Did we miss a monumental moment in Stephen’s coming-of-age?


I miss Stephen from the first chapter. He was quirky and shy. I loved how curious he was and how his train of thought skipped from topic to topic. I sympathized with him when the other fellows at school bullied him. Throughout the first chapter, Stephen appears as somewhat of an innocent and obedient child. He cannot wait to go home to see his parents and he seems to listen to whatever his father tells him. When he gets sick and Wells come into his room to make sure Stephen is not going to tell on him, Stephen thinks to himself, “His father had told him, whatever he did, never to peach on a fellow.” Even though Wells pushed him into some sort of sewage pool, Stephen takes his father’s advice and doesn’t “peach” on Wells. It appears that his father is an important and respected important in his life.  

As I started reading chapter two, I was surprised by the shift in tone of the book. Stephen’s stream of consciousness was completely different. His thoughts were angry and sullen. He seems like a very different person from the Stephen in chapter one. He looks down on people and he has formed a distance from his family. His father who he used to look up to embarrasses him now. Stephen also does not seem as shy in the second chapter. He appears to have friends/enemies who he is on the same level with and he is no longer bullied the same way he was at Clongowes.

I feel like we missed a monumental moment in Stephen’s coming-of-age. Something happened in between chapter one and chapter two that caused a drastic change is Stephen’s character. I wish that James Joyce had included a chapter in which Stephen was transitioning from childhood to adolescence. I don’t think Stephen immediately came of age between chapters one and two. Like we discussed in class, coming-of-age does not have to be at a specific moment or age but can be a buildup of experiences such as getting your driver’s license or your first job.

 I’m interested if there was a specific event that caused Stephen to mature. Maybe the fact that his family is having financial trouble caused him to become an angsty teen. Or maybe Stephen is just acting moody and horny because he is becoming a teenager. Whatever the reason for Steven’s change in character, I think it would be interesting to have a chapter in between chapter one and two that showed how/why Stephen’s character changed so much.

Comments

  1. Sophia SchmitzJanuary 18, 2019 at 12:44 PM

    I miss chapter one Steven too! I think that the transition from being a young child to teen happens in everyone. We all lose innocence as we get older and older. We all went through a phase in out lives where we were really cringe and I think that the same thing is happening to Steven. He is growing up and changing. I also think that his more depressed outlook on life has to do with his families increasingly worse financial situation because it would have an effect on anyone.

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  2. Jenna LeeJanuary 19, 2019 at 1:55 PM

    I agree, it feels frustrating that Joyce doesn't ever really reveal what the financial troubles of Stephen's family is because then it's hard to justify all the changes happening in Stephen's personality. Like, if we knew that Stephen's father had squandered a bunch of money and Stephen found out, then we might be more sympathetic to Stephen's shift to annoyance and superior outlook on his father.

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  3. Katie CJanuary 31, 2019 at 10:26 AM

    I agree; this drastic change in the narration felt sudden and off-putting. I'm inclined to think that, as you suggested, this transformation in Stephen's character is due to him becoming a teenager, though I hadn't thought about his family's financial trouble being a factor. I think around middle school most people quickly start to become cynical and moody, and Stephen, who already felt different from the fellows when he was young, was just slightly more susceptible to these changes.

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