A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (whew)/Rivers and Tides

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man By James Joyce

• Stephen spends the entire book trying to find the truth of who he is.
  
• Stephen is mystified by the eerie of the church rituals.
• Stephen idolizes Mercedes, his idea of a perfect woman, but in reality there is no woman that can live up to the standards he imagined.
• As an artist, Stephen is often struck by the odd beauty.
• It unclear whether the girl at the end of chapter 4 is real or not, if in truth she existed. (SHE IS FAKE!)

Rivers and Tides

• The man creates temporal art out of nature, art that will only last for a little while.
• He knows the truth of the temporary quality of his work, but yet it he still continues to create because of its beauty.