xii ABSTRACT
MARIA PUSPITASARI MUNTHE. Repression toward Students at School in James Joyce’sA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2013.
Education is one of the important fundamental fields in human civilization. In nowadays society, education even becomes an obliged thing to achieve. Considering its significant role in human life, the discussion about education is always relevant and actual. Literature with its function as the mirror of human’s real life portrays the situation of education. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Manwritten by James Joyce is the work that is used to discuss the issue of education that the writer concerns with.
As the material of the discussion, the problem formulation consists of three questions. The first one questions about the characteristics of significant characters of the novel. It continues to answer the question about what parts of school system that the repression toward students is done through. At last, the characteristics of the characters contributively show how such repression happens at school. The answer to those questions is found by using psychoanalytic criticism. Some theories presented by Jacques Lacan are used such as, the concept of repression observed through the method of symptomatic reading.
The result of the analysis shows that characters of students in the novel have certain characteristics that imply inferiority and rebellion. Meanwhile, teachers’ characteristics identify power and authority. The gap between students and teachers position enables the existence of repression done by the one with larger power. Institution of school, represented concretely by its teaching staffs, represses the students through the rules it obliges them to obey. It is also supported well by the relationship between students and teachers that positions students as the inferior.
xiii
ABSTRAK
MARIA PUSPITASARI MUNTHE. Repression toward Students at School in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2013.
Pendidikan merupakan salah satu hal mendasar yang penting dalam peradaban manusia. Dalam masyarakat masa kini, pendidikan menjadi sesuatu yang wajib diemban oleh orang-orang. Berkaitan dengan peran penting pendidikan dalam kehidupan manusia, diskusi tentangnya selalu berada dalam posisi relevan dan aktual. Sastra dengan salah satu fungsinya sebagai cerminan kehidupan nyata manusia tentunya juga memuat serba-serbi pendidikan di dalamnya. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man oleh James Joyce adalah sebuah karya yang membahas isu-isu pendidikan yang menjadi perhatian penulis.
Sebagai bahan diskusi, rumusan masalah disusun menjadi tiga pertanyaan. Pertanyaan pertama berkaitan dengan karakteristik dari sejumlah karakter yang signifikan dalam novel. Selanjutnya, penelitian ini mencari bagian-bagian dari sistem sekolah yang menjadi jalan masuk bagi represi kepada murid-muridnya. Hasil dari pembahasan karakteristik sebelumnya menunjukkan bagaimana represi terjadi di sekolah. Untuk mendapatkan jawaban atas rumusan masalah tersebut, penelitian ini dikerjakan dengan pendekatan psikoanalisis. Secara praktis, penulis menggunakan teori-teori dari Jacques Lacan, terutama mengenai konsep represi yang dikenali melalui metode pembacaan simptomatis atau pembacaan gejala.
Hasil analisis memaparkan bahwa karakteristik tokoh-tokoh murid dalam novel menyiratkan inferioritas dan pemberontakan. Sementara itu, karakter guru selalu diidentifikasi melalui kekuatan dan otoritas mereka. Kesenjangan posisi murid dan guru ini memungkinkan terjadinya represi yang dilakukan oleh pihak yang lebih berkuasa. Institusi sekolah, yang diwakili secara nyata oleh tenaga pengajarnya, melakukan represi kepada murid melalui peraturan yang wajib ditaati oleh murid. Hal ini dapat dengan langgeng berlaku karena pengkondisian hubungan murid dan guru yang menempatkan murid sebagai pihak yang lebih kecil kekuasaannya.
REPRESSION TOWARD STUDENTS AT SCHOOL
IN JAMES JOYCE’S
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A
YOUNG MAN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
MARIA PUSPITASARI MUNTHE
Student Number: 094214004
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
REPRESSION TOWARD STUDENTS AT SCHOOL
IN JAMES JOYCE’S
A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A
YOUNG MAN
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
MARIA PUSPITASARI MUNTHE
Student Number: 094214004
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
iv
Menulis adalah bekerja untuk keabadian.
v
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I address the first gratitude to my undergraduate thesis advisor Dra. A. B. Sri Mulyani, M.A., Ph.D for her time to advise and criticize this work. I also thank Ni Luh Putu Rosiandani, S.S., M.Hum. for being a supportive Co-Advisor and Paulus Sarwoto, S.S., M.A., Ph.D for being a challenging examiner.
The next person to thank is Alwi Atma Ardhana for his willingness to be an unofficial advisor. He is the one who arranged my first interaction with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and maintains such patience in facing me having the obstacles in comprehending the subject. Thanks also go to Ibu Lany Wihardjo for sponsoring the first half of my study in the university.
I give my deepest gratitude to Bapak Parulian Munthe (†) and Mama Patricia Setyowati for being a great eternal couple. Thanks to Abang Yohanes Sebastian Munthe and Adek Jonathan Christian Munthe for our time to grow together. I am deeply grateful to be the beloved of theirs.
ix
Gratitude also goes to Fitri Handayanti Lubis and Siti Rahma, far-away friends who are never that far to support me in working on this undergraduate thesis through any ways. Thank you to Maria Anindita Pranoto and Jati Pradipta for accompanying me through an interesting transition phase of life. I also need to say thanks to my fellows during my study in English Letters Department: Vince, Refa, Pinka, Retha, Etri, Febi, Anik, Lolo, Dhika, Samuel, Dinda, Uchi, Richard, Adit, Wowok, Mov, Bea, Indra, Kezia, Aulia, Pucil, and many others.
Lovely thanks are addressed to Bonaventura Andhiko Aji Tresadi for a very great companionship through the times of falling and rising again to yell. I give a deep gratitude to Sakha Widhi Nirwa for being a friend, simply a friend to share every little thing with, no matter what.
At last, I thank Mother Mary for her examples of life to follow. Thanks to God for everything and everyone I have mentioned.
x
1. Theory of Character and Characterization ... 11
2. Theory of Psychoanalysis ... 12
3. Theory of Subject by Lacan ... 13
a. The Three Order: The Real, The Imaginary, and The Symbolic ... 14
b. The ‘other’ and the ‘Other’ ... 16
4. Theory of Desire and Symptom ... 17
c. Desire ... 17
d. Symptom ... 18
5. Theory of Repression ... 20
6. The Relations between Literature and Psychoanalysis ... 22
C. Theoretical Framework ... 23
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY... 25
A. Object of the Study... 25
xi
b. Characteristics of Stephen Dedalus in the University... 38
b.1. Brave ... 38
B. Revealing the Parts of the School System in which the Repression is Done ... 55
1. The Rule of the School... 56
2. The Relationship between Students and Teachers ... 61
C. Revealing the Repression toward Students ... 66
1. Stephen’s Wrong Punishment ... 67
2. Boys’ Doing Smugging... 69
3. Stephen’s Meeting Prostitute and his Guilty Feeling... 73
4. Stephen’s Doubt and Ignorance to Religion ... 82
5. Stephen’s Being Active and More Sociable in University... 87
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION... 93
xii ABSTRACT
MARIA PUSPITASARI MUNTHE. Repression toward Students at School in James Joyce’sA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2013.
Education is one of the important fundamental fields in human civilization. In nowadays society, education even becomes an obliged thing to achieve. Considering its significant role in human life, the discussion about education is always relevant and actual. Literature with its function as the mirror of human’s real life portrays the situation of education. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Manwritten by James Joyce is the work that is used to discuss the issue of education that the writer concerns with.
As the material of the discussion, the problem formulation consists of three questions. The first one questions about the characteristics of significant characters of the novel. It continues to answer the question about what parts of school system that the repression toward students is done through. At last, the characteristics of the characters contributively show how such repression happens at school. The answer to those questions is found by using psychoanalytic criticism. Some theories presented by Jacques Lacan are used such as, the concept of repression observed through the method of symptomatic reading.
The result of the analysis shows that characters of students in the novel have certain characteristics that imply inferiority and rebellion. Meanwhile, teachers’ characteristics identify power and authority. The gap between students and teachers position enables the existence of repression done by the one with larger power. Institution of school, represented concretely by its teaching staffs, represses the students through the rules it obliges them to obey. It is also supported well by the relationship between students and teachers that positions students as the inferior.
xiii
ABSTRAK
MARIA PUSPITASARI MUNTHE. Repression toward Students at School in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2013.
Pendidikan merupakan salah satu hal mendasar yang penting dalam peradaban manusia. Dalam masyarakat masa kini, pendidikan menjadi sesuatu yang wajib diemban oleh orang-orang. Berkaitan dengan peran penting pendidikan dalam kehidupan manusia, diskusi tentangnya selalu berada dalam posisi relevan dan aktual. Sastra dengan salah satu fungsinya sebagai cerminan kehidupan nyata manusia tentunya juga memuat serba-serbi pendidikan di dalamnya. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man oleh James Joyce adalah sebuah karya yang membahas isu-isu pendidikan yang menjadi perhatian penulis.
Sebagai bahan diskusi, rumusan masalah disusun menjadi tiga pertanyaan. Pertanyaan pertama berkaitan dengan karakteristik dari sejumlah karakter yang signifikan dalam novel. Selanjutnya, penelitian ini mencari bagian-bagian dari sistem sekolah yang menjadi jalan masuk bagi represi kepada murid-muridnya. Hasil dari pembahasan karakteristik sebelumnya menunjukkan bagaimana represi terjadi di sekolah. Untuk mendapatkan jawaban atas rumusan masalah tersebut, penelitian ini dikerjakan dengan pendekatan psikoanalisis. Secara praktis, penulis menggunakan teori-teori dari Jacques Lacan, terutama mengenai konsep represi yang dikenali melalui metode pembacaan simptomatis atau pembacaan gejala.
Hasil analisis memaparkan bahwa karakteristik tokoh-tokoh murid dalam novel menyiratkan inferioritas dan pemberontakan. Sementara itu, karakter guru selalu diidentifikasi melalui kekuatan dan otoritas mereka. Kesenjangan posisi murid dan guru ini memungkinkan terjadinya represi yang dilakukan oleh pihak yang lebih berkuasa. Institusi sekolah, yang diwakili secara nyata oleh tenaga pengajarnya, melakukan represi kepada murid melalui peraturan yang wajib ditaati oleh murid. Hal ini dapat dengan langgeng berlaku karena pengkondisian hubungan murid dan guru yang menempatkan murid sebagai pihak yang lebih kecil kekuasaannya.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Education is one of some important fundamental fields in society’s
civilization. It is usually included in the list of obligatory things to achieve. It
becomes the important fundamental thing because every human being conducts a
process of learning in many various ways. The history of education recorded that
human had started the process of education since the very primitive life. At that
time, education was conducted in two steps of process. “The first is the training necessary to the satisfaction of the practical necessities of life” (Monroe, 1957: 4).
In this step, human usually learned how to survive by doing things like hunting,
using weapons, and building a shelter. The second step is explained as “the
training in the elaborate procedures, or forms or worship, through which it is
necessary that every member of the group shall go in his endeavor to placate the
spirit world, or to cultivate its good will” (Monroe, 1957: 4). The first step is
considered as the practical education, while the second is the theoretical one.
As the time goes by, education exists in more sophisticated forms. People
formed some kinds of system to make it more integrated and well-organized. As
the result of this effort, in modern time we are familiar with some systems of
education, such as formal system and the non-formal ones. These systems are the
aspects of social life. They have been held for many years and contributed much
in how people manage their lives. Education is even considered offering the best
means for social betterment (Monroe, 1957: 707). Hence, it becomes an
inseparable part of society’s life.
Formal education system is related to school and other institutions which
deal with the business of education. In conducting this kind of system, school
becomes the primary means to reach the goal of education. School exists as the
integrated form of education consisting of the concrete forms which are descended
from the abstract essence of education. It is constructed by the system within
including the curriculum, the methods of teaching-and-learning activities, the
rules, the management of institution, and the human resources (teachers, students,
and officers).
The practice of education is derived from the essence of education. This
term is always and still debatable, though. Different groups of people may present
different views and opinions about this thing. Those different thoughts,
consequently, influence how a system of education—be it school or other
non-formal forms—is held for the sake of reaching the essence of education. These
thoughts are the ones which should be the basic to manage the allowances,
restrictions, and tolerances that a school will have.
“The aims of education in the theory of pedagogy constitute a certain
ideological program, a binding element of the entire school system” (Salecl, 1994:
many thoughts of the essence of education to be able to manage and rule the
system. The possibility of having too many different systems among those schools
is narrowed by having these schools grouped under a system that has been
mentioned above, which is formal education system.
Formal school has been very familiar to people. In almost all countries of
the world, it has become the primary source where people must get education
from. Nowadays, education in formal institution like school is even made
obligatory to all citizens of the country. It is controlled by the legal constitution in
some countries. All of these actions show that education seems to receive great
concern from society.
In formal schools, the people included within are generally classified into
two distinctive groups: teacher and student. Out of these two groups, there are still
some persons who hold the authority of running the school system. Teacher and
student become the most significant groups of people since they run the main
activities of school, which are teaching and learning activities.
As the result of teachers and students’ having direct contact in school
activities, they must have a certain kind of relationship in between. This
relationship might be varied according to the situation of the school and
considering the certain climate and goal that a school wants to achieve. Although
it is varied from one school to another, most of schools, especially the formal
ones, still form a similar kind of relationship between the teacher and the student.
teacher, while the pupil is in the position of “the subject supposed not to know””
(Salecl, 1994: 164).
Such position of teacher and student obviously shows the power relation
between them. “The leftist criticism of the education system usually gives the
teacher the role of a Master who structures the field of the school discourse with
his authority,” (Salecl, 1994: 163). This kind of situation might cause the action of
repression toward the lower position party done by the higher position one. Since
the system gives more power to the teacher, student tends to occupy the lower
position in the hierarchy.
Teacher might not be the only one who does the repression, though. Salecl
also mentioned in her article that,
The teacher, constituted by the institution (school) and made responsible through it to the ruling class and to the class-determined relations of power, is in the role of an intermediary who transfers this outer order to the pupils through his teaching, thus victimizing them with symbolic violence (Salecl, 1994: 165).
Therefore, school as an institution also occupies the powerful position. In this
situation, students face the risk of being the only part of the school that is always
repressed by the rest of the school.
Such situation occurred in some schools. Therefore, it is also reflected in
some works of literature. It becomes possible since literature can be considered as
the mirror of reality in the society according to the mimetic concept. According to
education by telling about schools, students, or the process of learning which is
conducted by the characters within. In these works, the concept, reality, and even
dream about education are presented.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce is one of those works which presents the discourse of education by telling story about a school
life of a student. This novel dominantly tells about the criticism done by the main
character, Stephen Dedalus, toward the institution of Catholic religion. Stephen is
also described facing some objections from his social circumstance toward his
desire of being an artist. These conflicts are wrapped in the story of Stephen’s
school life. Therefore, the criticism done by Stephen is very closely related to the
circumstances of schools where he studied.
This research relates the description about school in the novel with the
problem of repression toward students that happens in most of the schools.
Description of school taken from the novel is an example that represents similar
condition in other schools. Such school is a Catholic school, managed by Jesuits
congregation. Though, the discussion about this school in this research also exists
in most other kinds of school. As the reflection of the problem in reality, the
description in the novel becomes the object of the analysis which leads to the
B. Problem Formulation
To be able to understand the novel and to discuss the research topic better,
three problems were formulated as follows
1. How are the characters in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Mandescribed?
2. Through what parts of school system is the repression toward student
characters in the story done?
3. How is the repression toward students revealed?
C. Objectives of the Study
This research aims to look and pay more attention to how a school
continuously does repression toward its students in the condition where the people
are usually not aware of it. Specifically, there are three objectives presented. The
first objective is to see the characteristics of the characters in the novel. The
second one is to find out how the institution of school with its system represses
the students through some ways. The last objective is to prove whether such
actions are truly repressions by considering the criteria and impacts of a
D. Definition of Terms
In this research, there are some terms which are frequently used. In order
to understand them as close as possible to the meaning, the definition of those
terms are presented here. These descriptions also aim to give restriction to the
terms’ various meaning so that the discussion is able to run well and focused.
1. Repression
In An Introductory Dictionary to Lacanian Psychoanalysis, repression is defined as:
… the process by which certain thoughts or memories are expelled from consciousness and confined to the unconscious. … Since repression does not destroy the ideas or memories that are its target, but merely confines them to the unconscious, the repressed material is always liable to return in a distorted form, in symptoms, dreams, slip of the tongue, etc. (the return of the repressed). (Evans, 1996: 168)
2. School
According to theDictionary of Education, school is defined as:
an organized group of pupils pursuing defined studies at defined levels and receiving instruction from one or more teachers, frequently with the addition of other employees and officers, and a staff of maintenance workers; usually housed in a single building or group of buildings. (Dictionary of Education Third Edition, 1973: 512)
3. School system
School system is defined as:
9 CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
In order to respond the problems formulated, some reviews of related
studies and theories are provided below.
A. Review of Related Studies
James Joyce started the project ofA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
by writing an essay titled A Portrait of the Artist. “For Joyce, this ironic
autobiographical essay was an early attempt to synthesize his ideas about
aesthetics, Ireland, religion, and the role of the artist” (Bulson, 2006: 48). Out of
the essay, Joyce wrote the early version of the story under the title Stephen Hero.
This attempt was continued in completing the script of the novel. It is then
well-known as the autobiographical novel since it has a similar story as Joyce’s
personal life. Eric Bulson also states, “IfDubliners, as Joyce once said, represents
his “last look at Dublin”,Portraitis a “picture of [his] spiritual self”” (2006: 47).
The main character in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man is a boy named Stephen Dedalus. The story tells about the journey of
Stephen’s education in various schools. Generally, Stephen is a quiet boy along
his school time. He mostly stores all of his confusion in his own mind.
at every turn. Stephen roams the labyrinth searching his mind for answers. The only way out seems to be to soar above the narrow confines of the prison, as did Daedalus and his son (Braurer, 1985: 35).
Stephen is certainly influenced by the environment around him that he has such a
complicated mind. Stephen is sceptical to questions of life. According to the study
above, there are some other common things in his life which represents that the
way he has to go through in order to find the answers to the questions of life is
complicated.
Since along this book Stephen is conducting school life, he has his
personal view on how school exists to him.
Stephen then looks towards the priests at his school, but they are the same priests that beat him for not being able to do his homework because his glasses were broken. In Stephen's mind, anyone who would lay out such unjust punishment could not be the worldly interpreters of any higher being that was really true and good. Stephen still honours the priests, but cares nothing for what they preach (http://www.literature-study-online.com/essays/joyce.html.2002).
The view that ‘teachers are always right and therefore students must obey them’ is
criticized. Stephen considered his teachers as unjust persons according to his own
experience.
This research discusses a different point from those previous studies. It
pays more attention to the schools where Stephen studied. In its daily activities,
school does some actions of repression toward the students. It is a problematic
and is accepted as a necessary thing. This research figures out how the actions of
repression happen at school.
B. Review of Related Theories
To answer the problem formulation of this research, there are some
theories which are used to support the analysis. Those theories are presented
briefly as follows.
1. Theory of Character and Characterization
In the intrinsic elements of the work of literature, characters are those who
are included in the work attributed with some certain moral, intellectual, and
emotional qualities.A Glossary of Literary Termsstated that
The grounds in the characters' temperament, desires, and moral nature for their speech and actions are called their motivation…. Whether a character remains stable or changes, the reader of a traditional and realistic work expects "consistency"—the character should not suddenly break off and act in a way not plausibly grounded in his or her temperament as we have already come to know it. (Abrams, 1993: 23)
Abrams highlighted not only on the traits that characters have, but also the
existence of motivation beyond characters’ actions. This motivation is not always
mentioned, therefore an analysis on characters should do more than reading the
written things.
The method of attributing characteristics on the characters is called
characterization. According to Abrams, there are two ways of characterization:
him/her/itself shows the characteristics through talking and acting. Meanwhile, for
telling method, it is the author who is in charge to intervene in order to describe
the characters.
Other theory states that “The simplest form of characterization is naming”
(Wellek and Warren,1963: 219). The other mode out of that simplest one is by a
paragraph describing the physical appearance in detail. Another one is by
analyzing the moral and psychological nature.
M. J. Murphy even presented more complete ways of characterization
(1972: 161-173). The characteristics of a character might be identified through the
personal description written by the author, the opinions of other characters, the
character’s speech, the character’s life background, the conversation of other
characters, the reaction toward certain situations, the author’s direct comment, the
character’s thought and habits.
2. Theory of Psychoanalysis
The basis of thought in psychoanalytic theory is that what drives human
being is not the consciousness, but the unconsciousness. This idea is the
revolutionary thing which made psychoanalytic a separated discipline from
psychology in the late 19th century. The concept of ‘unconsciousness’ was firstly
introduced by a psychologist (who later became psychoanalyst) named Sigmund
Freud. The existence of unconsciousness is impossibly ‘caught in hand’, but it is
In this theory, Freud also presented his own perspective on the definition
of ‘self’. The sense of self commonly refers to the defining elements of
personality and character (Elliot, 2002: 9). Freud revolted this view by defining
self or ‘ego’ as a “dimension of subjectivity which is internally fashioned through
interpersonal relationships and intense emotional experiences, particularly
experience in early infancy and childhood” (Elliot, 2002: 10). Freud’s
breaking-through thought split the centre of the self between consciousness of the self and
the unconscious.
The very famous concept in psychoanalytic proposed by Freud is the
division of what structures human. He introduced the terms ego, superego, and id.
It is called the tripartite model (Bressler, 1998: 150). Ego is the rational, logical,
waking part of the mind. It is usually recognized by the visible entity which is the
human. Superego is thing which shapes, controls, and even restricts the ego. In
real life, superego is represented by the existence of grand narration or discourses
where humans live. Id is the more abstract entity which runs the function of being
what exactly human wants. Unconsciousness is the main distinctive point that
psychoanalysis officially deals with.
3. Theory of Subject by Lacan
The next important thinker of psychoanalysis was Jacques Lacan. He
Going along with the concept of self or subject, Lacan also developed Freud’s
concept of ‘the other’ into a more complex thought.
a. The Three Order: The Real, The Imaginary, and The Symbolic
Lacan also divided human psyche into three parts. They are the real, the
imaginary, and the symbolic. ‘The real’ is an abstract concept. It is difficult to
understand since, “…the fact that it is not a ‘thing’; it is not a material object in
the world or the human body or even the ‘reality’” (Homer, 2005: 81). ‘The real’
is the place from which human’s basic needs originate. It is pre-symbolic since
human does not have any way to symbolize it. In short, the real can be defined as
“…something that is repressed and functions unconsciously, intruding into our
symbolic reality in the form of need” (Homer, 2005: 82-83). Since the real could
not be symbolized, it can be said that, “The real exists outside of or apart from our
reality” (Fink, 1956: 25).
Imaginary phase is when human exists as unified entity with his/her
mother. Within this phase, human will recognize that he/she and the mother are
two different individuals. Later in the symbolic order, father dominates the
process. Father is the person who teaches languages (Bressler, 1998: 157). He is
also the one who separates baby from baby’s mother.
The third phase is the symbolic order. In this step, human learns how to
use language to symbolize what human had in the real order. According to Lacan,
existence is the product of language since language brings things into existence
since reality is the result of naming ‘the real’ by language and can thus be thought
and talked about (Fink, 1956: 25).
In those phases, there are some parties who are included. They are mother
and father. In this point, Lacan presented a different definition and understanding
of terms ‘mother’ and ‘father’. According to Freud’s thought, ‘mother’ and
‘father’ are defined as biological parents that a person has. Differently, Lacan
erased the sense of ‘biological’ in his own definition of those terms. To Lacan,
what to emphasize more is the function of ‘mother’ and ‘father’. Therefore, they
might be anything.
As mentioned briefly earlier, mother is the first individual from whom a
baby separated a self. Based on this statement, term ‘mother’ might be understood
as the person who gave a birth to the baby. However, in some cases Lacan also
called a ‘babysitter’ as a mother. Essentially, ‘mother’ is the person who
intensively takes care of the baby. “The mother manifests herself in the real as the
primary caretaker of the infant” (Evans, 1996: 121).
Lacan’s ‘father’ appears in more various forms. Playing a role as a father
in Lacan’s thought means separating the baby from the mother and teaching
languages. Teaching languages in this context means showing how a reality
speaks and then teaching the way to respond it. Thus, Evans also mentioned that a
father ‘makes possible an entry into social existence” (1996: 62). While the term
‘mother’ is commonly used in many contexts without being different in meaning,
father, and the symbolic father. In An Introductory Dictionary to Lacanian
Psychoanalysis, the real father is the man who is said to be subject’s biological
father (Evans, 1996: 63). The imaginary father could be defined as the ideal figure
of father that a subject has. This figure is commonly omnipotent and an
all-powerful protector (1996: 63). “The symbolic father is not a real being but a
position, a function, and hence is synonymous with the term ‘paternal function’”
(1996: 63). This paternal function is what has been explained before about father’s
role. In other term, the symbolic father is also called ‘the name of the father’.
In relation to mother, father is the one who runs the function of giving
other versions of reality to be seen by the subject out of subject’s own mother’s
version of reality. Therefore, father usually does an action of repression in order to
make the subject able to comprehend the reality. Father needs to teach the subject
to repress subject’s desire which usually is related to a bond to the mother by
setting a condition for a subject to do something before gaining pleasure from it.
A common example of it is the requirement to get parents’ appreciation by leading
education as high as possible.
b. The ‘other’ and the ‘Other’
Both terms ‘other’ and ‘Other’ generally refer to the concept of subject
alteration. In Freud’s thought, term ‘other’ is used to express ‘the other person’
and ‘the otherness’. Lacan developed the concept and distinguish ‘the little other’
letter o. In French, these terms are spelled autreand Autre, therefore the symbols
for them areaand A.
“The little other is the other who is not really other, but a reflection and
projection of the EGO” (Evans, 1996: 135). The little other is also known as
‘objet petit a’ which represents the cause and at the same time the object of desire
which human seeks in the other. Evans also explained it as something which is
imagined as something separable from the body. Thus, the little other is only
‘imagined’ as something separable while truly it is not.
“The big Other designates radical alterity, an other-ness which transcends
the illusory otherness of the imaginary because it cannot be assimilated through
identification” (Evans, 1996: 136). The big Other seems to be a more concrete
alteration. It represents the other subject. In the process that each human leads,
mother is the first person who occupies the position of Other for the infant.
4. Theory of Desire and Symptom
a. Desire
Lacan distinguished the concept of ‘desire’ from the terms ‘need’ and
‘demand’. He provided the distinctive point from which people may differentiate
each of them. “Need is purely a biological instinct, an appetite which emerges
according to the requirements of organism and which abates completely (even if
only temporarily) when satisfied” (Evans, 1996: 37). The simple example of it is
Since human was born in the condition of powerless and dependent to the
other human, this basic biological need can only be satisfied by the other human.
For instance, a baby’s need of nutrition is satisfied by being breastfed by the
mother. In fact, need is only understood by the individual whom it belongs to.
Therefore, to get someone else’s help in order to satisfy it, need must be expressed
vocally in the form of ‘demand’. Demand is expressed with two functions: an
articulation of need and a demand for love. Although the need can be satisfied by
giving the object of the need to the person, the Other could not give the love that
the person demands.
Therefore, there is something left unsatisfied. It is the desire. Unlike the
need and demand, which turn to other needs and demands when one is satisfied,
desire is always unable to satisfy. The object of desire is only one. It is called
“objet petit a”. It is not the material object which desire tends, but it is the cause
of desire. The reason of being so is explained by Evans like this, “Desire is not a
relation to an object, but a relation to a LACK” (1996: 38). This is one of the
points that Lacan believed as the incompleteness of self, no one is whole. Human
always lacks of something.
b. Symptom
Symptom is a term which is commonly used in medical field. Since
psychoanalysis was first a clinical study, it adopts a similar concept of symptom
from medical perception.
experienced) and the hidden causes of those phenomena which cannot be experienced but must be inferred (Evans, 1996: 205).
The distinctive point between symptom in medical field with the one
which is in psychoanalysis is the ability of the symptom to lead the analysis to a
valid hidden phenomena occurred in a person. In medical world, certain symptom
leads the analyst to arrive to a diagnosis about what a person tends to suffer from.
In psychoanalysis, something is considered as a symptom in one condition: it is
repeated for many times. According to many cases that have been analyzed,
symptom is always something which is contrasted to the desire it represents. In
literal association, a description of a symptom usually does not have any relation
with the repressed desire. Symptom could not be the only sign to determine the
condition of a person. It still needs more complex method of collecting
information from various aspects of the person’s life to eventually be able to come
to the nearest conclusion.
Another difference between medical symptom and psychoanalytic
symptom is the aim of figuring it out. Medic does an effort to relate a symptom to
an illness that the patient has in order to cure the illness. In psychoanalysis,
figuring out a symptom does not aim to remove it. It is considered as something
which is not necessary since when a symptom disappears, another one will replace
it (Evans, 1996: 205). Thus, along the life, human always suffers from symptoms.
According to Freud’s theory of repression, symptom is one of the forms by which
5. Theory of Repression
In Freud’s concept of the division of psyche (ego, superego, and id), these
three entities work in a process of repression. Peter Barry in Beginning Theory
defined repression as “…the ‘forgetting’ or ignoring of unresolved conflicts,
unadmitted desires, or traumatic past events, so that they are forced out of
conscious awareness and into the realm of the unconscious” (Barry, 2009: 92-93).
(repression) Id is always considered as something which is too vulgar or not
appropriate to be expressed directly. Therefore, it must be repressed so that it
would not come out in another inappropriate form. This function is run by
superego. As the result of the repression, there comes the ego as the most proper
form of the expression of id.
When something in human mind is repressed, it does not totally disappear.
“…it remains alive in the unconscious, like radioactive matter buried beneath the
ocean, and constantly seeks a way back into the conscious mind, always
succeeding eventually” (Barry, 2009: 96). Freud once stated, “There is always a
return of the repressed.” According to Freud’s statement, each person will give the
way back to his repressed fear and wish. Freud explained that those repressed
things might come back in the form of symptoms, dreams, or slips of tongue.
Basically, Lacan agreed with Freud’s thought about repression. He did not
state a radical differentiation from it. However, since Lacan presented a different
theory of subject, there are some things that are needed to be paid attention to. In
reason with the reason of repressing id is attributed on this action. It is because the
desire is considered as something which is too vulgar to be expressed that it
should be repressed.
The process of repression starts when a subject meets the Other. Through
the relationship they have, the Other will always make a limitation on the self of
the subject. Subject’s desire is repressed by the influence of the Other that it will
result in a more appropriate expression that can be accepted by the circumstance
around the subject. Following the same logic that Freud presented, this repressed
thing returns in some certain forms. The existence of repression is recognized
through the existence of symptoms that the subject shows. The symptoms appear
in the symbolic phase.
Lacan’s famous saying was that the unconscious is structured like a
language (Barry, 2009: 106). In Lacanian analysis, the symptoms are identified
from the speech that a subject speaks. Every single word and even letter is
showing the structure of subject’s unconsciousness. By paying attention to
subject’s speech as a symptom in symbolic phase, the desire that a subject has
repressed can be associated with.
“…that psychoanalytic theory inserts itself, seeking to uncover repressed
or overdetermined aspects of self-organization” (Elliot, 2002: 10). Psychoanalysis
runs its function by paying attention to the forms of the returning repressed and
relating them to the other aspects of the person analyzed to eventually make an
function is helpful to the patient with disturbance since when the repressed could
not be recognized by the patient, he/she would not be able to solve the problem.
6. The Relations between Literature and Psychoanalysis
In the history of psychoanalytic criticism, the very first time it was
introduced as psychobiography. This method tries to relate the biographical data
of the author to the latent content of his/her work. In 1950s, the method turned to
the character analysis, studying the various aspects of characters’ minds (Bressler,
1998: 161). Psychoanalytical literary criticism was then divided into four kinds
depending on the object of attention. “It can attend to the author of the work; to
the work’scontents; to its formal construction; or to the reader” (Eagleton, 1996:
155). This study used the work’s content as the object.
In relation to literature, Freud believed that a work of literature is the
external expression of the author’s unconscious mind. The author (it is also
usually known as the artist), like most of human beings, is neurotic. The neurotic
then “is oppressed by unusually powerful instinctual needs which lead him to turn
away from reality to fantasy” (Eagleton, 1996: 156). Work of literature is the
outward manifestation of the author’s repressed wish. Therefore, it might be
considered as the dream or fantasy of the author (Bressler, 1998: 159).
Psychoanalytic critic believes that somewhere beyond various levels of the story,
According to the concept of jouissance (it is translated in English as
pleasure), it can be said that literature and psychoanalysis have a simple
connection in between. Since instinctively human always avoids pain and seeks
pleasure, every little action that human does is expected to lead human into
pleasure. Reading literature is also included in such action. Therefore, the reason
why people read works of literature is because “they find them pleasurable”
(Eagleton, 1996: 166).
To understand why works of literature are considered to be pleasurable, it
should be related to the previous explanation about the statement that it is the
manifestation of repressed things. Eagleton described the reason as that it
transforms our deepest anxieties and desires into socially acceptable meanings.
C. Theoretical Framework
There are three theories which are used in this research. The first one is the
theory of character and characterization. This theory is the means to analyze the
work through intrinsic elements, character. It is used to figure out the
characteristics of some significant characters in the story, such as Stephen and
other characters included in his school life.
The second one is psychoanalytic theory. Through the characteristics and
characterization of the characters, this research analyzes how such action and
thought were conducted by the characters in the story. Psychoanalytic criticism
unconscious repressed ideas of the characters or situations through reading the
symptoms and any other signs shown by them.
The third one is the theory of subject presented by Lacan. The first
sub-point in the explanation of this theory is functioned to recognize the process that
the characters in the story as a ‘subject’ (in Lacan’s term) lead. Afterwards, the
theory of Other is used to identify the parts of school system which make
limitation and repression.
The theory of desire and symptom is closely related to the theory of
repression. These theories are the means to analyze whether the examples of cases
taken in the analysis are truly a repression or not. In each case, the characters
involved show some symptoms. These symptoms are figured out. Besides the
symptoms, the desire of the characters is also identified. A repression is
recognized when there is a limitation and pressure given to the desire. Then, it is
proven by the existence of the forms of “the return of the repressed” where
25 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
This research is done on a fiction novel written by James Joyce titled A
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Before being published in the form of
book, this story was published in The Egoistduring 1914 – 1915 as a serial. The
very first version of the book was published in 1916 in United States. Afterwards,
the first British edition was published in 1917 in Ireland. The book which is used
in this research is the edition that is published by Wordsworth Editions Limited in
1992. This work is divided into five chapters with pages of the notes of the text
(which are more like appendix) to help the readers in understanding the book by
giving some additional background information outside the text about the terms
used in the novel.
This work is Joyce’s first debut which is considered as one of the three
greatest novels he had ever written out of Ullysesand Dubliners. This novel had
been once adapted into a film by Judith Rascoe and directed by Joseph Strick in
1977.
James Joyce’sA Portrait of the Artist as a Young Manmostly talks about a
boy named Stephen Dedalus and his school life. He came from a Catholic Ireland
many problems in the early period of school. He got homesick very often. He had
only few friends.
Clongowes School was very strict in its discipline. No students were
allowed neither to make mistake nor to break the rules. When there was any, the
students would be punished by the prefect of the school. Stephen had also had the
experiences of being punished even though he had not broken any rules.
Therefore, Stephen was a very quiet student who never protested.
In a school break after some years passed in Clongowes, Stephen came
back home for a holiday. He found that his family was having a financial problem
that finally forced him to stop schooling in Clongowes. He could not go back to
that school. Stephen was moved by his father to another cheaper school called
Belvedere.
Stephen experienced some new things. He made his first sexual
intercourse with a prostitute. He experienced the time when he paid not of any
attention to his religious life. He met more prostitutes as ignoring his religion
values. In the end, Stephen felt very guilty. He was very sorry for what he had
done and finally he decided to be more concerned with his Christian values.
Stephen continued to study in a university. In this period of school,
Stephen started to discuss deeply and extrovertly his ideological and political
point of view with his fellows. Another significant change that happened in this
stage was that he set himself free from many limitation and pressure he was
had become trivia. He concerned no more with it. He had desire to be an artist by
doing writing. He enlarged his chance to follow his dream more and more.
Finally, he decided to leave England and became free to do what he loved in his
life.
B. Approach of the Study
In Bressler’s Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice,
psychoanalytic criticism is one of the schools used to make a criticism on a
literary work. Psychoanalytic criticism was first developed by Sigmund Freud and
as the time went by, it has been becoming more complex as it has diverse form of
development. Psychoanalytic was firstly introduced as the therapy for people with
psychological disturbance. As it is developed into a literary criticism, it is still
related to the concept of clinical psychoanalytic. It mainly talks about the
unconsciousness which drives human being’s action.
According to Bressler (1999: 161), psychoanalytic criticism is an
approach to literary analysis that holds that we humans as the complex yet
somewhat understandable creatures often fail to note the influence of the
unconscious on our motivations and our everyday actions. This idea is the starting
point of the analysis of this research since related to the practice of education,
specifically in school, people who had joined that process for a very long time are
runs on this method. Those who are included in the process of education in school
unconsciously conduct and nourish this phenomenon.
In this kind of criticism, the critic has to read the text of the unconscious.
It might be meant to seek what the text does not say or to read the hidden
meaning of the text. Psychoanalysis does not only do that, but also does the steps
of uncovering the processes, the dream-work, by which that text was produced.
To do this, the critic uses the method of symptomatic reading. What to seek are
“distortions, ambiguities, absence and elisions which may provide a specially
valuable mode of access to the ‘latent content’, or unconscious drives, which have
gone into its making” (Eagleton, 1996: 158).
The analysis in this study is done in the textual level using Lacanian
psychoanalysis. This criticism is chosen to analyze the work because it deals with
the unconscious repression toward the student characters done by school in the
story. For those reasons, psychoanalytic criticism is the most suitable approach to
work this research with.
C. Method of the Study
This research was done over a library research. Some previous studies on
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man are the references in collecting some
point of view on this work. To reach the goal of this research, there are some
In doing the analysis, representative and significant data from the work
were collected to be the basis of this research. Afterwards, the characters and their
characterization in the novel were found out. The next step used the result of
characters analysis to figure out the repression that happened to students through
some aspects of the school system. By using the theory of the psychoanalytic
criticism, such actions explained in the previous step are proven whether they are
the actions of repression or not by considering the criteria and the impacts of a
30 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
The writing format of the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by
James Joyce is rather different from the common novels written by other authors.
Every direct expression spoken by the characters in this novel is not written in
between the quotation marks (“…”). Instead, James Joyce uses dash mark (-) to start
the direct sentence of the characters. It is quite difficult and problematic then to
differentiate between the direct spoken statement and the indirect one (especially
when both are used in one expression). However, the writer tries to give extra notes in
some potentially problematic quotations.
A. Description of Characteristics
Since this research discusses the repression toward students at school, the
characters included in the dynamic of the story are those who deal with the school
activities. It is classified into two significant groups: student and teacher. In this part,
each group is represented by several important characters belonging to the group.
1. Stephen Dedalus
Stephen Dedalus is the main character of the novel. In the early part of the
the story accompanies him passing his school time until he continues his study to a
university. Stephen enters a school named Clongowes School. It is a school for boys
only. The school obliges all students to live in the dormitories apart from home and
parents. Clongowes is managed by the Society of Jesus, the community of Catholic
priests who are well-known as the Jesuits. Clongowes is a real school in Ireland
founded by Father Peter Kenny in 1814.
Along his time of study in formal education institutions, Stephen grows.
Therefore, the description about his characteristics is divided into two parts. The first
one represents Stephen’s characteristics during school time and the second part shows
the change after he graduates and continues to the university.
a. Characteristics of Stephen Dedalus during School Period
Using the theories of M. J. Murphy and M. H. Abrams, there are some
characteristics of Stephen Dedalus that can be revealed.
a.1. Clever
Stephen Dedalus does a great job in his school period. Since he has very few
distractions from around, he can concern more with his study.
Stephen felt his own face red too, thinking of all the bets about who would get first place in elements, Jack Lawton or he. Some weeks Jack Lawton got the card for first and some weeks he got the card for first (Joyce, 1992: 7).
The situation in the quotation happens when Stephen’s class has ‘the hour of
and his friend Jack Lawton compete in the class discussion. Both are often in the first
position of the class. It means that Stephen is clever that he can be the cleverest
student in every lesson.
In the story, Stephen cannot finish his study at Clongowes due to the financial
problem of the family. His father then sends him to a cheaper school called
Belvedere. At this school, Stephen keeps up his good reputation as a clever student.
Stephen, though in deference to his reputation for essay writing he had been elected secretary to the gymnasium, had had no part in the first section of the programme but in the play which formed the second section he had the chief part, that of a farcial pedagogue (1992:55).
Stephen seems to have a good ability of writing that his essays are known well
by the school. Besides, he is often chosen to take an important position in student
activities.
Since basically Stephen is clever, this characteristic does not gradually change
when he enters the university. He remains a clever boy. The explanation about this is
presented in the part talking about his characteristics in university.
a.2. Quiet
Stephen Dedalus is a bit shy. He has only few friends at Clongowes. To these
few friends, Stephen rarely talks. He mostly thinks and seldom lets it out.
This narration describes what is going on in Stephen’s mind when he faces an
event. A day before, five students from higher class escaped from school to avoid
punishment. They have just done ‘smugging’. According to Cassell’s Dictionary of
Slang, ‘smug’ is an Irish word in 20th century to represent “to engage in homosexual
practices” (Green, 2003: 1099).
Stephen does not understand what his friends have been talking about. Instead
of asking, he only wonders in his mind. Eventually, Stephen does not say what he
thinks about that story to any of his friend. Stephen keeps it for himself.
Another situation also shows that Stephen is quiet. Once he has been punished
by the teacher named Father Dolan for no mistake. When Father Dolan comes to him,
he asks Stephen what his name is. Stephen answers, “Dedalus, Sir.” After a very little
conversation, Father Dolan asks his name again. Stephen answers for the second
times. After the class, Stephen thinks about it again.
Why could he not remember the name when he was told the first time? Was he not listening the first time or was it to make fun out of the name? The great men in the history had names like that and nobody made fun of them. It was his own name that he should have made fun of if he wanted to make fun. Dolan: it was like the name of a woman who washed clothes (Joyce, 1992: 41).
Stephen gets emotional after he realizes that he is punished for nothing. He is
angry at Father Dolan but he cannot express it since he must obey the teacher. He
finally has his own judgement about Father Dolan. However, Stephen never says it
verbally even with his close friend as a mock to a teacher just like what other students
Even though Stephen’s characteristic of quietness changes when he enters
university, it still leaves tracks. Some of his friends in university view him as a man
who talks too little. “—Dedalus, you’re an antisocial being, wrapped up in yourself”
(1992: 136). It seemed like Stephen does not talk a lot then as the result he has very
few friends. Therefore, his friend calls him ‘antisocial being’. His experiences of only
thinking and not talking something out may be the clue to the meaning of ‘wrapped
up in yourself’.
a.3. Critical
Stephen is curious to new things. He questions many things around him. Since
Stephen is rather quiet, he mostly just thinks and keeps his questions in mind. One
example showing his critical characteristic is Stephen’s writing on his Geography
book.
Stephen Dedalus Class of Elements
Clongowes Wood College Sallins
County Kildare Ireland
Europe The World
The Universe(1992: 9-10)
could be a thin thin line there all round everything. It was very big to think about everything and everywhere (1992: 10).
Stephen tries to discover what comes after the universe. At first he just wants
to write the identity of the owner of the book. He continues a little bit longer and
finds a question about the existence of the thing after the universe. Stephen questions
something which is rarely thought by common people in common situation.
In other time, Stephen questions the punishment that is given to the students
while they are in class. When Stephen and his friend, Fleming, are punished by the
prefect of the studies (Father Dolan), a teacher named Father Arnall is teaching in that
class. He does not do anything to stop Father Dolan from punishing his students.
Even that he knows that Stephen has no mistake, he lets Father Dolan punishes him.
Stephen is confused by the system of the school where he studies. A teacher
may do physical punishment to the students without anyone advocates the victims.
The authority of Father Dolan as the prefect of studies is the reason why Father
Arnall acts that way.
Stephen’s habit to question things around him occurs many times and
continues along his life. Therefore, he may be classified as a critical boy.
a.4. Religious
Stephen is born in a Catholic Ireland family. The tradition of Catholicism is
very strong in his family. This is also the reason why his parents enroll him at
As a Catholic school, Clongowes rules its system based on the rules of
Catholicism. Clongowes is a boarding school, therefore it is easier for the school to
manage the students following the religious activities. Since Stephen is one of the
students, he also follows the religious routine along his school time. As the result,
Stephen grows as a religious person.
At a moment, Stephen used to imagine himself dead and be brought in a
corpse to a mass. He thinks about his life.
… the body had died and the soul stood terrified before the judgement seat. God, who had long been merciful, would then be just. He had long been patient, pleading with the sinful soul, giving it time to repent, sparing it yet awhile. … Now it was God’s turn: and He was not to be hoodwinked or deceived (1992: 86).
Stephen seems to have a close relationship with God that he can guess how
long God has been waiting and what God has been doing along that time. He builds
his own imagination of God’s feeling toward sinful people. This can be done by
Stephen because he has references from religion that talks about the judgement day
and how God treats human.
Another case shows the religious self of Stephen. He does an evening praying
in his room. He does it for the sake of making himself feeling better.
Stephen takes time to look back to what kind of human he has been. He
wishes that he could have found the sins he has made and asks to be forgiven by God.
In that prayer, Stephen finds that he is guilty.
Could it be that he, Stephen Dedalus, had done those things? His conscience sighed in answer. Yes, he had done them, secretly, filthily, time after time, and, hardened in sinful impenitence, he had dared to wear the mask of holiness before the tabernacle itself while his soul within was a living mass of corruption (1992: 105).
Such quotation indicates that in his past life, Stephen does not really care
about the things he does right or wrong. He just passes it all by concerning less with
the consequence of doing things. At that time of praying, he eventually realizes the
sins he has done. Stephen’s expression of guilty in that prayer seems a bit hyperbolic.
He calls himself ‘a living mass of corruption’ who ‘wear the mask of holiness’. This
expression implies a very great feeling of guilty. Stephen can possibly feel that way
because of his perception about God. In his mind, God is the thing that gives love
unconditionally to everyone including Stephen. This view is proven by Stephen’s
mind, “But he could not longer disbelieve in the reality of love, since God himself
had loved his individual soul with divine love from all eternity” (1992: 115). When
he does a sin, it might show that he fails to love God back.
Religiosity is a struggling journey to Stephen. He often questions it (shown by
two quotations above that consist of question). He himself is in the journey to seek
his personal attitude toward religion. It is clarified when he is having a talk with a
—… how your mind is supersaturated with the religion in which you say you disbelieve. Did you believe in it when you were at school? I bet you did. —I did, Stephen answered.
—And were you happier then? Cranly asked softly, happier than you are now, for instance?
—Often happy, Stephen said, and often unhappy. I was someone else then (1992: 185).
(P.S. The phrase “Cranly asked softly” and “Stephen said” are indirect expression. The rest of the conversation is direct ones.)
Stephen admits that he believes in religion when he is a student at school. He
is even happy to be such person. However, in some other times he feels like being
someone else. Hence, he is indeed a religious person with his sceptical thought and
continuing struggle.
b. Characteristics of Stephen Dedalus in the University
Having finished his study at school, Stephen continues his education process
in a university. The story about his life in university shows that he is not the same
Stephen Dedalus anymore. His mother even gives comment on him when he takes a
holiday at home, “—… and you’ll live to rue the day you set your foot in that place. I
know how it has changed you” (1992: 135). Something inside him has changed.
Some characteristics remain still, though. Those changes include his characteristics
presented below.
b.1. Brave
During his years at school, Stephen is a very quiet and shy boy. He has
