QUESTION:

Discuss Joyce’s use of stream of consciousness.

ANSWER:

In 1916, James Joyce published his autobiography and first novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man. It’s written in a Modernist style. So, it may include some elements of realism,
naturalism, and Marxism, all of which were popular during the mid-to-late nineteenth century.
James Joyce was primarily concerned with writing in a “mythic” and “nonlinear” manner. In A
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, one of Joyce’s most notable literary achievements is his
pioneering use of stream of consciousness, a literary style in which the author directly transcribes
the thoughts and sensations that go through a character’s mind rather than merely explaining
those sensations from the external viewpoint of a spectator. With Joyce’s use of the first-person
narrative style, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man becomes a tale about the growth of
Stephen’s cognitive capabilities. James Joyce and Virginia Wolf, are two representative figures
of modernist narrative who are known for utilising stream of consciousness techniques in their
writing. They are frequently classified according to the same characteristics as these techniques.
Their application of these techniques, on the other hand, may both converge and diverge.

It also explores Joyce’s epiphanies and moment of being in the the mind of characters in
Joyce’s novel, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. He uses an eclectic method that draws in
insights from the psychoanalysis of Stephen, also stylistics and narratology is adopted in this
novel. It is important to consider the implications of the aspect of focalization, the use of free
association, the use of time montage devices, and any divergence in the use of the stream of
consciousness technique used by James Joyce. The use of interior monologue, as well as the
evolution of language, distinguishes Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man from other
works of literature. Joyce’s scrupulous naturalism was always at odds with his symbolist
tendencies, and this was true from the beginning. Throughout his writing career, he revised his
early stories, and in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, he transformed Stephen Hero into
an impressionistic tale. This suggests that he recognised in his own powers of observation and
language a special ability to decode the socialisation process—an aptitude he referred to as a
“aptitude for epiphany.” While in an otherwise continuous state of paralysis, the truth emerges
and the spirit is freed from a life of conditional servitude at certain points in the process. The
repeated use of carefully selected words can have the harmonious and radiant effect of a symbol,
while still adhering to the requirement of realistic fidelity in all circumstances.
 In the end, a composition that was startlingly original emerged: a highly structured, symbolic,
impressionistic, and ironic treatment of the spiritual formation and reformation of an acutely
sensitive young man, with a strong emphasis on irony throughout. With each successive chapter
of the novel, Joyce shows Stephen’s conscience absorbing the values of his family, portraying
that conscience as undergoing a process of simultaneous separation and refinement, as
demonstrated by a steadily more complex use of language and technique throughout the five
chapters of the novel. Stephen’s decision to free himself from the claims of the formative
establishments of his family, nation, and religion by announcing his determination to set against
them the proud and defiant slogan “silence, exile, and cunning” is paradoxical in that the terms
on which that defiance will be carried out have already been established. While not dissimilar
from those of his colleagues, Stephen’s disagreements in “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man” with virtues advocated by the three establishments are more profound than those of his
colleagues in their respective positions.

One of Joyce’s many ironies in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is that Stephen
misinterprets these conflicts as a radical independence of spirit, which is one of the novel’s many
themes. His destiny, like that of Icarus, his mythological forefather, is not to escape from the
labyrinths of his father’s labyrinths, but rather to plummet from the heights of his father’s
supercilious pride. Joyce beautifully implied the technique of stream of consciousness and
psychoanalysis in his novel, and explained it through Stephen’s mental dilemma in the novel.
Such versions of Stephen appear to share little in common views with readers at some point and
time. As he struggles to free himself from the barriers of language, coils of nationality and
religious prejudices. Throughout the novel , the thoughts and consciousness of Stephen tell the
reader a lot about him and the settings of the novel.
The rise of stream of consciousness in the early 20s is but a reflection of the increasing
inwardness of the life consequent upon the breakdown of accepted values with the turn of the
century ; a process which was accelerated by the out break of war. The individual's memories ,
and to regard the past as something to be recalled by a conscious effort of memory is on this
view to do violence to the facts of experience. The past exists always in the present, coloring and
determining the nature if the present response, and to tell the truth about a character's reaction to
any situation we must tell the whole truth about everything that has ever happened to him. The
technique if the stream of consciousness is evident at many places in the novel at the opening
and closing of the novel. The opening section of chapter 1 contains the thoughts of baby Stephen.
The reader is rushed back and forth through sudden disruptions.
“Once upon a time and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the
road and this moocow…His father told him that story: his father looked at him through a
glass: he had a hairy face.”

This is not the only example of stream of consciousness in his novel. We see various other
examples as well. For example in some lines Stephen’s senses are perceived and we are
presented with beautiful stream of consciousness as following
“A smell of molten tallow came up from the dean’s candle butts and fused itself in
Stephen’s consciousness with the jingle of the words, bucket and lamp and lamp and
bucket.. The priest’s voice too, had a hard jingling tone. Stephen’s mind halted by instinct,
checked by the strange tone and the imagery and by the priest’s face which seemed like an
unlit lamp or a reflector hung in a false focus. What lay behind it or within it? A dull
torpor of the soul or the dullness of the thundercloud, charged with intellection and
capable of the gloom of God?”
The second chapter again is a mixture of objective and subjective writing. There is for instance
the passage, in which Stephen is described as recalling
His own equivocal position in Belvedere, a free boy, a leader afraid of his own authority, proud
and sensitive and suspicious.
The narrative matter of stream of consciousness technique predominates throughout the fourth
chapter, which is highly appropriate to the subject-matter. The chapter records the grand turning
point in Stephen’s spiritual life and the action here is either subjective or carries an entirely
subjective significance.

The fifth chapter hardly makes any use of this technique till the very end. The diary entries at the
end are an excellent illustration of stream of consciousness technique. The entries contain a
jumble of thoughts recorded just as they came to Stephen’s mind. Though the thoughts, could
have been expressed in phrases and rules of grammar.
Actually the novel is the mirror to James Joyce own life. Joyce attended the school with the same
name in the novel. (Clongowes Wood College) The novel’s main character – Stephen’s family
has financial
problems because of his father. Joyce’s family had financial problems and the reason was his
father. Joyce took the events from his real life. Joyce’s family had to move to other cities several
times. In the novel we can see that it happens to Stephan’s family. Also Joyce left Ireland for a
new life. So does Stephen in the novel.James Joyce perfected his style stream-of-consciousness
with the novel.
In the first chapter the young Stephen can describe his world only with simple words. Later,
when he becomes a teenager, he is able to think in more adult manner. In the novel the thoughts
progress logically. Stephen is more mature now and is aware of his surroundings. But he still
trusts the church. Stephen feels ashamed and guilty for his sins.

He seems truly rational only when he is in the university. That happens in the final chapter. By
the end of the novel we can see that Stephen achieves emotional, intellectual and artistic
adulthood. The development of Stephen’s consciousness in the novel is really interesting because
Stephen is a portrait of James Joyce himself.

Chapter 4, James uses this technique to analyze the mind of Stephen after he leaves the director
who offers him the vocation of priesthood. The rejection of the priesthood is followed by his
decision to join the university. Several stream of thought run through his mind after leaving his
father at a public house. The analysis of Stephen's mind does with his recognition of his true
destiny which is to become an artist.

Taking into account the gradual maturing of the language of Stephen Dedalus while he grows to
maturity, the final chapter shows a sophisticated, literary language, in accordance with his
purpose of becoming a literary artist. However, the style becomes artificial and stilted. For
example in the literary theory section and in the Conversation with the Dean of studies, the
language is the cold, impersonal style of rational discourse.

On the other hand, His fantasies centered on Emma, echoes the romantic style that is so
effectively parodied in Chapter 2. The linguistic style of Chapter 5 are both fragmented and
diverse. Here we see not the finished artist but one still trying to come to terms with the “nets”
around him, and his function in the world around him. An inkling of the free stream of conscious
that is typical of the mature Joyce is found in the diary at the end. In the end of 5th chapter, the
diary entries are a superb illustration of this technique. These entries contain random thoughts
written as they came into Stephen’s mind. For example: " Long talk with Cranly on the
subject of my revolt. He had his grand manner on. I supple and suave. Attacked me on the
score of love for one's mother. Tried to imagine his mother: cannot. Told me once, in a
moment of thoughtlessness, his father was sixty-one when he was born. Can see him.
Strong farmer type.”

The style of this work, the language and the intensive use of the stream of consciousness , all are
developed gradually to reflect the increasing impacts of the protagonist reactions ,memories ,
reflections and ideas through out the three main phases of his growth. The tone is considerably
changed in order to focus more exclusively on the perspective of Stephen. Joyce changes his
style by intensifying dialogue- scenes which reflect Stephen's growth as well as his alienation
from society " His obsession with Emma is more aesthetic and abstract ; he has admired her afar
for ten years, but in truth he does not know her that well. His contemplation of her is based on a
very abstract idea of women. Emma exists more as Stephen's muse than as a flesh and blood
woman. ”

In A Portrait of an Artist as a young Man , Joyce followed Stephen's life from childhood through
adolescence to first flash of manhood using one of the most artistic and remarkable techniques
ever used in English Novel . As Stephen matures through various family conflicts and periods of
study at Jesuit schools, he begins to rebel against his family, his religion, and his nation. Finally,
in order to establish himself as an individual and to find his identity as an artist, he seeks self-
imposed exile in Paris What particularly sets Portrait apart form other " coming of age " books is
Joyce's manipulation of the narrative itself- the language and syntax used at each point in the
book reflect the age and intellectual development of Stephen. To link the sections of his novel
and the phases of Stephen's life; Joyce used elaborate patterns of symbols which echo and re-
echo through the text, the use of stream of consciousness .
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