Just as soon as I opened blogger and began contemplating what to write for a blog post, Like It Or Leave It by Aly & AJ switched on on my phone and memories of middle school flooded my head (since I have not really listened to Aly & AJ since I was 12). For some reason, hearing this song made me think of A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. I really don't know why, my mind does weird things I guess.
One of the lyrics is "It's gonna be brilliant / Like it or leave it I can't help but feel like / I'm one, one in a million" and literally my head snapped up thinking about how that was basically Stephen. Throughout the entire book we see Stephen feeling like he's special, different, 'one in a million'. We see Stephen separate himself from the others over and over again. He discussed a lot in class about the scene where the sound of other children playing thoroughly annoyed Stephen (making him, in my opinion, quite a presumptuous little child). He also sets himself apart from the others at the birthday party we went to (the night he first met Emma). He even continues the trend years later on the beach in chapter 4, when he sees some school buddies fooling around in the water right before he has his epiphany.
I haven't finished the novel yet (I still have the last section of chapter 5 to read) but I don't know (and highly doubt) Stephen's feelings of superiority and difference change. Before anyone tries to jump down my throat, I know that feeling different from others is not the same as feeling superior, but Stephen on multiple occasions thinks about how the others are childish and immature and below him. We see this all the way to chapter 5 when he missed class at university and he was basically thinking about how he didn't need to be there.
He also doesn't seem ashamed of feeling this way -- actually, ashamed is not the right word, it's way too harsh. I'm not trying to be super critical, I just don't know the right way to describe it. Stephen doesn't seem to care much at all if people agree with him or not. It's actually very much a "like it or leave it" mentality. This is especially seen in chapter 5 on pages 268 and 269 when Stephen stays adamant in his refusal to serve and keeps his disbelief in the church and his country (or "fatherland"), despite that Cranly warns Stephen that this could lead him to a very lonely life.
Oh my gosh you're completely right. Like it or Leave it could totally be one of Stephen's anthems. I think it encompasses his feelings pretty well because he thinks so highly of himself. And that's definitely one of the reasons I never really feel sympathy for Stephen in this novel
ReplyDeleteI love how this post is so unique in the way you incorporated this song! But how you describe how Stephen feels was exactly how I interpreted it. Although that makes me dislike him a bit more. This attitude he has is obnoxious and, like you said, presumptions. Nobody likes someone who thinks of themselves as better than everyone else yet Stephen doesn't seem to care.
ReplyDeleteIt's true that Stephen doesn't seem to feel strong attachments to other people--but in a weird way, I admire his honesty about this. Would we be more impressed if he *pretended* to feel these attachments even if in fact he didn't feel them at all? There's a kind of harsh honesty to his position, and by adding the conversation with Cranly near the end, Joyce leads us to reflect quite seriously on the sacrifice Stephen is making: he doesn't feel "superior" to Cranly, and clearly respects and admires him, yet he's fully willing to abandon their friendship and leave him forever, as part of his project of leaving Ireland for "exile" in Europe. It's not as if Stephen seems entirely incapable of friendship; he just comes to believe that such "ties" will limit him as an artist, and that sense of detachment is crucial.
ReplyDeleteWhenever Stephen's alleged egotism is pointed out, I always feel compelled to counter by noting how humbly and deferentially he carries himself in public. He never in this novel *acts* superior to others, and it's worth reminding ourselves that we have this view of him precisely because Joyce gives us access to his most private thoughts. He does seem to understand the value or necessity of acting like a decent person in all his public interactions.