good kid, b.A.A.d city?


            We spent a bit of time in class today talking about how Stephen feels like he can’t be an artist if he’s stuck in Dublin and why he feels he has to leave. I thought I’d look into that a bit further. Whenever I read of the book where Stephen explores Dublin have a sense of wonder that makes me feel like it’s not the place itself that Stephen has a problem with. Stephen has pretty strong negative feelings towards his parents and I feel his choosing to leave has more to do with his resentment for his upbringing rather than anything specific to Ireland.
            When he was little, Stephen idolized his hyper-patriotic father. Towards the end of the novel, Simon Dedalus is seen by Stephen as more of jerk than anything. I think Stephen resents his father for causing their declining quality of life over the course of the novel. It would make sense that Stephen would reject Irish pride along with his father because of how strongly he associates his dad with nationalism. That Christmas dinner scene showed Stephen’s father so impassioned with this that it brought him to tears. Because he so strongly equates patriotism with his father who he doesn’t like, it makes sense that Stephen leaving, and rejection of Ireland is by extension a rejection of his father.
            One of the few things about Stephen’s mother that we know is that she’s super religious. She’s the one that wants his to live a pious life more than anyone and I feel like Stephen’s irritation with her stems from the fact that he feels she’s trying to push a life on him that he doesn’t want. Stephen not going to Easter service and choosing to leave extremely Catholic Ireland is kind of like Stephen’s way of saying “iT’s NoT a PhAsE mOm”.
             


Comments

  1. AkashFebruary 1, 2019 at 8:04 PM

    I think you've made an interesting connection between the Christmas dinner scene, something that is very important to Stephen's identity, and his decision to leave Ireland. I can see how Stephen's personality might lead him to reject anything that he deemed beneath him, even if that means turning on his parents.

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  2. OthnielFebruary 2, 2019 at 11:16 AM

    Comparing his hate of his father to his hate of nationalism and Ireland really does make more sense as he does write a lot about Dublin. He does resent his mother, but as he goes back to her funeral he obviously has some feelings toward her so I think the main reason that he wants to leave is because of his father. He never mentions seeing him again and therefore I think that the main reason he left Dublin was due to his father.

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  3. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2019 at 5:34 PM

    I wonder how much stephen consciously conflates ireland and his personal upbringing or if it's more subconscious. You pointed out the christmas dinner scene, and the clongowes scenes also are a good example. Stephen was a young kid so it would make sense that he views ireland as his world. Though as a teen/adult stephen tells himself he is leaving to accurately describe ireland. I wonder if he would have left if he didn't despise much of his upbringing

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  4. SJFebruary 2, 2019 at 8:58 PM

    It seems that Stephen is projecting his hatred over Ireland as a whole, however in all his famous literary works they are all set in this place he supposedly hates. Perhaps Stephen's hatred for Ireland is only superficial. Maybe he is afraid to go back on his self-imposed exile once he goes through with it because he realizes Ireland isn't as bad a place as he thought. Or maybe I'm wrong and Stephen just completely hates Ireland in its entirety.

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  5. HenryFebruary 2, 2019 at 9:10 PM

    I think you've made an interesting connection between his changing views of his father and his desire to leave Ireland. In rejecting his mother's pleas to attend the Easter service, he may not only be rejecting the church, but in his mind he is also rejecting his father and Irish nationalism.

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  6. Anya Kaplan-HartnettFebruary 2, 2019 at 9:45 PM

    Stephen's simultaneous fascination and anger towards Dublin and Ireland as a whole has certainly influenced his writing. Even though he complains that his hometown is too crowded and stifling for a writer to develop, he experiences some pretty wacky artistic epiphanies there. As much as he might hate it, living in Dublin made Stephen the artist he is. This fascination with Dublin is apparent in Joyce's works, all of which are set in Dublin.

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  7. EmmaFebruary 12, 2019 at 3:26 PM

    It's interesting to think about how Stephen's parents influenced his decision to leave. To confirm your theory, I'd also be interested in seeing what would happen if Stephen grew up somewhere else. Could Dublin's hyper-catholicism and the affect that religion has on Stephen's parents be replicated in any other countries? Or does the fact that it was Dublin lead Stephen's parents to become irritating to him, and then lead Stephen to want to leave?

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  8. Katie CMay 25, 2019 at 10:02 AM

    This is really interesting and something I hadn't thought of. Like Emma talks about above, I think Stephen would probably reject any religion/political beliefs that his parents hold, as long as they're strongly held and they expect him to share their opinions.

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