thoughts that Catholics can only get married with Catholics.
2.3 Negative Effects on Stephen’s Character
2.3.1 Uncertain
Because there were always differences in his family, he was often confused about who was right and who was wrong, who he should agree with and who he should disagree with. Hence, when it was his turn to give an opinion, he often behaved as uncertain as grass atop a wall swaying in the wind. This family environment led him to be an uncertain boy both at home and at school. One day, Wells asked him whether he kissed mom before he went to bed. At first, he said yes. But as soon as other boys laughed at his answer, he said no immediately with blushed face. However, his changed answer still made others laugh. “He felt his whole body hot and confused in a moment.”
Stephen did not have his independent opinion. He was uncertain about many things. He was uncertain whether father was right or Dante was right. He was uncertain whether it was a sin to like Eileen. He was really a “to-be or not-to-be” boy.
2.3.2 Obedient
One rule of Catholicism is to obey God’s wills. Raised up in a Catholic family, Stephen was accustomed to being obedient. Just as Zhu Bingzhong, associate professor in Wuhan University and Zhang Zhengping, lecturer in Xunyang Normal University mentioned in their essay “On the Growth of Protagonist in “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” that
“For Stephen, obedience is spontaneous and readily psychological mode of thinking and behavior model. He is weak, respectful and submissive in nature, and is a meek obedient person in front of authority, no matter the authority is from family, church or society.”
To some degree, obedience is good. Others’ warnings or experiences can help him avoid meet difficulties which they had suffered. However, two much percentage of it in one’s character will lead to the opposite direction. He would turn to a dull person with empty soul, a person who did not have his own idea and follow others unconditionally and unhappily.
III.Negative Effects of School Religious Environment
3.1 Chilling School Environment
Religious schools are always decorated with some sculptures and pictures which are stories and characters from Bible or ancient time. Some stories are about heroes, and some are about monsters which are really horrible, especially, when walking in the evening in this kind of environment, thinking the story, inevitably the sense of horror will rise.
Most people are afraid of monsters, especially the little kids. Stephen went to the religious school at an early age, when he should stay by his mother’s side and fell asleep with mother’s sweet story. However, the religious school life made him feel really scared in the evening. When it was time to go to bed, the dark night and ever heard horrible story made him feel cold and afraid. No sweet things happened in his dream.
School should be a place full of sunshine, which encourages students to lead a happy and positive life. However, the atmosphere of the school was cold, dark and mysterious, which was really not a good place for the growth of an adolescent. 3.2 Hurts from Cruel Teachers
The cold, dark and mysterious school environment had been a stress for Stephen, while some cruel and unfair teachers added more hurts to Stephen’s spirit.
In a Latin Lesson, Father Arnall shouted to the class because no one could answer his question. And he punished Fleming by making him kneel in the middle of the class for Fleming wrote a bad Latin theme and missed all the questions in grammar. Then the prefect of studies, Father Dolan came to the class. He used the pandybat to punish Fleming. It was worse that Father Dolan also punished Stephen, for Stephen did not write in the class, though Stephen explained that his glasses were broken and was allowed by Father Arnall not to write in class until the new pair was sent by his parents. However, Father Dolan only thought that was a trick and warned that he would come to punish him tomorrow.
This experience had hurt Stephen both on body and psyche. On one hand, physically, his suffered the hurts from being beaten by pandybat and kneeling in the middle of class for a long time.
On the other hand, in spirit, he felt ashamed for being punished in front of the class and felt the teachers were cruel and unfair because he was really innocent.
As teachers, when students make mistakes, they should help students know where they are wrong and encourage them to do better later instead of shouting at them with bad temper, rude words and serious punishment, which will totally leave hurt on them forever. Unlucky Stephen just met this kind of cruel and unfair teachers in the strict religious school and indeed was hurt when young.
3.3 Negative Effects on Stephen’s Character
3.3.1 Pessimistic and Sensitive
Two Chinese old sayings go as new born calves are not afraid of tigers and a young man has not really tasted sadness. They tell us that youth possess the character of bravery and optimism. However, the impression that Stephen left on others was that he was a pessimistic and sensitive boy. When he came into something which did not go smoothly, he only considered the dark side instead of the bright side and was sick at heart.
He caught a cold at school. When he lay alone in the bed, he thought sadly that he would die.
Generally, for little kids, death is something far away. Some kids even do not know what death is. Maybe for some kids, sickness is an excellent excuse for school absence. What’s more, it is a good chance to get more care and delicious food from family. It was different that what Stephen thought when he got sick was death. This was connected with the education he received and the environment he was in. He was told that people either went to heaven or to hell after death. Those who were bad would go to hell which was described super horrible. When he lived in school, “He had to undress and then kneel and say his own prayers and be in bed before the gas lowered so that he might not go to hell when he died.” Hence, every evening, in order not to go to hell, “he put on his nightshirt quickly and knelt trembling at his bedside and repeated his prayers quickly…”Then it was not hard to understand why Stephen was so pessimistic and sensitive. That was the education and what he witnessed everyday taught him. 3.3.2Self-denied
In Catholicism, God is almighty. Then all human beings are small and weak. Having received religious education since a little boy, Stephen also felt he was weak and small. When he came into difficulty, God would help him.
When he tried with great efforts to rule out what was after the universe, he gave up at last because he thought only God could rule out. It was really big for him to think about everything and everywhere. He also felt small and weak when he did not know where the universe ended. A young man’s imagination and creation were killed at this moment.
It was not good for youth to be self-denied. They should believe in themselves and try to overcome difficulties independently instead of depending on something that does not exist.
IV.Negative Effects of Social Religious Environment
4.1Life Occupied by Religious Activities
Living in a religious country, Stephen had no choice but to be born in a catholic family, go to catholic schools, attend regularly to all the religious activities, remember all catechism and wait for God’s call to be a priest. People’s everyday life is filled up by religious activities. Only those who attend the church activities regularly show their loyalty to God and can go to heaven.
Baptism is a very important rite in Catholicism. People become true believers in Catholicism after baptism and can be absolved from guilt. In Catholicism, wine and bread stand for the saint blood and body of Jesus. Hence, regular rite of eating the bread and drinking wine is held to show their respect to Jesus. However, gradually, Stephen began to doubt the reason and authority of these religious rites which he was so familiar with and fed up with.
Stephen began to doubt the reason of religious activities. He wondered why biscuits and wine represent the body and blood of Jesus. If they went bad, did they still represent Jesus? Gradually, there religious activities seemed to be more and more formal and nothing but an empty soul.
4.2 Torture in Spirit
4.2.1Confession
In religious society, religious activities took major part of their lives. Confession is one part of those religious activities. People told their sins to a priest in confession, and then they will get the help from God and be absolved from guilt.
Stephen sinned with a prostitute. Just after that, he began to doubt the reason and authority of religion again. However, soon the mass held to remember Saint Francis Xavier terrified him very much. Because in the mass, the priest said that sinners would be sent to hell which was described as the center of evil. After the mass, Stephen was really terrified by the horrible hell. “He came down the aisle of the chapel, his legs shaking and the scalp of his head trembling as though it had been touched by ghostly fingers.” He couldn’t get out of the shadow of committing sin with a prostitute. He was afraid of being sent to hell. Hence, he confessed in a small church to get his soul free from guilt after the mass.
Confession did not set Stephen free from his sin wholly. On the contrary, he was always hovered by the fear of hell.
4.2.2 Destiny
In a religious society, it is normal for children to go to religious school and then be raised up to be a priest. In Stephen’s growth, he did not escape this routine. When he was born, all the voices around him urge him to be a Catholic.
Father in school told him that “Once a priest always a priest, remember.” Due to excellent performance in school, Stephen was chosen to be a priest. But this call from God, although, expected highly by his family, school and church did not make him happy at all. On the contrary, this call made him feel confused and depressed about his future. He thought “It was a grave and ordered and passionless life that awaited him, a life without material cares.”10 He couldn’t bear that “He saw himself rising in the cold of the morning and filing down with the others to early mass and trying vainly to struggle with his prayers against the fainting sickness of his stomach.”11 Priest, a profession enjoyed by popular confidence, was a burden and hell for Stephen.
V.Conclusion
According to all the above discussion, we can see that Stephen’s growth was twisted by the negative effects of religion from family, school and the society. Born in a religious family, he was used to obeying all the dull and strict religious rules imposed on him by family members. Divergences in family members’ religious views made him always live in quarrel and confused about what is right and what is wrong. He also became obedient and uncertain in this family religious environment. Meanwhile, cold, dark and mysterious religious school also affected his growth a lot. The absolute authority of teacher made him feel they were so cruel and unfair. Received education in the religious school, he turned to be a pessimistic and self-denied boy. Growing up in a religious society, to be a priest is a destiny of most youth which is also a high expectation from Stephen’s family, school and church. However, what this destiny gave Stephen were only sorrow and torture. It confined his development and his pursuit of freedom of art. Hence, through Stephen’s growth, readers can understand the religion’s negative effects on Stephen’s growth, which confine his thoughts, block his way to pursue the freedom of art. Notes:
1. Bolt, Sydney. 2005, A Preface to Joyce, Beijing, Peking University Press, P14,
2. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 28,
3. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 25,
4. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 9,
5. Zhu Bingzhon, Zhang Zhengping.2004, On the Growth of Protagonist in “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Foreign Literature Study , Page 26,
6. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 12,
7. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 12,
8. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 95,
9. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 123,
10. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics, Page 123,
11. Joyce, James. 1992, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London, Wordsworth Classics,Page 124.
Bibliography:
[1]Attridge, Derek James Joyce, Shanghai:Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press,2000
[2]Bolt, Sydney. A Preface to Joyce, Beijing: Peking University Press, 2005
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[4]Zhu Bingzhong, Zhang Zhengping, On the Growth of Protagonist in “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”, Foreign Literature Study, 2004, (06):26