A Comparison Of Differing Bildungsroman

A Comparison of Differing Bildungsromans

Falling under the somewhat broad category of “coming of age”, Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce compare in the sense that both novels display the development of their respective protagonists; however, their young lives differ nevertheless. The distinctive narrations of the novels is integral to the psychological development of the characters: through these narrations, the difference between the two maturing protagonists is best exemplified with their contrasting responses to religion and morals. By comparing the characters of differing journeys and time periods, the two novels together reveal the importance of achieving self realization in order

to reach maturity and thus, inner peace.
While Jane Eyre is narrated in the first person point of view, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is narrated in the third person limited point of view; it is limited to the inner thoughts of the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus.

Bronte’s first person point of view is best characterized as external, being that even the formative years of Jane’s life are narrated by the protagonist after she has reached maturity, and says, “I have recorded in detail the events of my insignificant existence: to the first ten years if my life, I have given almost as many chapters” (Brontë 84). In contrast, the sophistication of Joyce’s third person narration matures as Stephen himself matures: while Stephen is still a small child in the beginning of the novel, he describes himself as “baby Tuckoo” (Joyce 3) and talks about how “the moocow came down the road where Betty Byrne lived” (Joyce 3). Although these narrations offer different facets of the same formative years, both narrations allow the reader to follow the growth of the two characters as their experiences cause them to

mature.
In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, religion plays a very large role in Stephen’s life: even in his earliest days of childhood, he is seen trying to understand the complexities of God and how His relationship with the rest of the world seems to be blind to the cultural barriers that the rest of the world cannot possibly overcome (Joyce 15). His neutrality towards faith dramatically changes after Father Arnall’s speech at the retreat: “The next day brought death and judgement, stirring his soul slowly from its listless despair. The faint glimmer of fear became a terror of spirit as the hoarse voice of the preacher blew death into his soul. He suffered its agony” (Joyce 136). In fact, Father Arnall’s depiction of hell manifests a fear within Stephen that is so strong that it dictates his life for the next chapter, forcing him to attempt to rid himself of all worldly desires and even consider being a priest. In contrast, after Mr. Brocklehurst informs Jane on the horrors of hell, Jane’s response is nothing like that of Stephen’s: Jane simply replies that in order to avoid hell, she “must keep in good health and not die” (Brontë 32).
However, despite Jane’s apparent apathy towards the idea of hell, she does struggle with the idea of morality.

Although morality and ethics are indispensable to the avoidance of hell, Stephen’s fixation on religion is not quite equivalent to Jane’s struggle with morality. Similarly to the way that Stephen’s curiosity with religion begins at a young age, Jane’s moral compass too begins to form at a young age when she is a new student at Lowood. After Helen discusses the importance of forgiveness with Jane, Jane disagrees: “If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people would have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse” (Bronte 57); here, she is seen rejecting Christian values of forgiveness in return for her idea of justice. Although it is in the context of sin, Stephen too ponders morality; he does not hesitate to question the morality church officials: “Was that a sin for Father Arnall to be in a wax or was he allowed to get into a wax when the boys were idle because that made them study better or was he only letting on to be in a wax? It was because he was allowed, because a priest would know what a sin was and would not do it” (Joyce 56). Despite the fact that Stephen too explores the idea of morality, unlike Jane he refers to religion as a guideline for what is moral and what is not. Jane struggles most with morality when she realizes that she is in

love with a man who already has a wife: “‘That I am not Edward Rochester’s bride is the least part of my woe,’ I alleged: ‘that I have wakened out of most glorious dreams, and found them all void and vain, is a horror I could bear and master; but that I must leave him decidedly, instantly, entirely, is intolerable. I cannot do it.’ But, then, a voice within me averred that I could do it and foretold that I should do it” (Bronte 302). While her morals indicate to discontinue her relationship with Rochester, her passion for the man urges her to do otherwise.
After their low points in their respective conflicts, Jane and Stephen eventually find peace within themselves. Stephen’s turning point seems to be when he gives up the idea of priesthood and religion. This causes him to pursue his passion for writing, which he realizes to be his destiny: “It is a curious thing… Cranly said dispassionately, 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 did, Stephen answered. -And were you happier then… than you are now, for instance? -Often happy… often unhappy. I was someone else then… I was not myself as I am now, as I had to become” (Joyce 300).” Correspondingly, Jane’s conflict with the collision of her moral principles and passions is solved after she finds out that Bertha had burned down Rochester’s house and committed suicide: as a result, she seeks out Rochester and finally marries the man that she loves. While Stephen’s epiphany differs from Jane’s marriage to Rochester, the two events are similar in that they both bring an end to each protagonist’s central conflict: they mark the end of their character developments and the beginning of their adult lives.
It is important to note the correlation between the narration of the two novels and the maturity of the two protagonists: up until chapter five, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is introspectively narrated in the third person limited point of view. In chapter five, Stephen himself narrates in the first person point of view after he has reached his maturity, a narration that is identical to Charlotte Bronte’s external first person point of view, which is told by Jane as an autobiography: she writes the entirety of the novel in the first person point of view because the character has already matured and is looking back on her life. Thus, at the end of the novel, when Stephen narrates, he has reached the same maturity with which had Jane written her whole autobiography. Despite the differing circumstances of the two complex characters, Stephen and Jane eventually arrive at the same conclusion: they both achieve happiness and fulfill their character developments; they mature.