Analysis of Stephen Dedalus’s search for an identity in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce, is considered to be one of the 
principal examples of the genre Kunstlerroman (the novel of the artist). This study analyzes 
the search of the protagonist Stephen Dedalus for an identity, which encompasses a time 
period from his infancy to his late adolescence. 
Brought up by a pious Catholic governess, Stephen Dedalus is exposed to the term ‘morality’ 
at a very young age. Due to Ireland’s turbulent political atmosphere, in which the church 
plays an important role, young Stephen becomes aware of the conflict between the secular 
front and the Irish Church. As he gradually gets disinterested in Irish politics as a result of its 
aggressive complexity and the death of a national hero, he begins to develop a sense of 
‘difference’, in relation to his realisation of his odd surname. Later on, the economic decline 
of the Dedalus family and his father’s reckless attitude prompt him to isolate himself from the 
family firstly through sex, and then through religious uprightness. However, when he finally 
realises that his surname alludes to a Greek myth of liberation, he spurns the idea of joining a 
religious order and officially recognises his inherent qualities that fit in with the definition of 
an artist.