Are you the living James Joyce?

[move5000]

What are the events that you would like to add to the novel's plot(A portrait of the artist as a young man)? Are you satisfied with the ending? Why?

[papayahed]

Sounds like a homework question.

[fix3db]

I quite liked the ending. Throughout the book there is minimal dialogue until the last few pages. One day I want to be close enough to someone so that when can ask each other those kinds of questions that dig at our emotional and philosophical cores. Still, the conversation ends coldly when Cranly doesn't answer, showing that even the best of friends have things they can't talk about.

I like the journal entries because they provide an effective afterthought to Stephen's conversation with Cranly and perhaps to the entire book. Stephen writes about the "tundish" conversation with the Dean of Studies, bogwater (maybe of Clognowes), and final encounters with other characters. There is a lot of talk of "her", the girl of Stephen's long-lasting affections. I think it's important to realize how much closure the last conversation with her brings. It allows him to leave his home country, and allows the book to end. There are also a lot of difficult things to decipher in the journal entries, strange dreams, anectodes, and descriptions of unknown things.

I really fell in love with this book, and it took me like 4 months to read. Guess I didn't have a whole lot of time to read it because I was tied up in schoolwork. However, being able to dwell on certain passages for awhile definitely helped my understanding. Joyce led me on a scenic ride, and the end was like meeting the ground with a fulfilling embrace.