Pl someone the following question is based on your reading of “a portrait of the artist as a young man” by james joyce. the story of daedalus and icarus is a metaphor for stephen’s life because: a. stephen is an artist like daedalus. c. stephen’s dreams for his life are as imaginary and fragile as the wings daedalus creates. b. stephen needs to escape ireland, the church and his family to be an artist; daedalus needs to escape from prison to continue pursuing hiss profession as an artist. d. a and b

The correct answer is option letter D (A and B). Taken from the novel “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man” by James Joyce (1916), the Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus has been used as a metaphor for Stephen’s life for two reasons. One reason is presented in option letter A and it has to do with the fact that both Stephen Dedalus and mythological character Daedalus are artists. Stephen studied and excelled as a writer and as an actor in schools and Daedalus was a skillful craftsman and artist. Another reason is presented in option letter B and it makes reference to the idea of freedom that both Stephen Dedalus and Daedalus dreamed of. Stephen Dedalus wanted to liberate himself from the expectations of friends and family and to become an artist; he was born and raised in Ireland at the end of the nineteenth century and as he grew up, he did not want to follow the rules that his religion and his family has imposed upon him. Daedalus was shut up in a tower in order to prevent the knowledge of his Labyrinth from spreading to the public. In order to escape and continue with his profession as an artist, he decided to fabricate wings for himself and his young son Icarus. Both, Stephen Dedalus and Daedalus, felt the lack of freedom in their lives, so they built wings (metaphorically or not) on which they could fly above all obstacles and become artists.