Right or Wrong?
In James Joyce’s novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, we see the main character, Stephen Dedalus, struggle with the idea of right and wrong. Throughout the first chapter, Stephen comes across several situations where he believes that there must be a right answer when, in fact, there is none.
The first time we see Stephen struggle with this idea is when he is at Clongowes. In this scene, he is being bullied by Wells, who says “Tell us, Dedalus, do you kiss your mother before you go to bed?” At first, Stephen replies saying he does. But when the group of boys laughs at him, he changes his answer and says that he doesn’t. Still, the boys continue to laugh at him. This totally confuses Stephen and he thinks to himself “what was the right answer to the question? He had given two and still Wells laughed.” Stephen thinks that there must be one right answer to Wells’ question because there has to be a right answer to everything. Stephen doesn’t realize here that he is being bullied by the other kids. He doesn’t realize that there is no right answer and that he will be teased no matter what he says. The boys just want to laugh at him.
The first time we see Stephen struggle with this idea is when he is at Clongowes. In this scene, he is being bullied by Wells, who says “Tell us, Dedalus, do you kiss your mother before you go to bed?” At first, Stephen replies saying he does. But when the group of boys laughs at him, he changes his answer and says that he doesn’t. Still, the boys continue to laugh at him. This totally confuses Stephen and he thinks to himself “what was the right answer to the question? He had given two and still Wells laughed.” Stephen thinks that there must be one right answer to Wells’ question because there has to be a right answer to everything. Stephen doesn’t realize here that he is being bullied by the other kids. He doesn’t realize that there is no right answer and that he will be teased no matter what he says. The boys just want to laugh at him.
Stephen also encounters the idea of right vs wrong when he is at his family’s Christmas dinner. Throughout this section, Simon and Dante argue about the Catholic Church’s influence in Irish politics. As Stephen listens to both of them, he tries to figure out who is right. Sometimes he seems to be on Dante’s side, while other times he seems to agree with his father. Stephen seems conflicted because he respects both of these people, as they play a large role in his life. By the end of this section, Stephen starts to get the sense that things are not binary. He begins to see that there are many differing answers and views and that there is no definite right answer.
Even though he starts to realize this, he still constantly worries that he will make the wrong decision. This can be seen in the section where Stephen is unfairly punished. He is not sure whether he should “peach” on Father Dolan. He wonders again whether it is the right thing to do. “His father had told him, whatever he did, to never peach on a fellow.” So, Stephen knew what to do when Wells bullied him, but he did not know whether it was right to peach on an authority figure. At the end, after he talks to father Conmee, all the kids celebrate him and his “victory.” For Stephen, this validates his actions. He believes that because the kids are celebrating him, he must have done the right thing.
Throughout the first chapter of this book, Stephen grapples with the idea of what is right and what is wrong. At the beginning, Stephen sees the world as binary with only the concept of right and wrong. But, as the chapter progresses, that idea is challenged. Stephen realizes that the world is complicated and that it is full of many different answers.
YES I totally agree about Stephen seeing things in black and white, or as binaries (I might write my next blog post about this honestly). We even see it from the very beginning with Stephen's acuteness towards hot and cold and dark and light. Even as he grows up, we still see him thinking in binaries (although it becomes more subtle as we move along). Like you mentioned, Stephen is preoccupied by finding the 'right answer'. I agree with you that as he ages, Stephen does start to realize that there is more than right and wrong. Now that we've gotten further in the book, I think that sometimes Stephen still subconciously thinks in binaries. In the new chapter we can see he's either a sinner or a monk and that he has trouble finding a middle ground. Great post!
ReplyDeleteI think that the evolution of Stephen's ideas about right and wrong is intertwined with his ideas about how to understand the advice of others. At the same time as he is figuring out how to answer the questions and seeing that there are multiple viewpoints, he is beginning to understand that the advice he is given is not always absolute. At the Christmas dinner he sees adults disagreeing and understands both that there are multiple acceptable viewpoints and that he needs to think about the advice that adults give him, because he doesn't have to follow it blindly.
ReplyDeleteA crucial element of Stephen's development will in fact entail him moving away from this binary view of right and wrong. In the Clongowes scenes, it's significant that he's not actually thinking in terms of some objective morality, but rather what the consensus among the "fellows" seems to be. He has this naive (yet familiar) faith that all questions have a "right" answer, and he mainly wants not to stand out or fail to conform to that standard in any way.
ReplyDeleteBy the end of the novel, we see him forging his own individual sense of morality, explicitly NOT caring (or claiming not to care) what anyone else thinks. He realizes that his plan for "exile" from Dublin sounds crazy to the people in his life, but this doesn't have any effect on his convictions.