In A Portrait of the Artist of a Young Man Discuss and consider the role of
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Stephen's experiences as he grows up are of great significance to his development, and central to these experiences are the women in his life. However, other influences upon Stephen's tumultuous mind, such as schooling and religion, must not be underestimated as they too play an important part in Stephen's progression as a writer, and indeed as a person. We also gain an insight into the life of Joyce himself, and the effects on his own creative process. As M. Hoggart points out, "the smallest of worlds Joyce inhabited was that of his own body." Through its autobiographical subtext, the novel puts Stephen in the position of a mouthpiece for Joyce to express the 'world' of his own feelings and experiences growing up in Ireland.
The first experiences with women for Stephen come from his mother. She is quite overprotective of her son, to the point where she can be seen as smothering him. The closeness between the two is shown in the first page while she is "singing her infant to sleep" The simple, uncoordinated structure and language represent the childish nature of the section, as "this moocow coming down along the road" demonstrates. Frank Connor makes the point, "the first page, which looks like a long passage of baby talk, is an elaborate construct that relates the development of the senses to the development of the arts"...