A Covenant with His Heart

“He would kneel and pray with others and be happy” (143).

Points for Reflection

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Chps. 3-4

Chp. 3

1. any thoughts as to why Joyce does not render the first part of the sermon on last things as if spoken aloud (112-15), but then switches to the priest’s live speech (117-35)?
2. why do the students wish Stephen to be the one who poses questions about the catechism to the rector?
3. what do the similes Stephen generates reveal about the inhabitants of his imagination?
4. trace those moments when Stephen references birds, either literally or figuratively. What might their preponderance portend?'
5. Stephen, whose poor sight from a very young age necessarily shapes his understanding of reality, his sense of self, and his confidence, also impacts his understanding of darkness.  As you may recall, darkness sometimes carries positive associations (65, 91) and other times quite negative connotations (89).  Which win out in chapter three?
6. does a desire for relational intimacy draw Stephen to the brothels, or base lust?
7. Stephen recalls again (103) those lines from P. B. Shelley’s “To the moon” [an incomplete poem fragment] about the moon “wandering companionless” (95-96).  Why might Stephen repeatedly return to this particular image from nature?
8. is melancholia as much a necessary ingredient of Stephen’s sense of self as isolation?
9. to what “promptings of our corrupt nature to the lower instincts, to that which is gross and beastlike” do you imagine the preacher is alluding (127)?  Does his pronouncement allow for the possibility that some human instincts are innately good?
10. what might it look like to live according to Father Arnall’s prescription, to live “for one thing and for one thing alone: to do God’s holy will and to save our immortal souls” (110).  Does he conjure up a vision of freedom and agency, or limitation and constriction?
11. as noted by Stephen, what other sins does lust trigger?
12. what dangerous thought does Stephen ask his angel guardian to help ward him against (139-40)?
13. the lead speaker at the retreat prompts his audience to use their creative imaginations to visualize elements of his message.  Does Stephen’s own imagination heighten or lesson the intensity of the speaker’s rhetoric and imagery?
14. how does the death which Stephen imagines for himself in this chapter compare with that recalled from his youth at Clongowes?
15. does Stephen view God’s grace as something freely given, or something earned?
16. why does Stephen so long withhold himself from praying to ask for forgiveness for his sin?
17. which do the sermons on death emphasize more, God’s mercy or judgment? As configured by the speaker, do they appear to be discrete characteristics, or can they exist simultaneously?
18. does the speaker discuss judgment as involving community, in any way, or as a solitary experience?
19. does Stephen’s experience in his bedroom, following the final retreat sermon, constitute the kind of spiritual warfare described by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6:10-18?
20. what might Joyce intends the reader to conclude, as concerns Stephen’s vision (137-38).  Is this delirium or a divine warning?  A hallucination conjured by fear, or a helpful vision spun by the Holy Spirit and his own imagination working in tandem?
21. why does Stephen walk through the brothel district once again (140)?
22. Stephen is now a prefect in the college of the sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary (104).  When Stephen considers his sexual infractions, does awareness of the mother of Christ made him feel accused or forgiven?
23. in what ways has Stephen’s sexually charged imagination engaged with his memories of Emma Clery?
24. as configured by the preacher, was Eve more culpable than Adam in humanity’s fall from grace?
25. what areas of Stephen’s conscious and unconscious life have his sexual desires touched and shaped?
26. does Stephen pursue confession in a manner more consistent with Catholic or Protestant practice?
27. for what array of reasons does the priest who receives Stephen’s confession discourage sexual sin?
28. does identifying as a sinner in need of redemption isolate Stephen or connect him to others?
29. how does kneeling next to other “humble followers of Jesus” in the Church Street chapel impact Stephen’s ambitions and that discomfort with a working class fate which has so long haunted him?
30. does the process promise to draw, ultimately, towards peace and happiness, or sorrow and suffering?
31. how does Stephen’s new sense of being forgiven impact the way he looks at his surroundings?

Chp. 4

1. how instrumental are Stephen’s powers of self-control and self-discipline in achieving those spiritual goals which he sets for himself?
2. how successful is Stephen at exercising control over his emotions and body?
3. must Stephen understand something fully to accept it?
4. do Stephen’s confessors encourage him to let go of past sins or to recall it?
5. which ultimately wins out in Stephen’s heart, the desire to surrender more thoroughly to obedience, or the desire to embrace wild disorder?
6. does Stephen imagine his family ties strengthening or weakening in the years to come?
7. could Stephen be perfectly satisfied living by himself on an island?  To what degree does he need others in his life?
8. what forms of power does Stephen wish to wield at different stages in his spiritual evolution?
9. do Stephen’s questions about religious mysteries unsettle, or deepen, his faith?
10. does Stephen’s new devotion to spiritual excellence drive away all anxiety? Why, or why not?
11. which emotions does Stephen’s religious journey stoke, and which does it seek to quell?
12. how long-lived is Stephen’s conclusion that “He had no temptations to sin mortally” (151)?
13. does Stephen’s imagination prove equally powerful in shaping his thoughts while pursuing spiritual excellence as when not?
14. how integral a part of Stephen’s creative processes is music?
15. does Stephen appreciate Nature’s beauty more, or less, when pursuing the spiritual life?
16. does appreciation of the female body appear incompatible with the highest moral virtue?
17. is the ecstatic epiphany Stephen has while thinking on his surname (169) similar in substance, shape, and/or direction to the religious epiphany he had at the end of chapter three?
18. when Stephen concludes that he’s giving his soul over to “life” instead of “the world of duties and despair” (169), what might he mean by “life”?
19. does Stephen at any point reject his religious faith in unequivocal terms?
20. recall young Stephen’s desire “to meet in the real world the unsubstantial image which his soul so constantly beheld” in his imagination (65).  Which better fits the bill, the vision he conjurers of himself as an inventor flying over the ocean, or the bird-like young girl he sees out on the strand?
21. Stephen calls his delight in a young woman’s beauty “an outburst of profane joy,” crying out, “Heavenly God!” (171).  Does this juxtaposition indicate an unconscious conclusion that pleasure in beauty is God-ordained?

Road to Destiny (c.1914)
Mary Swanzy

Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu