The Failures of Fatherhood: Simon Daedalus and Joyce's Ireland Jack Maley 11th Grade

Father-son relationships are a part of the fabric of everyday life, and because of this, father-son relationships are a recurring theme of great literature. While a father can certainly be a role model and source of strength for a son, a father who fails in his role can create a very negative relationship. In The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus has a troublesome relationship with his father, Simon Dedalus. Stephen also has problematic relationships with other fathers: Catholic priests. Joyce uses the shortcomings of these fathers to symbolize the problems facing Ireland and show Joyce's complex relationship with his homeland.

One major way in which Simon Dedalus symbolizes the problems facing Ireland is through Simon's fall into poverty. In Chapter 2, Simon faces increasing financial hardship, and Stephen notices his father's failures. Despite still being quite young, Stephen understands that "his father was in trouble" financially (67). Forced to move to a "cheerless house" in Dublin, Stephen begins to resent his father (68). Stephen's resentment of his father's poverty shows how Joyce resents the poverty of Ireland. Subject to harsh British rule, Ireland was one of the poorer countries in Europe during...