A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man begins with the reader being taken through Stephen's developing life and his conscious thought. The reader is tossed around inside Stephen's head and we learn about the character from the inside. Although I find the stream of consciousness an interesting way to explore Stephen as a character, I believe it makes the book difficult to comprehend. As we are lead through Stephen's experiences at school I …showed first 75 words of 1406 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1406 total…sea and contemplates the symbolic meaning. Stephen sees the vision as a prophecy of what is to come . At the beginning of the chapter Stephen avoided any thought of females and instead thought only of the Virgin Mary. When Stephen sees the girl in the water he once again seems alive and he is not ashamed of his feelings . Once again we see the importance of the female figure in Stephen's development as an artist.