At one point or another most people have to deal with some sort of responsibility. Children are usually pardoned, until they mature, and that is Stephen Dedalus’ case in A Portrait of The Artist as a Young Man. Growing up Stephen was obliviously being bestowed with the lifestyle of a devoted Catholic. Responsibilities that correspond to that lifestyle are no stealing, hurting others, and sex is reserved for marriage. When Stephen goes to college and experiences life he finds that his desires and experiences do not complement his responsibilities as a Catholic, and he realizes that to understand the rules he must abide to he must first break them.
A contest or game’s difficulty is determined by the rules the participants must abide by. In Stephen’s life it is becoming more and more difficult to follow the rules. His family is now in deep poverty and his home life has changed dramatically. The two men he counts on are gone from his life, his uncle is senile and his father is barely seen because he must work. Rules can be tricky to follow if the game is challenging enough, and Stephen’s life is a game in that sense. Stephen is having awkward thoughts and interactions with the opposite sex and it is making it extremely difficult to hold true to his responsibilities as a Catholic. He is impacted by his loneliness and seeks comfort but no one is there to give it to him. If a game gets to tough is it ok to break the rules? It is not ok but it is not surprising because there is only so much someone can take truthfully while following the rules.
In life as one gets older their experiences come in different shapes and forms. Stephen experienced clean pure days in his early childhood which are natural for a child. As he got older he was exposed to biased beliefs that he was expected to retain. On a break from college, Stephen returns home for Christmas dinner, where he is allowed to sit at the adult table for the first time, but is subjected to another intense religious argument. The argument is about a Catholic priest who was convicted by the church for having an affair. One side believes that is just and the other believes the church’s punishment is uncalled for. Stephen is expecting to have a grand dinner with his family as a member of the adult side of the family but religion and the rules that apply to it affect his life negatively again. Does being mature force someone to face more problems? Stephen found himself thinking about politics and why people are punished severely for crimes that do not ask for it. He learns that each part of life has an unfair side to it and suffering will follow the people on that side.
Following the lifestyle of a strict Catholic can be an obstacle when Stephen’s desires are in question. He never had an experience with the opposite sex because of the rules attached to his responsibilities. While in Dublin, Stephen encounters a prostitute and succumbs to sexual intercourse. His physical desire forced him to break the rule of abstinent until marriage, but in doing so he understood why he was not suppose to have sex. Stephen is guilt ridden over the ordeal and that negative feeling makes him believe that he was wrong. Stephen regroups and desperately tries to revert to his Catholic ways and is overwhelmed by the responsibility of doing so.
An environment can dictate responsibilities and the rules that are attached to them. Stephen’s poverty stricken home with a sense of intense Irish nationalism for a backbone decided the rules he would have to abide by to stay true to his responsibilities. The religious beliefs set the rules to be broken so that Stephen would understand why he was not supposed to have sex, and his situation at home put him in the perfect setting to break theses rules.
