Essay on Discourse in A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

Authoritative Discourse in A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man In James Joyces A Portrait of An Artist As A Young Man, the main character, Stephen Dedalus, struggles between his natural instincts, or what Bakhtin calls the internally persuasive discourse that [is not] backed up by [an] authority at all, and his learned response, reinforced by the authoritative discourse of religion. To Stephens internally persuasive discourse, his natural sex drive is not wrong. It is only after he succumbs to the authoritative discourse of religion that he learns that such a natural human drive is bad. Thus, he learns that it is wrong to succumb to sex: he does not think that it is bad on his own. In this case, the†¦show more content†¦This struggle also causes Stephen to realize the futility of the fight between his internally persuasive discourse of natural drives and the authoritative discourse of religion. His awareness of being fallible to his sense of touch causes Stephen to realize that his natural drives take a stronger hold of him than do the constraining norms of religion. But it was to the mortification of touch that he brought the most assiduous ingenuity of inventiveness (163). It is the most difficult task for Stephen to deny his sense of touch. His sense of touch requires him to come up with the most [...] inventiveness. This is shown in Stephens forcing himself to endure the raw morning wind on his way to the Mass: the cold air scorches him and, thus, by feeling the raw air, Stephen wishes he did not have to feel at all. He also punishes himself for such a strong sense of touch when he attempts to sleep without movement in his bed. It is not surprising, however, that Stephen does these masochistic things to himself: he does it because he has been taught that any expression of a natural inclination is labeled wrong by the society, or by the authoritative discourse of religion. By restricting his senses, Stephen does not only lose his identity, since his reliance on his senses constructs his personality, but he also imprisons himself in a world, which he needs eventually to escape. From an earlyShow MoreRelatedStephen As A Fan Of Lord Byron s Poetry1503 Words   |  7 Pagesattending his first year at Belvedere College. He was accused of heresy by Mr. Tate, the English master. While in class, Mr. Tate accused Stephen of heresy, and Stephen knew his essay contained heresy because he, â€Å"did not look up. [†¦] He was conscious of failure and detection [†¦]† (Joyce, 69) After opening Stephen’s essay to find the heresy in question, Mr. Tate proclaimed, â€Å"Ah! without a possibility of ever approaching nearer. 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