Portrait of the Artist

"Perhaps that first hasty confession wrung from him by the fear of hell had not been good? Perhaps, concerned only for his imminent doom, heahad not had sincere sorrow for his sin?" (147).

Joyce suggests that is can be prudent to live for the end, or with the end in mind, but one should never exist in fear of the end.



"How foolish his aim had been! He had tried to build a breakwater of order and elegance against the sordid tide of life without him and to dam up, by rules of conduct and active interests and new filial relations, the powerful recurrence of the tide within him. Useless. From without as from within the water had flowed over his barriers: their tides began once more to jostle fiercely above the crumbled mole" (92).

When Stephen attempts to resist the joys of life because he fears the end (something which he believes will contain an ultimate judgement) he eventually can not maintain such an outlook. He realizes that life should be enjoyed without concern for death. Once again, Joyce tells us not to live in fear of the end.



"And remember, my dear boys, that we have been sent into this world for one thing and for one thing alone: to do God’s holy will and to save our immortal souls. All else is worthless" (104).

The idea that one must live life completely for God in order that one might save one's soul in the after life, is a central theme to the novel, but also one that Stephen chooses to reject because of the religious life's restrictions on his artistic ability.



"It was true. God was almighty. God could call him now, call him as he sat at his desk, before he had time to be conscious of the summons. God had called him… His brain was simmering and bubbling within the cracking tenement of the skull. Flames burst from his skull like a corolla, shrieking like voices: Hell! Hell! Hell! Hell!" (119).

Stephen, although skeptical about religious practice, still believes in an omnipotent God that has the power to bring about the end at any moment.