Who Stephen Dedalus is
Stephen Dedalus is shy and watchful as a child, noticing the sounds of words before he understands their meanings. At Clongowes Wood College, a Jesuit boarding school, he feels both a wish to belong and a sense of being different. When Father Dolan punishes him unfairly, Stephen takes his complaint to the rector, trusting his own sense of justice.
What Stephen Dedalus wants
Stephen wants to discover a way of living that answers to his own mind. Words attract him from childhood, and his gifts emerge through essays and the verses he begins to write. Yet faith also holds him deeply, and fear of sin leads him toward a strict religious life.
Stephen Dedalus and the others in the story
His father, Simon Dedalus, is witty and talkative, but his spending helps push the family into poorer circumstances. His mother, Mary Dedalus, cares for him and hopes he will keep the faith of his childhood. The adults around Stephen show him how love, religious belief, and political loyalty can pull people in opposing directions.
A best-known line
“When the soul of a man is born in this country there are nets flung at it to hold it back from flight.”
Questions
Is Stephen Dedalus based on James Joyce?
Yes, Stephen draws closely on Joyce's schooling and youth in Dublin, but he is not exactly Joyce.
What does Stephen Dedalus want?
He wants a life that is truly his own, with room for his growing desire to make art.
Why is Stephen called Dedalus?
His surname recalls Daedalus, the craftsman of Greek myth who makes wings and escapes a labyrinth. It connects Stephen with the novel's images of making, flight, and escape.
