Essay About Stephen Dedalus And Religious Turmoil

Religion in World Lit
Essay title: Religion in World Lit
Religion plays a huge part in Stephen Dedalus’s as well as many other peoples lives
around the world. To fully understand how much religion effected Stephen, one must have a
concept of the setting of the novel. Stephen grew up in Ireland when the country was going
through religious turmoil, political hardships and suffering financial. The two major religions in
Ireland are Catholic and Protestant. Though out Ireland’s history the two have been basically at
war with one another. This period in time is right before Ireland’s war for independents.
At an early age Stephen witnesses how friends and families are torn apart from religious
differences. At Christmas dinner Mr. Casey, Mr. Dedalus and Dante go back and fourth arguing.
All you hear at the dinner table is“I’ll pay for your dues, father, when you cease turning the house
of God into a polling booth”(Joyce 29). “A nice answer, said Dante, for any man calling himself a
catholic to give to his priest”, they would just constantly bicker in front of young Stephen. Then
at the end of dinner Stephen has to hear his dad saying “Well, my Christmas dinner has been
spoiled anyhow”(32). Going though that at Stephens young age would have to negatively effect
him. I think there Stephen starts to be skeptical about his religion. It shows Stephen is effected
here “The fellows were all silent. Stephen stood among them, afraid to speak, listening” (40).
Stephen’s religion shapes him in so many ways. His religion tells him how to run his life. I
think due to the it represses him sexually. He wanted to experiment sexually. So Stephen goes
into the town of Dublin and gets a prostitute. Stephen feels he has committed a terrible thing. I
mean sleeping with a hooker isn’t a good thing, but its not the end of the world. In the book
Joyce goes on for a while about Stephens felling for what he did.
“Yes, a just God! Men, reasoning always as men, are astonished that’s God should
mete out an everlasting and infinite punishment in the fires of hell for a single
grievous sin. [. . .] They reason thus because they are unable to comprehend that
even venial sin is such a foul and hideous nature. [. . .] A sin, an instant folly and
weakness, drove Adam and Eve out of Eden and brought death and suffering into
the world.” (144)
Joyce takes a lot of time to show Stephen repenting. I feel there is a significance for that.
Stephen’s Religion looks so down upon what he has just done. Stephen feels in order to be a
good person you must be a good catholic. His religious beliefs are shaping his feelings right now.
After Stephen confesses what he has done to the monk he decides to purify his life.
Stephen would like to be a good catholic and make his way on to priesthood. He then realizes that
his religious life would deny all the pleasures he is so often tempted by. Stephen decides to turn
away from a religious occupation and that’s when he realizes he wants to leave a pursue other
things. If Stephen didn’t have all the religious struggles I think he would of turned out a different
way. He might have continued in a religious vocation, he needed the struggle ti turn him towards
what he really wanted out of life.
R.K. Naryan uses religion in his book The