A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Summary | Chapter 1 Summary

The novel opens with some of the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus' early memories. He remembers a song that was often sung to him; what happens to the bed sheets when he wets them; the smell of his mother and father; his mother's piano playing; his Uncle Charles, Dante, the Vances and their daughter Eileen, whom our protagonist declares he shall marry someday.

Time elapses, and we get a glimpse into Stephen's life away at Clongowes Wood College. It is a place where he pretends to make runs on the chilly rugby field, but his mind is far away, reviewing warm scenes and smells to be found at home. School is a place rife with competition, bullying, rude language, confusing lessons, and confusing jokes. Stephen secretly pastes a number inside his desk whereby he counts down the days to Christmas vacation. A boy named Wells bumps Stephen into a square ditch of slimy, cold water. Stephen is teased about kissing his mother goodnight. He ponders the greatness of God, which makes him tired and makes his head feel "very big."

He remembers Dante telling him Parnell was a bad man: he knows that Parnell has something to do with politics, and that politics involves two sides. Throughout the boys' time in the playroom, in study hall, and during night prayers, Stephen is eager for it all to be over and to be in bed asleep. He prays for his parents, younger brothers and sisters, Dante and uncle Charles. He fears imaginary creatures in the dark of night. In the morning, Stephen has clearly fallen ill from his fall into the square ditch, and he is marched to the infirmary. Stephen imagines one of the priests will personally inform his parents of his illness. He imagines he will die and that the school bell will toll for him. There is another boy in the infirmary whose jokes Stephen does not understand. In what is likely a sickness-induced daze, Stephen has a vision, of sorts, of Brother Michael, the priest who runs the infirmary, standing on the deck of a ship, raising his hand and saying, "He is dead…. Parnell! Parnell! He is dead!"

Time elapses, and Stephen is home for Christmas vacation. By the decorations and the presence of servants, we see that Stephen's family is well-to-do. Along with Stephen's parents, Dante and uncle Charles, a Mr. Casey is also present for Christmas dinner. The dishes are brought in, and Stephen's father keeps one hand on a dish cover while waiting for Stephen to finish saying grace.

Conversation at the table soon leads to controversy among the adults when Mr. Casey repeats another man's criticism of the propensity a local Catholic priest has of mixing politics into his sermons. Dante is outraged that he and, by extension, Mr. Casey would speak against the church in this way and defends the priest. Stephen's mother tries to quell the argument and restore peace. From this exchange, we see a range of attitudes toward the Catholic church, England, and Ireland. Whereas Dante defends the church with an unshakable faith, Stephen's father calls the language of the Holy Ghost "bad language." Uncle Charles admonishes him not to speak thusly in front of Stephen, but does apparently little to disguise his own very real criticisms. Stephen's mother also tells her husband not to speak in this way in front of Stephen.

Prompted by Stephen's father, Mr. Casey begins to tell a story about a heated verbal exchange he had with a woman surrounding this man named Parnell. As told by Mr. Casey, the woman screamed at him: "Priesthunter! The Paris Funds! Mr. Fox! Kitty O'Shea!" all of which were allusions to a scandal involving Parnell. In response, Mr. Casey spit tobacco juice in her eye. Stephen's father laughed loudly upon hearing this, seemingly very satisfied with Mr. Casey's actions. Dante, on the other hand, was terribly angry. Stephen follows all of this talk as best he can, though he does not understand fully what it is about.

Dante suggests they take pride in being a race full of priests, but Mr. Casey asks if in doing so can they not also love their country of Ireland and follow "the man that was born to lead us?" Dante proclaims the man to which Mr. Casey refers, Mr. Parnell, to be a traitor and an adulterer. Mr. Casey recalls four historical events in which bishops and priests of the church in reality only helped to thwart Ireland's attempts at independence from England. Dante answers that their decisions in those events were correct. Mr. Casey and Dante argue back and forth over this.

Time elapses, and Stephen is back in school at Clongowes. Five boys have run away from the school and been caught, and Stephen listens to his schoolmates talk about it while the rest of the fellows play cricket. It is rumored that the runaways drank the altar wine. Stephen wonders how they could have done that. We learn that Stephen has been recently bullied again, this time thrown onto a "cinderpath" which caused his eyeglasses to break into three pieces. Another boy offers up an explanation as to why the five ran away: they were caught "smugging" in the square with two younger boys from the school, Tusker Boyle and Simon Moonan. All of the boys fell silent, suggesting the seriousness of this infraction. Stephen remembers Eileen, and we learn that she is a Protestant. We see that Stephen doesn't understand what "smugging" is, but it must not have been an idle joke because the boys involved had run away. The conversation continues, and the boys discuss the punishments to be meted out: flogging for Simon and Tusker, and a choice between flogging and expulsion for the older boys. Four of them are taking expulsion; only one, a boy named Corrigan, has chosen the flogging.

Back in the schoolroom, Stephen's mind is a bit free to roam due to the fact that his glasses are broken and he has been given an exemption from his studies until a new pair of glasses arrives from his parents. The writing lesson ends, and the Latin lesson begins. When several of the boys cannot answer a question correctly, the teacher, Father Arnall, gets upset. Stephen wonders whether or not it is a sin for Father Arnall to be upset, but then settles the question in his mind by saying to himself, "It was because he was allowed because a priest would know what a sin was and would not do it." Soon, the prefect of studies, Father Dolan, enters the room. "Any boys want flogging here, Father Arnall?" he asks. When he sees Fleming kneeling on the floor (due to getting into trouble earlier in the class), he harasses him a bit and then tells him to stand up. He tells him to hold out his hands. Fleming does so, and Father Dolan smacks each of Fleming's outstretched hands six times with a pandybat. The prefect then wonders why Stephen is not working like the rest of the class. Father Arnall explains that Stephen is exempted from work because of his glasses. Father Dolan suggests that Stephen broke his glasses himself in order to get out of his schoolwork. Stephen's hands too then, are given whacks with the pandybat. He then is told to kneel. After Father Dolan leaves, Father Arnall helps some of the other students in the class and then tells Fleming and Stephen that they may return to their seats.

After class, some fellows from the class encourage him to report the incident to the rector. The rector agrees to speak to Father Dolan. Stephen bows and leaves the room and once out of it, walks faster and faster through the gloomy corridors excitedly until it becomes a run toward the fellows who, when they hear the account of his conversation, fling their caps in the air, cheer, and hoist him up among them, carrying him along.