James Joyce Religion Analysis

Joyce uses religion and Stephen's progression away from Catholicism in Portrait to convey the divided sentiments regarding independence present in Ireland during the time period. He further communicates to the Irish people that they must look past their in-group bias to truly find a solution.
Over the course of Portrait, the reader sees Stephen's progression away from the Catholic teachings of his youth to pursue the life of an artist. While this rejection may seem as though Joyce's intent is to criticize the religion, Joyce's true mission is to use religion as a vessel to communicate his broader ideas on the independence movement in Ireland. This idea would make sense as Joyce has used religion as a communication tool in other works of his

Joyce begins Stephen progression away from Catholicism by revealing to the reader the ideas that were instilled in him as a youth. Some of these ideas are present in the poems Stephen composes as a child. In one of these poems, Stephen states that "heaven is my expectation" (Joyce 13), showcasing that from a young age he has been taught that he must be pious in order to attain salvation. The fact that Stephen believes he will unquestionably reach heaven displays his ideology that he will follow the Catholic faith closely, never straying from it. However, as Stephen grows older, the reader discovers that his obedience to the Catholic faith does not continue. In the Catholic faith, the taking of Communion is an important act. In Stephen's youth, he describes how "the day of your first communion was the happiest day of your life" (Joyce 41). The fact that Stephen believes that Communion will bring him complete joy and happiness reveals his blind acceptance and trust in the Catholic faith. This statement by Stephen serves as a stark contrast to later in the novel when Stephen rejects the Communion. In fact, Stephen, over the

Along with the similarity of struggles between Stephen and Ireland, Joyce also introduces explicit portrayals and comparisons to Ireland. An example of this is his repurposing of a folk tale regarding the woman of the Ballyhoura hills, a personification of Ireland, to explicitly solidify this comparison. The woman, while described as being rather benign and homely, is also portrayed as being a temptress by the speaker. This depiction of the woman, as Eide suggests, is a combination of the two representations of Ireland, and reveals Joyce's viewpoint of Ireland as being a complex nation, with no apparent "right" or "wrong" choice regarding independence (Eide 377). While Joyce praises Irish nationalism, he also criticizes it through his portrayal of the staunch nationalist Davin. However, Joyce's criticism of Davin stems more from his blind beliefs, rather than his actual ideology. Joyce compares Davin to Catholics, opining that these people can be described as having "the attitude of a dullwitted loyal serf" (Joyce 158) . This criticism of Davin and Catholics reveals that Joyce does not specifically criticize the Irish national movement, he instead criticizes people who blindly follow an idea.