Art & Artists

artists — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 18:02:16 GMT

The International Conference on Optimization & Development in Sciences held in Pune 17/12/2009

artists — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 05:23:18 GMT

Baloch Academist: On 17 December 2009, the international conference on "optimization & development in sciences" was jointly organized by the Union of the Iranian Students’ Islamic Association Indian sub-continent and University of Pune, in Namedeo Hall, Arts faculty, University of Pune, Pune, India.

Around 500 participants including PhD scholars as well as academicans attended the seminar. The cheif guests included Mr. Nabizadeh (the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to India), Dr. Karim (a reader, and the ambassador of science & technology in Indian sub-continent), Dr. Vasudha Garde (the Director of International Center of Pune University), Dr. Pandit Vidyasagar (Director of BUCD), Mr. Rezaiee (Cultural ambassador of Iran to Mumbai), and Mr. Imami from the Consulate of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In the beginning, a massage about the conference was read out on behalf of the Iran’s Science & Technology Minister, Professor Daneshjoo.

Mr. Nabizadeh, the ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran then delivered his speech on the issue and praised the scholars for their contributions. He pointed that Iran stands number 12 in mathamatics, 14 in mechanic, 27 in medical, etc., in the world.

Dr. Vasudha Garde, the Director of International Center of Pune University also welcomed the program. She said that it is scientific base that leads a country towards development. Both in ancentit time and in the contemporary time, Iran has contributed a lot to science and education despite the sanctions. Innovation is the need of hour, she said. India like Iran has contributed a lot in the field of science and technology. She supported her view by referring to the sayings of great people like Anstian.

In the second session, Professor Sonavali guided the scholars how to improve their research activities. He gave a 30 minutes presentation on research methodology.

In the third part of the program, technical sessions followed one after another by 60 scholars/students/professors who presented their papers in two halls and in three sessions. The papers presented were on the themes of law, sociology, politics, economics, education, literature, chemistry, mathamatics, environmental sciences, and information technology. Each session was chaird by several Indian professors and at the end of each session questions and views exchanged between the scholars.

In the end of the prgram, Dr. Pandit Vidyasagar Director of BUCD was invited to have his view. He said that unless we do not share and do not criticize we cannot reach the truth. We need healthy and constructive criticism; excellence has no ends. He praized the organization of the conference.

Finally, Dr. Karim presented his views by encouraging scholars and students towards knowledge and education. He emphasized that scholars and students should focus on self development.

Note: This was the first international conference held by the Iranians scholars and students at University of Pune, Pune, India. The conference received around 210 papers. Around 60 papers were accepted for oral presentation, around 80 accepted for poster, and around 70 papers were rejected. For more information about the organization of this international conference, see, www.anjomanepune.persianblog.ir

The Baloch Academy Of Humanities www.balochacademy.org

I Am Timour, World Conqueror

artists — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:38:18 GMT

I Am Timour, World Conqueror

‌‌By: Babur Rashidzada

Introduction

The original Persian manuscript memoirs of Amir Timour, Manam Timour-e Jahan Gusha, was in possession of the 17th Century Yemenite Ottoman ruler Ja’fer. After Ja’fer’s death in 1610, the manuscript was passed down to his descendants. Sometime thereafter, a scribe transcribed the manuscript and brought the copy with him to India.

The manuscript stayed in India until an English officer got hold of it and took it with him to England, although it is unclear whether it had been transcribed once more or whether the “original” transcribed copy was taken. In any case, the manuscript found its way to Oxford University.

In the 1960’s, a French scholar by the name of Marsal Bryun who was fluent in Arabic as well as in French, German, and English and who had done extensive research about Amir Timour in all four languages, translated the work into French. Because the original Persian autobiography was never published, an Iranian scholar by the name of Zabi’ullah Mansuri then translated the work back into Persian and had it published in the early 1960’s.

I was first exposed to the Persian Manam Timour-e Jahan Gusha when I picked up an old and torn copy of it lying around the house during my freshman year of college. At the time, I was simply trying to get my mind off the dry requirements of academia. As I progressed through the chapters, though, I found the book extremely exciting and inviting, so much so that I used it as a mental warp zone that would take me back to the simplicities and sophistications of the centuries past.

Amir Timour wrote his memoirs late in life. The autobiography begins from a time just prior to his birth and continues up until his last conquest mission, when he set out to conquer China but suffered a stroke on the way. (He died shortly thereafter.) The account is well written and is, by and large, coherent, and the “natural progression” of the unfolding of the events gives the reader a sense of excitement that makes him want to keep turning the page. During the time I was reading the Persian, I tried to discuss the contents of the book with my peers to gain different points of view, but the discussions usually ended up as one-sided debriefings of the chapters, as none of my peers—not even those to whom English was a second language to Persian—were able to read Persian. This prompted me to decide that I had to translate the book into English so that anyone who was interested in reading this work was not devoid of it just because he was unable to read Persian. Unfortunately, however, I didn’t get started on the translation until well after I graduated from college.

To many, the name Amir Timour, or Tamerlane, as he is known in the West, brings to mind visions of a cruel and ruthless conqueror who massacred tens of thousands of people at will, burned their towns and villages, and conquered their lands, leaving behind mass destruction. Looking back at history, there is no doubt that this image is a true image of the ruler. But it is not the only image that should define the name Amir Timour. Although the attributes of wrath probably well define the man as a whole, other facets to his personality paint him as an extraordinarily complex human being who helped shape the future of an entire region, if not the world.

Amir Timour was a learned man who was extremely well-taught and well-read, enabling him to contend intellectually with the highest-ranking scholars of his time. In fact, according to his account, he had the entire Koran memorized at an early age, which caused him to be given the title Hafiz al-Qur’an. He was also well-versed in Koranic exegesis, which was a credit to the teachers and masters of his time. He possessed an incredibly powerful memory, which enabled him to absorb and remember things at a remarkable pace. His powerful memory helped him early in life, when he was able to quickly remember things taught in school, making him excel over his peers. Later in life, when Amir Timour was a military commander, his memory proved to be an asset with such things, for example, as remembering the full name of each and every one of his officers, which quickly earned him their respect.

As the reader reads through these memoirs, he will quickly realize that Amir Timour also possessed an enormous degree of willpower. Perhaps this is why, as Harold Lamb points out, “In everything he undertook he was successful”. In this age of technological advances and super-fast modes of transportation such as planes, trains, and automobiles, it might be difficult to ponder the degree of willpower required to conquer half the world while having only a horse and a spare for transportation, a tent and felt for shelter from the elements, and a sword and spear as your weapons of war.

Through this strong sense of willpower, Amir Timour was able to defeat the strongest rulers of his time and vanquish the most formidable fortresses of his day. He was also able to come out victorious over a series of life-threatening situations such as contracting the plague, having cholera, and getting bitten by a cobra, not to mention the many injuries he sustained during his many battles, one of which maimed his right hand and another of which left him limping on his left leg for the rest of his life, thereby earning him the slang name Timour-e Lang, which was transformed into the better-known name Tamerlane.

As Zabi’ullah Mansuri points out in his introduction to Amir Timour’s autobiography, anyone reading the memoirs will have to come to his own conclusions about the man as a whole. But one thing is clear: Anyone reading the memoirs will be able to see for himself that, aside from the negative attributes of wrath that history (and the memoirs itself) has painted Amir Timour as having possessed, he also exhibits positive qualities of willpower, knowledge, discipline, focus, strength, and courage that define his personality.

In the past few decades—certainly in the past two—scores of specialized books have been published on self-motivation and self-improvement with respect to topics ranging from improving one’s health, to the importance of diet, to the necessities of exercise, on achieving self-discipline and focus, on overcoming fear, on finding courage, on creating success, and so on. By reading Amir Timour’s memoirs, we can see how all these qualities come together in his personality, ultimately defining his success. So, aside from having an historical significance, the memoirs could be read as a 600-year-old “motivational” text that the reader can use to make positive changes in his or her life.

As a conqueror, Amir Timour’s passion in life was conquest; thus, he used the qualities mentioned above to achieve his goals. It has already been mentioned that he was well-read, saw great importance in gaining knowledge, and constantly surrounded himself with scholars, but early in life, he also realized that to achieve one’s goals, one must put laziness aside and get the body to work through rigorous exercise. Throughout his memoirs, Amir Timour builds a recurring theme that correlates success with physical strength, exercise, focus, and foresight. He also looks down on comfort, laziness, and pleasure-seeking and directly correlates them with failure.

Discipline is another quality that helped propel Amir Timour through many battles and won him swift victories early in his conquest campaigns. Ironically, however, these swift victories early on in his life got the better of him, and as a young man of thirty-three, he was overwhelmed by his own quick success and lost focus. For the next seven years, as he himself admits, he lost discipline and gave up warfare practice and exercise. Instead, he busied himself with pleasure-seeking until he reached a turning point in his life at the age of forty, when he realized that the previous seven years of his life had been in contradiction to the principles he had set out for himself as a conqueror. As he recounts in his memoirs, the moment he got to the realization that he was heading in the wrong direction with respect to his life, he made an instantaneous decision to set himself back on the right track. After the realization that his life had taken a wrong turn, he made a vow with himself and with God to immediately abandon that lifestyle, never to return to it again. He made an immediate decision to abandon all obstacles on his path to success—namely, comfort, pleasure-seeking, laziness, and physical atrophy. The decision to leave a life of pure pleasure for a life of pure principle marked a major turning point in Amir Timour’s life. He realized that to make his decision a lasting one, full of conviction and resoluteness, he needed to give the decision a symbolic manifestation. Because, during those seven years when his life had taken a wrong turn, he had spent most of his time in the comforts of the city, Amir Timour correlated city life with comfort, pleasure, laziness, and physical frailness and likened the rugged life of the wilderness to discipline, achievement, and strength. To distance himself from those negative attributes, he therefore left the city behind and headed to the wilderness to set up camp and make it his permanent home.

This decision marks a turning point in Amir Timour’s life because, by leaving the city for the wilderness, he symbolically turned his back on the negative attributes that he associated with it that caused him to sway from his principles in life. This symbolic gesture, along with an enormous degree of courage, played an important role in helping Amir Timour to not go back on his promise to keep his discipline in check for the rest of his life.

The rough and rugged life of the wilderness soon enabled Amir Timour to bring his physical strength back to a level expected of one who aspires to be world conqueror. Along with a regimen of rigorous exercise and warfare practice, Amir Timour and his soldiers kept firm to a strict diet of rice and yogurt, especially during deployments. As a warrior constantly on the battlefield, Amir Timour realized that diet had an effect on his level of performance on the battlefield and on his level of mental alertness in the encampment during nights leading up to major campaigns. He looked down on overeating and discouraged it and frowned on drinking alcohol. In fact, he attributes the downfall of most of the rulers in history to the same qualities that he himself had been plagued with during those seven years—namely laziness, pleasure-seeking, and overeating.

In short, by reading the memoirs of Amir Timour, the reader will learn that there is a great deal more to the man known as Tamerlane than just another cruel and ruthless ruler. By reading this account, the reader will pick up on the sense of motivation, courage, strength, and dedication that he had for his passion to become world conqueror and the forces of his personality that collectively gave him the drive to achieve his goals in life without any notable setbacks. It is evident from the account that Amir Timour was aware of his own unique and remarkable capacity as a leader early in life, which gave him the vision of what he wanted to accomplish in the world. His vision and accomplishments planted the seed that gave fruit in the form of the culturally rich Mogul Dynasty that reigned, undisputed, over Transoxiana and India for the next several hundred years after Amir Timour’s passing. In the words of Harold Lamb,

He was part of no dynasty—he founded one; he was not, like Attila, one of the barbarians who harried Rome—out there in the limbo of things he built a Rome of his own in the desert. He made a throne for himself, but he spent most of his years in the saddle of a horse. And when he built he used no previous pattern of architecture; he made a new one according to his own inclination, out of cliffs and mountain peaks and a solitary dome that he saw in Damascus before he burned that city. This swelling dome of Tamerlane’s fancy has become the motif of Russian design, and is the crown of the Taj Mahal. And the Taj Mahal was built by one of the Moghuls—Tamerlane’s great grandchildren.3

Babur Rashidzada

Dix Hills, NY

Autumn 2002

http://iamtimour.com/excerpt.html

افق سد کرک واسله پونا/هندوستان

artists — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:03:18 GMT

بدون شرح

artists — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:52:20 GMT

آخرین فیلم مایکل جکسون اکران شد

artists — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 15:23:32 GMT

پوستر فیلم مستند "همین است"

سینماها در سراسر جهان اکران فیلمی را آغاز کرده اند که بر اساس صد ساعت فیلم ویدیویی تهیه شده است که در حین تمرین های مایکل جکسون برای اجرای آخرین کنسرتش فیلمبرداری شده بود.

اولین اکران ها به طور همزمان در شمار زیادی از شهرهای مهم جهان، از جمله لندن و لس آنجلس، برگزار شد که در هر یک از آنها ستارگان بین المللی سینما و موسیقی شرکت داشتند.

در چند روز آینده فیلم "همین است" ("This is It")، در 110 کشور جهان به نمایش در خواهد آمد.

بسیاری از دوستداران مایکل جکسون برای چند روز متمادی در صف بوده اند تا برای اولین سانس هایی که این فیلم در سینماها نشان می شود، بلیط بخرند.

اما عده ای دیگر از این فیلم انتقاد و استدلال کرده اند که بر وضعیت بد جسمانی مایکل جکسون سرپوش گذاشته است.

این افراد یک حرکت گروهی را آغاز کرده اند به نام "همین نیست."

مایکل جکسون در ماه ژوئن و در سن پنجاه سالگی به علت مصرف بیش از حد دارو درگذشت؛ پلیس مرگ او را به عنوان قتل تحت بررسی دارد.

او آخرین چهار ماه زندگی اش را وقف تمرین برای برگزاری آخرین مجموعه کنسرت های خود کرده بود.

بیش از هشتصد هزار بلیط برای این کنسرت ها فروش رفته بود و سازمان دهندگان گفته بودند کنسرت ها "پرهزینه ترین و به لحاظ فنی پیشرفته ترین کنسرت های زنده در تاریخ موسیقی است."

فقط دو هفته مانده بود که اولین شب کنسرت ها اجرا شود که اعلام شد مایکل جکسون درگذشته است.

فیلم مستند "همین است" فقط برای دو هفته نمایش داده می شود.

شرکت ژاپنی سونی پانزده هزار نسخه از این فیلم را توزیع خواهد کرد.

منبع: http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/arts/2009/10/091028_shr_jackson_film.shtml

Woman suffering & Identity Crisis

artists — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:48:42 GMT

Woman suffering & Identity Crisis: With reference to the Princess

(A true story of life inside Saudi Arabia's Royal Family)

By Jean Sasson

A review by Amir Taheri

Women are more prone to identity crisis and frustration than men. Literary writings on women, for women and of women, many times incite a rebellion against the patriarchal norms of society. They draw distinct lines among the main elements that go into the composition of a feminist psyche and identity. Often women rise from the embers of tragedy to make a name and place for themselves. In literature of different lands and from different cultures, we still find women searching for answers and finding their true identities and the reason for their suffering and frustration. There is crisis in understanding of these identities.

Therefore, the aim of this paper is to explore the hidden emotions of an Arab female through the Princess, a critical writing of Jean Sasson, a well known American writer.

Jean Sasson writes mainly on women in the Middle East. As a child, she was fascinated by stories of different cultures around the world. Sasson's curiosity, as a matter of fact, continued into her adult years, propelling her to find work in a foreign country. In 1978, she took a job as an administrative coordinator at the King Faisal Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she met with 'Sultana,' the major character of her story Princess. While in Saudi Arabia, Sasson developed a strong network of friendship with a number of Saudi women. Through them, she began to understand the day-to-day reality of being a female in a male-dominated society like Saudi Arabia. From Sultana, Sasson learned of the inequalities in Saudi society, even more about the harsh truth of life behind the veil endured by Sultana, her sisters, and her friends, many of them members of the royal family. Based on a mutual agreement, Sasson made up her mind to reveal the hidden life of Sultana (a Saudi Princess), as well as the issues affecting the lives of women living in the kingdom, albeit the information had to remain anonymous for her safety. The book Princess has been divided into twenty chapters, focusing on the life, family, marriage, polygamy of the Sultana's royal family in particular, and on the women's (Saudis) deprived status in general.

In chapter one, Jean Sasson tells the cruel and unjust ways of the male society in Saudi Arabia. Women in Saudi Arabia are given no identity, starting with their birth and ending with their death. Both accounts are neither recorded nor written down.

"Neither our births nor our deaths are made official in any public record. Although births of the male children are documented in family or tribal records, none are maintained anywhere for females."

The chapter then continues with the childhood of Sultana, through whom the author describes a number of horrible incidents such as Sultana's fight with Ali (her brother) over an apple and that how their fight leads to their father's crucial judgment finally resulting in Sultana's punishment, as a sign of a clear discrimination between son and daughter. This can be regarded as the first experience faced by Sultana, which shows the differences between male and female.

Needless to say that until recently, education was strictly forbidden for women in Saudi Arabia. No woman even could imagine of having education. The only thing which was entangled with their tradition was reciting Koran. Thus, in chapter two of the book, the author describes the efforts of how to break this tradition by Iffat (King Faisal’s wife) who encouraged the education of girls of royal family despite the resistance. Nevertheless, the royal girls were not allowed to go to school, and so their classes were organized in the residents of some royal relatives, where Sultana and her sisters enjoyed such times. Due to severe restrictions, such events like private education have always been regarded as a way of recreation for Sultana.

The social institutions of this traditional Arab society such as polygamy and 'arranged marriage' have been regarded as the two major issues of women's rights violation. In this respect, the book explains that the Arabs of Saudi Arabia do not respect their wives according to the Islamic tradition and that they misinterpret the words of the Prophet Mohammad. The married life of Sultana’s father, who married to more than one woman, can be taken as an example. The book, particularly in chapters three and eleven, tells us about Sara’s (Sultana’s sister) arranged marriage and that of Sultana, respectively. According to the author, if a woman finds a situation to contact with her future husband, it is a miracle. However this happens with Sultana. Sultana’s father found a suitable guy for his daughter (Sultana) and arranges the time of marriage ceremony. He just informed Sultana that she should get ready for her marriage, without asking her whether she likes the man or not.

In chapters six, eight, and nine, the author narrates the typical treatment of women by men in Arab society. How they treat the women for the sake of their pleasure and how they behave to foreign girls or those who come to Saudi Arabia for the purpose of better jobs. The incident of raping a young girl at the apartment in Cairo by Hadi (a friend of Ali, Sultana's brother and a student at the Religious Institute) and Ali (Sultana's brother) can be a prime example to the fact.

“Hadi was raping a young girl, no more than eight years old, and Ali was holding her. Blood was everywhere and our brother and Hadi were laughing,” as told by Sultana in the story. The author cites another shocking incident. When Nadia and Wafa (Sultana's friends) while in bazaar felt their driver is not in time to pick them up, they approached another stranger to take them home. Unfortunately they were arrested by the members of the self-proclaimed Public Morality Committee who roam the streets of Riyadh in an effort to apprehend people in acts prohibited by the Koran. Anyway, after three months of bleak imprisonment, owing to the lack of hard evidence of sexual activity the Committee released Wafa and Nadia to their respective fathers. Wafa’s father arranged a hasty marriage for his daughter with a Mutauua (a Morale Police of Islam) Bedouin from a small village. But, Nadia was sentenced to death by drowning in family's swimming-pool, by her father. On this account, a number of other stories are referred by the author on rape of foreign girls.

Circumcision is another barbaric custom of women’s miserable life, which they encounter in Saudi Arabia. They actually believe in this tradition and follow the practice. For example, chapter eleven tells us about Nura (Sultana's eldest sister) who experienced this barbaric practice in her early life and the grave consequences to her health and sexual life.

The book in chapter twelve tells the reader about Sultan's marriage life. She sees a ray of hope in her future life and vows to reform the women in Arab society by the help of her children. In this chapter, Sultana feels happier as a result of her relationship with Karim (her husband), although such relationship does not last for long, as is explained in chapter thirteen of the book. This chapter tells us about Sultana's mother in law, who expected her bride (Sultana) to follow the usual Arabic tradition. Karim’s mother (Noorah) wanted Sultana to work for her like a servant, but since she herself was one of the daughters of the royal families, she could not bear such instructions and began to fight. The issue of serving Noorah with a tea by Sultana which was ignored by her (Sultana) can be taken as an example. In fact, from the moment of their marriage, Noorah thought of Sultana as her competitor and not as a member of their family.

The book also discusses about the marital relationship between Sultana and Karim (Sultana's husband) such as their physical encounter, quarrels, Noorah's devilish middling's etc. Such development leads Karim to ignore Sultana and, on the other hand, makes Sultana to think of divorce irrespective of Karim's will. Sultana’s pregnancy stops their hostility.

The book indicates how Sultana faces various problems and how she deals with them. The first struggle of Sultana against her tradition was not to allow Karim to treat her like millions of Arab males. There are two most important things about women in Arab societies: first, using them to produce male children and the second is to use them as sexual objects. A woman should be fortunate if she gives birth to a son. Otherwise she will be deserted by the husband or she must live with the second wife of her husband even in her early marriage life, as was about to happen to Sultana, but it fails.

Chapter fourteen focuses on the importance of male children. When Karim comes to know that his infant is a male, he rewards the entire medical team with gold and 5000 English Pound each, as well as, an expensive automobile (Jaguar) along with 50,000 English Pounds to the chief doctor. This clearly shows the importance of male infants, and huge existing differences between man and woman in Saudi Arabia, as no such incident can be possible with the female infants.

In chapter fifteen, the reader comes across a horrible event, demonstrating that girls and women have no right to defend themselves. In the incident, Amal, a thirteen years old girl was raped by several drugged boys who pleaded ‘not guilty’ in the court. Amal failed to prove her innocence and finally was sentenced to death by stoning. Surprisingly, her father supported her sentence as saying "She must be punished for shaming his name. The boys had done only what any male would do under the circumstances.”

Chapter sixteen is about King Faisal's death who was admired by many Arabs, including Sultana, because King Faisal, along with Iffat (his wife) was regarded as the man who worked a lot to reform the traditional society of Saudi Arabia. The same chapter explores the typical ideas of Saudi men who do consider women as third class citizens. In this respect, there are debates on the relation between men and women among the Sultana’s family members. Ali’s thinking over the girls and women of America shows that all of them are whore; however Karim’s reply is in contrast with Ali's idea. Another concern is the insistence of Arab (Saudi Arabia) men who believe that their wives at the time of marriage must be virgin. This is also favored by Sultana. However, they (men, family members of Sultana) can sexually try other girls and women and there is no problem with this.

'Woman’s Room' is the title, with which the author starts her seventeenth chapter. There is another horrible incident which shows the difficult situation of women in Saudi Arabia, a kind of punishment, confined to a room of darkness, a gradual death. The incident is of Tahani's (sister of Sultana) best friend Sameera, who falls in love with a Westerner. Although many Saudi men marry women of other faiths without repercussions, the Saudi women must pay the supreme price for their association with a non-Muslim. Sameera was not successful in her love with Larry and more crucial was the death of her open-minded father, who sent Sameera to London for higher education. Later on, as a result of her father's death, Sameera could not find any one to support her financially and was forced to return to Saudi Arabia. At the very moment of her arrival, her uncle confines Sameera in her room till he finds a groom for his niece. Since Sameera was not virgin anymore, because of her relation to Larry, this could be a tragic life for her. Finally, Sameera got married to a man, holding three other wives but because of Sameera’s quarrel, her husband without ceremony divorced her and returned her at her uncle's door and reveals her ‘impurity’. In a bottomless black rage, the uncle sought guidance through the pages of the Koran. He soon found verses that cemented his decision to shut away the one who had shamed his family name. Therefore, Sameera was sentenced to 'the woman's room', a particularly cruel punishment, a gradual death. Woman's Room in the Princess is a situation, where the windows are closed with cement blocks. Insulation is installed so that the cries of one imprisoned cannot be heard. A special door is hung, with a bottom panel adjusted to serve as an entry for food. A hole in the floor is built for the disposal of body wastes.

Sultana, later in her marriage life, faces the common practice of polygamy in 'Second Wife', the eighteenth chapter of Princess. During a routine examination at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in the city, Sultana had been diagnosed as having breast cancer. But the doctors were certain that now she was clean of the killer cells, but she had lost one breast. Further, Sultana was also warned not to become pregnant. Karim informed her that he wants to wed another woman and his reason was to have more children. This arouses anger in Sultana and she began to fight. At last, she wanted Karim to divorce her, but Karim refuses, saying if she gives up the children to his second wife then only it is possible. The only way for Sultana was to escape. This decision was one of the most dangerous acts by a woman in Saudi Arabia. If arrested, death penalty would be the only option. But, since she is a princess and believes in her own power, she is not humiliated. Therefore, the author describes her escape in chapter nineteen. In this chapter, Sultana calls her favorite pilot and tells him that she wants to go to Jeddah. She does not inform any one for her own safety. When she meets the pilot she tells him that the plan has changed because of the illness of her child. "I have to go to Dubai."

When Sultana reaches Dubai and meets her children who are already there, she goes to London with the first flight. Finally, from there she would be able to force Karim to comply with her own rules such as not to marry another woman, etc., and Karim agrees accordingly.

And, the last chapter of the book shows women’s struggle against the government. They do not obey the laws and begin driving cars up and down the streets; they are women of the middle class, women who are teachers of other women or students. As a result of their bravery, their lives are devastated by their actions, passports taken, jobs lost, and some had been killed by their own families.

In sum, Princess tells us that apart from the society, a female from the very beginning faces discrimination at home. Even, women from royal family are not exceptional. Although a number of royal women fight against discrimination, their efforts cannot undermine the male dominant society of Saudi Arabia.

The book suggests that the way women want to lead their lives is unacceptable to the traditional Arabs, simply because this may threaten men’s dominated role. The major obstacle against women’s emancipation is traditionally rooted doctrines of Islamic fundamentalism, which have not been changed. But, forces of modernity have succeeded a bit to push back the traditional minded Arabs, as it is evident in Sultana’s relationship with Karim, her husband. This indicates that in such a traditional society there can be moderate minded people like Karim, however, whose numbers are insignificant to project the cause of women.

To conclude, Sultana and the women of her time have been facing a major problem, which is their identity crisis. Many of them still do not know about their actual roles: Are they mere sexual objects for man's pleasure? Are they tools for sexual reproduction? Or are they mothers? Or are they marriage partners? Unfortunately, matters such as discrimination against women, and violation of their rights in Saudi Arabia have remained the same. They do not enjoy their basic or natural rights. In the end of Princess, Sultana concludes in her own words by saying“Thirty years had passed yet nothing had changed. My life had come full circle. Father and Ali, Karim and Abdullah (Sultana’s son), yesterday, today and tomorrow, immoral practices passed, leaving a legacy of shame in their treatment of women.”

درگذشت مایکل جکسون در اثر ایست قلبی در لس آنچلس

artists — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 21:35:18 GMT

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مایکل جکسون ، ابرستاره موسیقی پاپ آمریکا، در اثر ایست قلبی در منزل مسکونی خود در لس آنجلس درگذشت.

سخنگوی پزشکی قانونی منطقه لس آنجلس تائید کرد که مایکل جکسون پس از آن که دچار یک ایست قلبی شد با آمبولانس به بیمارستان یوسی ال ای در غرب لس آنجلس آورده شد .

چند دقیقه پس از انتشار خبر درگذشت مایکل جکسون ، محوطه جلوی بیمارستان یوسی ال ای از انبوهی از جمعیت طرفداران این خواننده محبوب درحالی که که در بهت و حیرت فرو رفته بودند و یا اشک می ریختند پرشد. وسائل نقلیه حامل دوربین های رسانه های مختلف و خبرنگاران از خبرگزاری های مختلف بلافاصله در محل بیمارستان حاضر شدند و تعداد جمعیت به قدری زیاد بود که رفت و آمد در محل غیر ممکن شد و هنوز هم هلی کوپترهای خبری و پلیس بر فراز جمعیت و محوطه بیمارستان در حال پرواز هستند. در حالی که جمعیت طول شب را با افروختن شمع در مقابل بیمارستان می گذرانند.

بنا برگفته سخنگوی پزشکی قانونی روز جمعه کالبد شکافی روی بدن مایکل جکسون انجام خواهد گرفت تا دلایل دقیق مرگ او واین که آیا شرایط بخصوصی منجر به ایست قلبی او شده است یا نه روشن شود.

بنا بر گزارش روزنامه لس آنجلس تایمز، پلیس این شهر پرونده ای برای رسیدگی به این قضیه باز کرده است. هرچند منابع موثق گزارش داده اند که به نظر نمی رسد که وضعیت مشکوکی در ارتباط با مرگ این ستاره پاپ وجود داشته باشد.

ماموران آتش نشانی و بخش آمبولانس و کمک های اولیه بیمارستان یوسی ال ای می گویند هنگامی که به منزل مایکل جکسون رسیدند او روی زمین افتاده بود و دیگر نفس نمی کشید. عملیات لازم برای نجات او در همان محل انجام شد و سپس جکسون به بیمارستان منتقل شد.

ابرستاره موسیقی پاپ که برای همیشه چهره رقص و موسیقی روی صحنه و ویدیو را عوض کرد هنگام مرگ ۵۰ سال داشت. او در دهه ۷۰ میلادی نخست به همراه اعضای خانواده خود و به عنوان یک ستاره خردسال کار خوانندگی را آغاز کرد. بعدها مایکل جکسون کار موسیقی را به تنهایی ادامه داد و ده ها آهنگ و ترانه موفق و پرفروش ساخت و یکی از پرطرفدارترین چهره های موسیقی جهان به شمار می رفت.

جکسون در سال های اخیر دچار اتهامات پرجنجالی شد که در دادگاهی در سال ۲۰۰۵ او از تمام این اتهامات مبرا شد. او قرار بود که در ماه ژوئیه در یک سری کنسرت های « بازگشت» در شهر لندن در انگلستان شرکت کند و تصمیم داشت تا از این طریق یکبار دیگر با یک انفجار به صحنه موسیقی بازگردد اما مرگ مجالش نداد.

مایکل جکسون هنرمندی که مورد علاقه مردم از هر فرهنگ ونژادی بود

رش: اد کوالسکی گزارشگر صدای آمریکا در واشنگتن

مایکل جکسون یکی از سرشناس ترین چهره های تاریخ موسیقی پاپ بود که روز پنجشنبه 25 ژوئن در خانه مسکونی خود در لس آنجلس براثر ایست قلبی درگذشت.

این هنرمند که هنگام مرگ ۵۰ سال داشت توانست در طول دوران زندگی حرفه ای خود با ادغام موسیقی پاپ، راک و سول ( موسیقی سیاهان آمریکا) موسیقی ارائه دهد که مردم از سراسر جهان و از هر فرهنگ و نژادی که بودند بتوانند از آن لذت ببرند و با آن ارتباط برقرار کنند.

زندگی مایکل جکسون ظاهرا مملو از زیاده روی و تنهایی بود. او میلیون ها طرفدار در سراسر دنیا داشت و توانست به ثروت زیادی دست پیدا کند اما اغلب زندانی شهرت و معروفیت خود بود.

مایکل جکسون زاده شهر « گری » در ایالت ایندیانا و هفتمین فرزند از ۹ فرزند خانواده به شمار می رفت. مایکل و چهار برادر بزرگ تر او از سنین کودکی استعداد سرشاری در رشته موسیقی و رقص از خود نشان دادند و والدین آن ها نیز این مسئله را پیگیری و آن ها را تشویق کردند.

مایکل جکسون در سن ۵ سالگی به عنوان خواننده گروه به همراه برادرانش گروه جکسون فایو را تشکیل داد. با موفقیت گروه، برادران جکسون به کار اجرای حرفه ای موسیقی پرداختند و اغلب وقتی برای گزران یک زندگی عادی کودکی نداشتند.

پس از اجرایی در تئاتر معروف آپولو در « هارلم» نیویورک در یک مسابقه استعدادهای تازه، گروه جکسون فایو توسط شرکت « موتاون» که در آن زمان کار صفحه پرکنی موسیقی هنرمندان سیاهپوست را به عهده داشت کشف شد و جکسون فایوتوانست قراردادی با این شرکت معتبر صفحه پرکنی انعقاد کند. بین سال های ۱۹۶۴ و ۱۹۸۱ میلادی، دوران همکاری موتاون و گروه جکسون فایو آن ها توانستند بیش از ۱۰۰ میلیون نسخه صفحه و نوار موسیقی بفروشند.

مایکل جکسون درباره این دوران از زندگی خود چنین گفته بود: « شما هم اگر مثل من از پنج سالگی در مقابل چشم های ۱۰۰ میلیون تماشاگر بزرگ می شدید، با دیگران فرق می کردید. کودکی من مطلقا از من گرفته شد. من یک کودکی طبیعی نداشتم و هیچگونه لذت بچه بودن و بازی کردن هم با آن همراه نبود. بجای آن من بایست ساعت های متوالی به سختی کار و تمرین می کردم. تلاش و دردی که نهایتا ثروت و معروفیت به همراه داشت اما من هرگز نتوانستم آن را جایگزین روزهای خوش یک کودکی از دست رفته کنم.»

با توجهی که مایکل جکسون به عنوان خواننده گروه جکسون فایو دریافت می کرد، طبیعی بود که او می بایست کار خود را به عنوان آهنگساز و

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خواننده به صورت تکنفره ادامه دهد. نخستین آلبوم تنهای او به نام « باید آنجا باشم» در سال ۱۹۷۲ توانست به شدت مورد توجه قرار گیرد و آهنگ های مختلف این آلبوم در صدر فهرست بهترین های آن زمان قرار گیرد. او در نهایت در سال ۱۹۸۱ مایکل از جکسون فایو جدا شد و به پیشبرد حرفه تکنفره خود در صحنه موسیقی پرداخت و در مدتی کم تبدیل به برجسته ترین آهنگساز، ترانه سرا، خواننده، طراح رقص و یک چهره سرشناس و مورد علاقه بین المللی شد. او هم چنین بدعت گزار فیلم های موزیک ویدیویی بود که کیفیتی برابر با یک فیلم کوتاه سینمایی داشتند.

در این دوران مایکل جکسون آلبوم تریلر خود را به بازار داد که همراه با یک موزیک ویدیوی ۱۳ دقیقه ای درسراسر جهان پخش شد. فیلمی که سرسپاری بود به فیلم های ترسناک هالیوود. در مدت کوتاهی بیش از ۴۵ میلیون نسخه از آلبوم تریلردر سراسر جهان به فروش رسید و هنوز هم به عنوان پرفروش ترین آلبوم تاریخ موسیقی همتایی برای آن وجود ندارد.

مایکل جکسون در بیست و پنجمین سالگرد تاسیس شرکت صفحه پرکنی موتاون در یک برنامه تلویزیون برای نخستین بار ضمن اجرای ترانه « بیلی جین » برای نخستین بار رقص معروف به « حرکت روی ماه» را اجرا کرد و بیش از ۵۰ میلیون تماشاگر را که از شبکه های تلویزیونی این برنامه را تماشا می کردند شگفت زده ساخت. این واقعه توانست یکشبه مایکل جکسون را در جایگاه مرتفع ابرستاره موسیقی پاپ قراردهد.

مایکل از این پس با لباس های پرزرق و برق مخصوص خود از جمله تک دستکش سنگ دوزی شده در اماکن ظاهر می شد. او درسال ۱۹۸۵ توانست بزرگ ترین کنسرت « ایالات متحده برای مردم گرسنه آفریقا» را برگزار کند ودر ضمن ترانه ای به این مناسبت ساخت به نام « ما بخشی از جهان هستیم» که توسط او و همکاران معروف دیگرش از سراسر جهانخوانده شد. او درسال ۱۹۸۹حق مالکیت بیش از صدها ترانه معروف از جمله ۲۰۰ ترانه از گروه قدیمی بیتل ها را از آن خود ساخت.

با وجود همه این فعالیت ها و معروفیت جهانی، مایکل جکسون زندگی تکنفره و تنهایی را می گذراند. او چندین خانه در سراسر جهان داشت که معروف ترین آن قصر نورلند در کالیفرنیا بود که در آن یک پارک تفریحی و یک باغ وحش کامل تعبیه شده بود. مایکل اغلب بچه های کم بضاعت را به این قصر دعوت می کرد تا اوقات خوشی را بگذرانند و با اغلب سازمان های نیکوکاری کودکان همکاری داشت. بسیاری این مسئله را مربوط به دوران کودکی از دست رفته مایکل جکسو ن می دانستند که همواره به دنبال آن بود و با تماشای کودکان در اطراف خود ، یک بار دیگر می کوشید تا آن دوران کودکی از دست رفته را به صورتی بازیابد. او می کوشید آن معصومیت کودکی را از این طریق حفظ کند.

مایکل جکسون یک بار گفته بود: « من وقتی آهنگ می سازم احساس می کنم که یک آلت موسیقی طبیعت هستم. فکر می کنم طبیعت چه احساسی

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دارد هنگامی که ما قلب هایمان را می گشاییم و استعداد های خداداده خود را به کار می گیریم و از شادی و شعف زندگی لذت می بریم. برای همین است که من کودکان را دوست می دارم. چون احساس می کنم می توانم از آن ها بسیار چیزها بیاموزم. از معصومیت آن ها چرا که قلب یک کودک مثل دانه های خلاقیت است که با رشد خود می تواند جهان را بهبود بخشد. من واقعا به این مسئله معتقدم.»

مایکل جکسون در سال ۱۹۹۳ جایزه یک عمر فعالیت هنری جوایز معتبر ( گرامی) را دریافت کرد. اتهامات سوء استفاده جنسی از یک پسربچه ۱۳ ساله که مایکل جکسون همواره آن را بی اساس خواند باعث شد که او خارج از یک دادگاه جنایی مبلغ ۲۲ میلیون دلار به خانواده این پسر بپردازد.

این واقعه و وقایع دیگر از جمله رفتار عجیب و عمل جراحی های مختلف وسفید کردن پوست بدن باعث شد که از محبوبیت مایکل جکسون در ایالات متحده آمریکا کاسته شود. او در سال ۱۹۹۴ با لیزا ماری پریسلی دختر الویس پریسلی، چهره افسانه ای راک اندرول ازدواج کرد. این دو پس از دوسال به صورتی دوستانه از یکدیگر جدا شدند. آلبوم « تسخیر ناپذیر» سال ۲۰۰۱ مایکل جکسون نیز علیرغم مبالغ هنگفتی که خرج آن شد نتوانست از استقبال لازم برخوردار شود.

در سال ۱۹۹۶ مایکل جکسون بزرگ ترین و آخرین تور جهانی خود را به اجرا درآورد و نزدیک به پنج میلیون نفر در سراسر دنیا به تماشای او رفتند. در همان سال او با یک پرستار سابق « دبی رو» ازدواج کرد. این دو صاحب دوفرزند شدند که مایکل جوزف جکسون جونیور و پاریس مایکل کاترین جکسون نام گرفتند.

در سال ۲۰۰۲ مایکل جکسون داری فرزند سومی به نام پرنس مایکل جکسون دوم شد که در نتیجه لقاح مصنوعی به دنیا آمد و هویت مادر او هرگز فاش نشد.

در نتیجه زورنمایی های شرکت صفحه پرکنی سونی که مایکل جکسون از پذیرفتن آن ها سرباز زد و اتهامات تازه سوء استفاده جنسی ازکودکان که بسیاری معتقدند برای از بین بردن اعتبار جکسون ساخته و پرداخته شده بود، پس از برائت در دادگاهی در سانتا باربارا در شمال لس آنجلس، مایکل جکسون به عنوان مهمان به بحرین رفت و مدتی در آن جا اقامت داشت. این مسئله با مشکلات مالی اخیر و تصمیم به فروش کاخ نورلند همراه بود.

با وجود همه این مسائل مایکل جکسون به صورت یکی از تندیس های موسیقی و فرهنگ پاپ جهان همواره در صدر باقی ماند و میلیون ها تن از مردم جهان او را دوست داشتند. او برنده ۱۳ جایزه گرامی بود و دو بار نام او در تالار راک اند رول به عنوان بهترین هنرمند این رشته از موسیقی ثبت شد.

اموز در سراسر آمریکا و جهان مردم در مرگ این هنرمند ارزنده که قرار بود تور بازگشت خود به صحنه موسیقی را در اوائل ماه ژوئیه در لندن آغاز کند سوگوارند.

هرچند مراحل اولیه آزمایشات توسط پزشکی قانونی امروز(جمعه) بر روی جسد مایکل جکسون انجام خواهد شد اما کشف دلیل مرگ او می تواند گزارش: اد کوالسکی گزارشگر صدای آمریکا در واشنگتن

نتیجه کالبد شکافی مایکل جکسون اعلام شد

کرگ هاروی سخنگوی پزشکی قانونی شهر لس آنجلس ، در یک کنفرانس خبری اعلام کرد که کالبد شکافی که روی جسد مایکل جکسون ستاره

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کرگ هاروی سخنگوی اداره پزشکی قانونی لس آنجلس

موسیقی پاپ آمریکا انجام شده نشان داده است که برای یافتن دلیل قطعی مرگ این خواننده نیاز به انجام آزمایشات بیشتری است. او گفت آزمایش هایی بر روی مغز و ریه جکسون انجام خواهد شد که رسیدن به نتیجه نهایی آن ها به مدت ۴ تا ۶ هفته به طول خواهد انجامید.

هاروی گفت که در طول سه ساعت کالبد شکافی مایکل جکسون هیچگونه آثاری از مسائل جنایی یا نشانی از آسیب جسمی دیده نشده است. او هم چنین اعلام کرد که جکسون پیش از مرگ از چند نوع داروی آرام بخش نا معلوم استفاده می کرده است.

این سخنگوگفت که رئیس اداره پزشکی قانونی اد وینتر هم اکنون با خانواده جکسون است تا این مسائل را برای آن ها توضیح دهد.

هاروی می گوید اداره پلیس لس آنجلس درخواست کرده است که تمام اطلاعات در رابطه با آزمایش های چند هفته آینده به صورت محرمانه در پرونده مخصوصی نگهداری شود و این که این اداره بیش ازاین درباره جزئیات کالبدشکافی امروز سخنی نخواهد گفت.

هاروی گفت که این پرونده در دست پزشکی قانونی خواهد بود چرا که در زمان مرگ مایکل جکسون پزشکی حاضر نبوده است تا بتواند گواهینامه

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مرگ را امضا کند.

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Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Study Guide

artists — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 17:22:18 GMT

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Study Guide

By James Joyce

Short Summary

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man takes place in Ireland at the turn of the century. Young Stephen Dedalus comes from an Irish Catholic family; he is the oldest of ten children, and his father is financially inept. Throughout the novel, the Dedalus family makes a series of moves into increasingly dilapidated homes as their fortunes dwindle. His mother is a devout Catholic. When Stephen is young, he and the other Dedalus children are tutored by the governess Dante, a fanatically Catholic woman. Their Uncle Charles also lives with the family. The book opens with stream of consciousness narrative filtered through a child's perspective; there is sensual imagery, and words approximating baby talk. We leap forward in time to see young Stephen beginning boarding school at Clongowes. He is very young, terribly homesick, un-athletic and socially awkward. He is an easy target for bullies, and one day he is pushed into a cesspool. He becomes ill from the filthy water, but he remembers what his father told him and doesn't tell on the boy. That Christmas, he eats at the adult table for the first time. A terrible argument erupts over politics, with John Casey and Stephen's father on one side and Dante on the other. Later that year, Stephen is unjustly hit by a prefect. He complains to the rector, winning the praises of his peers.

Stephen is forced to withdraw from Clongowes because of his family's poverty. The family moves to Blackrock, where Stephen takes long walks with Uncle Charles and goes on imaginary adventures with boys from around the neighbourhood. When Stephen is a bit older, the family moves to Dublin, once again because of financial difficulties. He meets a girl named Emma Clere, who is to be the object of his adoration right up until the end of the book. His father, with a bit of charm, manages to get Stephen back into private school. He is to go to Belvedere College, another institution run by the Jesuits.

Stephen comes into his own at Belvedere, a reluctant leader and a success at acting and essay writing. Despite his position of leadership, he often feels quite isolated. He continues to be a sensitive and imaginative young man, acting in school plays and winning essay contests. He is also increasingly obsessed with sex; his fantasies grow more and more lurid. Finally, one night he goes with a prostitute. It is his first sexual experience.

Going with prostitutes becomes a habit. Stephen enters a period of spiritual confession. He considers his behavior sinful, but he feels oddly indifferent towards it. He cannot seem to stop going to prostitutes, nor does he want to stop. But during the annual spiritual retreat at Belvedere, he hears three fire sermons on the torments of hell. Stephen is terrified, and he repents of his old behavior. He becomes almost fanatically religious.

After a time, this feeling passes. He becomes increasingly frustrated by Catholic doctrine. When a rector suggests that he consider becoming a priest, Stephen realizes that it is not the life for him. One day, while walking on the beach, he sees a beautiful girl. Her beauty hits him with the force of spiritual revelation, and he no longer feels ashamed of admiring the body. He will live life to the fullest.

The next time we see Stephen, he is a student at university. University has provided valuable structure and new ideas to Stephen: in particular, he has had time to think about the works of Aquinas and Aristotle on the subject of beauty. Stephen has developed his own theory of aesthetics. He is increasingly preoccupied with beauty and art. Although he has no shortage of friends, he feels isolated. He has come to regard Ireland as a trap, and he realizes that he must escape the constraints of nation, family, and religion. He can only do that abroad. Stephen imagines his escape as something parallel to the flight of Dedalus, he escaped from his prison with wings crafted by his own genius. The book ends with Stephen leaving Ireland to pursue the life of a writer.

About Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man was first published in serial form in the Egoist in the years 1914-15. Chronicling the life of Stephen Dedalus from early childhood to young adulthood and his life-changing decision to leave Ireland, the novel is profoundly autobiographical. Like Stephen, Joyce had early experiences with prostitutes during his teenage years and struggled with questions of faith. Like Stephen, Joyce was the son of a religious mother and a financially inept father. Like Stephen, Joyce was the eldest of ten children and received his education at Jesuit schools. Like Stephen, Joyce left Ireland to pursue the life of a poet and writer. Joyce began working on the stories that formed the foundation of the novel as early as 1903, after the death of is mother. Previous to the publication of Portrait, Joyce had published several stories under the pseudonym "Stephen Dedalus."

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is one of the earlier examples in English literature of a novel that makes extensive use of stream of consciousness. Stream of conscious is a narrative technique through which the author attempts to represent the fluid and eruptive nature of human thought. The narrative is anchored in the interior life of a character rather than from the perspective of an objective third-person narrator. While in Paris in 1902, Joyce discovered the French novel Les Lauriers sont Coup?s; Joyce credits this novel with the inspiration for creating his own style of stream of consciousness narrative.

While Portrait lacks the ambition and scope of Joyce's later stream of conscious masterpiece, Ulysses, in many ways it was a revolutionary novel. The opening section is in stream of consciousness with a child protagonist, and the novel is marked by an increasing sophistication of narrative voice as the protagonist matures. Although many sections of the novel are narrated in a relatively direct style, Joyce writes long passages that sustain a complex and difficult language attempting to approximate the workings of human thought. Even when the work is narrated in a straightforward manner, the narrative voice never strays from the interior life of Stephen Dedalus. We see events only as they are filtered through Stephen.

The book shows a wide range of narrative styles. There are lush and intricate passages, sections narrated in a direct style, and highly experimental sections. The close is very simply done, all in the form of Stephen's journal entries before leaving Ireland. The variety of styles is part of what makes Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man such an enjoyable read.

Joyce is one of the central authors of the modernist canon, and he is best known for a core of four works: Dubliners (1914), A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1914-5), Ulysses (1922), and Finnegan's Wake (1939). These last three works in particular had a huge impact on the development of modernist English literature. Writers as illustrious as Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner were strongly influenced by Joyce's innovative narrative experiments.

Major Themes

Entrapment and Constraint

Stephen eventually comes to see Ireland as a kind of trap, a restraint that will make it impossible for him to live and create. Three major bonds threaten: family, nation, and the Church. Stephen's family, increasingly destitute, is a source of frustration and guilt. He can do nothing to help them, and the continued ineptitude of his father exasperates Stephen. Though his father is an ardent nationalist, Stephen has great anxieties about Irish politics. He finds the Irish people fickle and ultimately disloyal; at one point, he says to a friend that the Irish have never had a great leader whom they did not betray or abandon. He also rebels against the nature of activities like petition-signing and protest; in his mind, these activities amount to an abdication of independence. At the same time, he leaves Ireland hoping to forge the new conscience of his race.

Catholicism

The Church is perhaps the greatest constraint on Stephen, and merits its own entry. The teachings of the Church run contrary to Stephen's independent spirit and intellect. His sensitivity to beauty and the human body are not at all suitable to the rigid Catholicism in which he was raised. But the Church continues to exert some small hold on him. Although he eventually becomes an unbeliever, he continues to have some fear that the Catholic Church might be correct. Despite his fears, he eventually chooses to live independently and without constraint, even if that decision sends him to hell.

Escape

Escape is the natural complement to the theme of Entrapment and Constraint. Joyce depicts escape metaphorically by the book's most important symbol and allusion: the mythical artificer Dedalus. Dedalus is not at all an Irish name; Joyce took the name from the mythical inventor who escaped from his island prison by constructing wings and flying to his freedom. Stephen, too, will eventually escape from the island prison of Ireland. Independence

Closely related to the above theme, Stephen's move towards independence is one of the central movements of the novel. When we first encounter Stephen as a young boy, his athletic ineptitude and sensitive nature make him an easy target for bullies. He is a rather shy and awkward boy. The contrast with the university student Stephen could not be greater. The older Stephen is fiercely independent, willing to risk eternal damnation to pursue his destiny. He is not cowed by anyone, and he will pursue life as an artist no matter what the cost.

Beauty, Sensitivity, and Imagination

What begins as sensitivity and imagination in the child Stephen eventually evolves into a near-obsessive contemplation of beauty and the mechanics of art. Even as a child, young Stephen is a extraordinarily imaginative and sensitive boy. Eventually, these strong but unarticulated feelings take shape as a passion for the arts. In Chapter 5, Stephen has developed a theory of aesthetics that is quite sophisticated for a university student; he thinks carefully and thoroughly about beauty and the power of art, and knows that he can do nothing else but pursue the life of a poet and writer.

Character List

Stephen Dedalus: Joyce's fictional recreation of himself. Stephen is the hero of Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, and all events of the book are filtered through his consciousness. He is extremely sensitive and imaginative, and we watch as he develops into a fiercely independent young man. He is the oldest son of Simon and Mary Dedalus, Irish Catholics with ten other children. Because of his intellectual gifts and his position as the oldest child, the family scrapes together enough money to pay for his education. Stephen is an extremely dynamic character. Although he keeps the core traits of imaginativeness and sensitivity throughout his life, Stephen evolves from a shy, almost awkward boy to a brave and brilliant young man. He finally comes to realize that Ireland is a trap for him, and that he must escape the bonds of family, religion, and country if he is to be able to create.

Simon Dedalus: Stephen's father, husband to Mary. Simon, once a medical student, is a financially inept man whose blunders plunge the Dedalus family deeper and deeper into poverty. He is an Irish nationalist. With Simon, one senses constantly that the best days are already behind him. He is deeply nostalgic, and sometimes full of unsolicited cliché advice for his son.

Mary Dedalus: Stephen's mother, wife to Simon. Mary is quite religious, and is deeply concerned when Stephen, during his college days, develops an increasingly hostile attitude toward the Roman Catholic Church. She is burdened with the raising of ten children, with financial circumstances always becoming worse.

Dedalus Children: No child manages to stick out. They are minor characters in the novel, usually lumped together as a group. They have been denied many of the privileges that Stephen has had.

Eileen Vance: A young Protestant girl, neighbour to the Dedalus. Stephen and Eileen play together when both are still too young to be in school. When young Stephen says he will marry her when he grows up, Dante is infuriated because Eileen is Protestant.

Uncle Charles: Stephen's great uncle, lively in Stephen's youth but dead before Stephen is a teenager. Stephen's fondest childhood memories are of long walks with Uncle Charles, who lives with the family.

Dante: Governess to the Dedalus children. Dante works for the Dedalus family during the years when the family's financial situation is better. She is deeply religious, and puts the Catholic faith and loyalty to the Church above all else. When Stephen is a young boy, the first Christmas dinner he sits with the adults, Dante becomes involved in a terrible argument with Mr. Casey and Simon Dedalus over the death of Irish nationalist Charles Parnell.

Wells: Young boy, student at Clongowes. Bully who pushes Stephen into the cesspool, which leads to Stephen becoming very ill. Stephen earns a little of the other boys' respect when he does not rat on wells.

Brother Michael: Monk who works in the Clongowes infirmary. Kindly and gentle, who reassures Stephen and Athy, the other sick boy, and reads to them from the paper. From the article in the paper, Stephen learns of the death of Irish politician Charles Parnell.

Athy: Young boy, student at Clongowes. Stephen is sick with Athy in the Clongowes infirmary.

Mr. John Casey: Simon Dedalus's friend and Irish nationalist. When Stephen is a young boy, the first Christmas dinner he sits with the adults, Mr. Casey becomes involved in a terrible argument with Dante over the death of Irish nationalist Charles Parnell.

Father Conmee: The rector of Clongowes Wood College, where the child Stephen goes to school. He later helps to arrange Stephen's attendance at Belvedere college.

Father Dolan: Prefect at Clongowes. He unjustly punishes Stephen with a smacking from the pandybat. Young Stephen screws up the courage to complain about the incident to Father Conmee.

Father Arnall: Latin teacher at Clongowes Wood College. Later, when Stephen is a teenager at Belvedere, Father Arnall delivers three fiery sermons on the tortures of hell. Stephen, who has taken to using prostitutes, is frightened back into faith.

Mike Flynn: A friend of Simon Dedalus. After the Dedalus family moves to Blackrock, he agrees, at Simon's request, to train Stephen in running.

Aubrey Mills: A neighbouring young boy who becomes Stephen's best friend in Blackrock. They plays at having adventures, leading the other boys of the neighbourhood on imaginary quests.

Emma Clere: Stephen's love interest. She makes Stephen ridiculously shy, and usually he is unable to work up the courage to talk to her. Stephen has somewhat superficial ideas about women; for Stephen, Emma is more like a muse than a flesh-and-blood person. Since all characters and events of the book are filtered through Stephen, we knew almost nothing about her. While still a boy, he writes his first poem to her ("To E----- C----- -"); the poem is a failure. Ten years later, he is inspired by her again and writes a poem that is a success.

Cranly: One of Stephen's best friends at university. Stephen trusts and respects him enough to share all of his fears and feelings with him. Intelligent and sensible, his questions help Stephen to understand himself. In the end, Stephen realizes that Cranly belongs in Ireland in a way that he doesn't; at this point, he realizes that their friendship will inevitably end.

Davin: Stephen's friend at university. Davin comes from good Irish peasant stock. He is simple and pleasant. Stephen is frustrated by Davin's unimaginativeness and his thick-skulled Irish patriotism, but something about Davin's nature touches him.

Lynch: Stephen's friend at university. During a hurling match, Lynch obligingly listens to Stephen's theories about aesthetics.

McCann: Stephen's peer at university. McCann is deeply involved in politics and tries to get Stephen to sign a petition.

Temple: Stephen's peer at university. Temple is somewhat tiresome, sometimes self-deprecating but often abrasive or pretentious. He admires Stephen.

Summary and Analysis of Chapter 1

Summary:

We begin with Stephen Dedalus' earliest childhood, described to us in the terms a child would use: there are touches of baby talk, along with visceral imagery of his parents, his governess Dante, and his Uncle Charles. One of his neighbours is a little girl named Eileen, and Stephen announces that when he is grown, he will marry her. His announcement infuriates Dante. We learn later that Eileen is Protestant.

We then move to Stephen's first days at the boarding school of Conglowes, and the language changes to reflect Stephen's aging: he is now a young boy, and he is terribly homesick. He comforts himself with thoughts of how it will feel to return home. He is also very devout, and his nightly prayers are a cross between a child's compulsive superstitions and the Catholic faith in which he has been raised. One day, a larger boy named Wells picks on Stephen and pushes him into a cesspool. Stephen gets a fever from the filthy water, and he fantasizes about how sorry everyone will be when he dies. In the school clinic, Brother Michael takes care of him and another boy named Athy. Brother Michael reads the paper to them. Stephen and Athy hear about the death of Charles Parnell, an Irish nationalist politician. Stephen has earned some respect from the boys for not ratting on Wells.

That Christmas holiday, Stephen eats at the table with the adults for the first time. The happiness of the occasion is shattered by a bitter argument between Dante on one side and Stephen's father, Simon Dedalus, and John Casey, friend of the family, on the other. The fight is over Charles Parnell. Dante is fanatically Catholic, and she approves of the decision of the Church to condemn Parnell for his marital infidelity. That action destroyed Parnell's career, and hounded him to his death from exhaustion. Casey and Simon were both great admirers of Parnell; he was a hero to Irish nationalists. They point out the many times that the Church has betrayed Ireland. The fight is emotional and vicious, and ends with Dante storming out of the room. Casey is in tears; Stephen is horrified when he sees his father begin to cry as well.

Back at Conglowes, Stephen hears about an incident in which several boys stole and drank the altar wine. He listens to the other boys talking it over. He remembers Eileen's fair hands and blonde hair; because he understood those hands and hair, he feels he can understand the meaning of "Tower of Ivory" and "House of Gold," two phrases Catholics use to describe the Virgin Mary.

Some of the boys involved in the altar theft have been given the choice of expulsion or flogging. Only Corrigan has chosen flogging. The other boys approve of his choice; a boy named Fleming adds that Mr. Gleeson will not flog Corrigan hard, because it would look bad if he did. Later, Stephen thinks about Mr. Gleeson. He agrees that Gleeson will not flog Corrigan hard, but he silently disagrees with Fleming's judgment. Mr. Gleeson will be merciful, but not for the sake of appearances; he will be merciful because he is a kind man.

We see Stephen and the boys in Latin class, which is headed by the intimidating Father Arnall. The frightening Father Dolan enters, seeking out boys to punish as examples for the rest of the class. Stephen is not doing any work, because his glasses have been broken; when Father Dolan sees him, Stephen explains that his glasses are broken, but Father Dolan accuses him of having broken them on purpose. He paddles Stephen's hands.

Stephen is humiliated by the punishment and angry about its injustice. After class, his friends encourage him to go complain to the rector. Stephen thinks he might. But as he stays in during recess and heads towards the rector's office, he is seized by terror. He passes through the intimidating corridors, with their paintings of saints, and finally musters the courage to knock on Father Conmee's door. Nervously, he explains to the Father what happened. Father Conmee promises to talk to Father Dolan about it, and sends Stephen on his way. When Stephen goes out to the playground, his friends surround him, eager for news. He tells them what happened and they hoist him up in the air, yelling out with joy. They throw their caps in the air and celebrate Stephen as if he were a hero.

Analysis:

We are following Stephen through the course of his first year at Conglowes, climaxing in his small victory at Father Conmee's office. The opening condenses the journey Stephen takes in the novel, as he moves toward his decision to become an artist; we also are introduced to the major forces that shape Stephen: Irish nationalism, Catholicism, and his incredible sensitivity.

We watch as Stephen gradually becomes more accepted by his classmates. Although he will always remain something of an outsider, certain events of this passage predict his future position as a reluctant leader. Although initially he is an easy target for bullies because of his sensitive nature, small size, and social awkwardness, we see several traits in Stephen that are the seeds of a formidable personality. He is not a whiner, despite his sensitivity: when pushed into the cesspool by Wells, he remembers his father's warning never to tattle on anyone. And he is tough enough to go to the rector and complain of Father Dolan's unfairness. Still, these moments of strength are not easy for Stephen. He is an extremely sensitive child, and his athletic incompetence makes him nervous and fearful. In all his interactions with the other boys, he is practically silent. If he disagrees with their judgments, he keeps his thoughts to himself.

Two major themes are Catholicism and Irish Nationalism. We see that Stephen is a very devout child, fearful of hell and enraptured by the Virgin Mary. But his relationship with religion will soon grow troubled, and the difficulties are foreshadowed here. The argument at Christmas reminds us that Ireland is a conflicted land, and here we see here as she has lost one of her great heroes. Catholicism is part of Ireland's national identity, but the argument shows that the Church is not always compatible with the Irish longing for liberty.

Nor is rabid Catholicism compatible with Stephen's basic character. Dante's fury over his friendship with Eileen is against the very core of Stephen's sensitive nature: later, he makes sense of the Virgin Mary by remembering Eileen's hands and hair. Ironically, he relates to an icon of his faith by remembering the pretty features of a young Protestant girl.

We see Stephen's sensitivity again and again. He observes his world with the eyes of a poet; even in the naïve and child-like way he explains the things around him, he shows intellectual grace and imagination. He also is already an observer of men. Note that he alone is generous and sensitive enough to see the real reason why Mr. Gleeson will not flog Corrigan hard. There are many moments like this one throughout Chapter 1, as we see how different Stephen is from the other boys in the way he sees the world.

Summary and Analysis of Chapter 2

Summary:

Stephen spends his summer at his family home in Blackrock, a town near Dublin. His old Uncle Charles is his constant companion. Uncle Charles smokes reeking tobacco and takes Stephen on long walks. Stephen also spends a part of each day with Uncle Charles and Mike Flynn, an old friend of Stephen's father's. Mike Flynn has trained famous runners, and Stephen is being put through a bit of training himself. Stephen also goes with Uncle Charles to Church every day, where his Uncle prays fervently. Stephen is respectful of his uncle's piety, but he has no idea what need or wish could make Uncle Charles pray so intently. Stephen also takes a constitutional every week with his father and grandfather; together, they walk many miles.

He is enraptured by The Count of Monte Cristo, and he imagines himself living through the adventures of the protagonist, culminating in his rejection of his old love, Mercedes. As another outlet for Stephen's longing for adventure, Stephen and a neighbouring boy named Aubrey Mills head up a pack of boys and go on adventures together. In the fall, Stephen is happy because he does not have to return to Clongowes; but he also knows that this change is because of some financial trouble of his father's. Although the neighbourhood gang of boys breaks up, he and Aubrey still play together. Stephen still feels himself different from other children. At times, their play annoys him. He has a vague conception of a world of images that he longs to meet; he also awaits some kind of transformation, although he is not exactly sure what it will entail.

That autumn, the family moves to a shabby home in Dublin. Stephen understands his father is in some kind of trouble, but there is little Stephen can do to help. Uncle Charles is growing more senile. The move is depressing, and Dublin is a world of new urban experiences. We see Stephen at a Christmas party: he has developed a crush on a neighbouring girl. But he cannot muster the courage to kiss her; the next day, he tries to write love poetry for her.

Soon, Stephen leans he will be going to Belvedere, a Jesuit School‹his father ran into Stephen's old rector and chatted him up. The rector will arrange for Stephen to come back to school with the Jesuits. His younger brother, Maurice, is also old enough to go.

We jump forward in time; Stephen is now a teenager, a reluctant leader in his own way, and a successful essayist and actor at his school. It is the night of the Whitsuntide play, and Stephen is taking a moment for himself as he prepares to go onstage and act his part. Outside, he runs into Wallis and Heron, two other boys at Belvedere; Heron is both his rival and his friend, as Stephen and Heron are the two brightest boys in their class. Heron and Wallis tease Stephen about a girl in the audience. Their chiding makes sets off a new train of through for Stephen, as he remembers an incident that took place during his first term at Belvedere. A teacher found heresy in one of Stephen's essays, but Stephen simply explained that he meant something different; still, the idea of heresy gave him a strange feeling of joy. Some time later, Heron, Nash, and Boland caught up with Stephen outside and pulled him into a conversation about writers. Stephen refuses to say that Tennyson was a better poet then Byron, even though Byron was a heretic, and the boys physically attacked him, trying to get him to say that Tennyson was better. He managed to escape. We are brought back to the evening of the Whitsuntide play, as Stephen, Heron, and Wallis continue to make light talk. Stephen looks at Heron now, remembering the past incident and Heron's cowardice, but he realizes that he feels no anger. He thinks about the girl sitting in the audience, remembering their shy contact and his unfulfilled desire to kiss her. A boy comes to tell Stephen to get dressed and ready for his part. As the curtain is about to go up, Stephen thinks about the silliness of his part and feels humiliation. After the play is over, he does not socialize but instead goes for a walk, restlessly searching for something. The crisp night air, occasionally heavy with the odours of the city, calms him, and he goes back.

Sometime later, Stephen is taking a voyage by train with his father. They are going to Cork to sell property at an auction. The trip is marked by Simon's attempts to bond with Stephen, but Stephen feels embarrassed by his father's intense nostalgia and trite advice. Images of the dead are unreal to Stephen, save that of his dead Uncle Charles (this is the first time we hear of Charles' death). In Cork, his father chats up everybody about old times and how things were; only when Stephen goes with his father to Queen's College do his father's stories come to life. There, in an old anatomy theatre, Stephen sees the word Foetus carved into a desktop. Suddenly, he sees the world of the students come to life: he can imagine the boy carving the letters, the students of the past sitting and studying, all of them now aged or dead. The word also reminds Stephen of his increasing preoccupation with sex. He tries to remember his own childhood but the memories seem faded and unreal; he is a different person now. He suffers through the rest of the trip with his father, meeting with Simon's old friends and sitting through sessions of wet-eyed nostalgia and avuncular advice.

We are back in Dublin. Stephen has won a hefty sum in an essay contest. Rather than save the money, he begins a prolonged spending binge, buying useless gifts for everyone and indulging himself. When the money is gone, he feels ashamed. He had tried to use the money to create a feeling of elegance and affluence, but in reality they are as poor as ever. He also wanted to use the gifts to bring himself closer to his mother and his many younger siblings; however, he feels as isolated from them as ever. He wanders the streets of Dublin, lonely and suffering from intense sexual longing. He accepts the proposition of a prostitute; his time with her is his first sexual experience.

Analysis:

Chapter Two contains the transition from Stephen's late childhood to his teenage years. We begin in the world that Stephen will later be unable to remember clearly: his Uncle Charles, adventures with the boys in the neighbourhood. There is also a strong contrast between Stephen's fantasies about romance at the beginning of the chapter to his encounter with the prostitute at chapter's end. We move from vague ideas of romance, influenced by The Count of Monte Cristo, to a much more visceral sexual experience.

Adolescence is a conflicted time for Stephen, and an extremely important one. We see him finding success as an actor and an essayist, somewhat popular among his peers, a "leader afraid of his own authority" (103). But again and again, the narrative emphasizes Stephen's isolation from others. He is full of thoughts and feelings that he cannot articulate to others. The world strikes him in a way that he is not yet ready to share.

The voices of his elders and peers often sound hollow to him, but he does not yet have a means of rebellion. Nor is rebellion necessarily how he wants to react. His isolation des not mean he despises his family and peers; he simply feels disconnected from them. The child in Chapter 1 is often frightened, ashamed of the difference between himself and others; the adolescent Stephen is more independent. His rejection of the Church is foreshadowed here: he defends Byron, despite the poet's heresies, and he himself writes an essay that contains a small bit of heresy on a philosophical point. Stephen's independence and sensitivity are at odds with the dogmatism and limited perspective of Christian philosophy.

The gap between his childhood and his adolescence is paralleled by a series of moves and deaths: we see the move to Dublin and the move to Belvedere, as well as the death of Uncle Charles, who is portrayed in the early part of the chapter as an inextricable part of Stephen's childhood. During the trip to Cork, Stephen realizes that he has changed so completely that his childhood seems like a dim memory. In some way, the fate of the child Stephen is similar to death; he has not died, but he has faded away.

His intelligence is often a source of discomfort. He is too smart to bear his father's nostalgia and advice easily. Stephen is regaled with his father's pat wisdom, but he has become increasingly aware of his father's many failures. Stephen is also torn by the intensity of his sexual longing. He is honest enough with himself to know that his feelings are a far cry from romance or love as it is taught in the Church. His decision to go with the prostitute is a major turning point in his life.

Summary and Analysis of Chapter 3

Summary:

Stephen continues to see prostitutes, and enters a period of deep confusion and spiritual paralysis. He considers his actions to be terribly sinful, but he becomes strangely indifferent toward the idea of eternal damnation. He continues his studies and his duties in the society of the Blessed Virgin, strangely numb towards his own hypocrisy. He finds himself an altogether less pleasant person, as if his violation of one rule has led to a complete loss of self-control; although he began with Lust, he lately finds himself tainted by all of the Seven Deadly Sins. St. Francis Xavier's Feast Day approaches, and every year for three days before the feast day the boys of Belvedere have a spiritual retreat.

On each of the three days of the retreat, Stephen hears a fiery sermon on the torments of hell and the punishments meted out by the just but stern God. The first day's sermon is on the inevitability of judgment. God, who gave many opportunities for repentance during life, will be transformed from God the Merciful to God the Just. Stephen is made sick with fear; the sermons seem as though they were written specifically for him. He thinks about his sins, and is too fearful to confess to God, who seems too fearsome, or the Blessed Virgin, who seems too pure. He imagines being brought back to God through Emma, the girl to whom he tried to write a poem. She seems approachable enough. The second day's sermon is on the incredible physical torment of hell. Stephen feels that he must confess, but he is too ashamed to do so. The third day's sermon elaborates on hell's tortures, the greatest of which is being cut off from God. That night, Stephen has terrible nightmares about hell; the dreams are so intense that he wakes and vomits. He searches for a church where he can go and make his confession with true anonymity. He finally finds one, and he confesses all. The world seems born anew when he steps out of the church. He resolves to live a new life of piety.

Analysis:

All of Chapter 3 deals with the results of Stephen's first rebellion against Catholic values. At first, he enters a state of moral paralysis and confusion. Having broken one rule, he seems to lose the ability to maintain any kind of moral structure or self-discipline. His deep unrest manifests itself as a general souring of his whole personality. His situation is difficult. He is indulging in the pleasures of the flesh for the first time, but he soon learns that to abandon the moral order in which one was raised is no easy thing.

Stephen will eventually prove to be too independent a thinker for Catholic doctrine. His love for beauty and for the particular pleasures offered by the human body do not necessarily mean that he is destined for a life of carnal decadence; even before he is terrified by Father Arnall's sermons, his period of whoring brings much discontent and restlessness. This period foreshadows difficulties he will have later on: if and when he rejects the Catholic Church and its teachings, he will have to find a new ethical system on his own.

His sense of being lost makes it possible for Father Arnall's sermons to bring him back to the Church. The sermons are very well written, and are a famous part of the novel. Full of vivid imagery and sensual description, they prey perfectly on Stephen's active imagination and sensitive nature. He is unable, at this point, to assert his independence from the religion in which he has been raised. Fear drives him back. The themes of independence and entrapment by Ireland are central to Chapter 3. We see Stephen's first revolt, and his subsequent repentance and return.

Summary and Analysis of Chapter 4

Summary:

Stephen becomes almost fanatically pious, devoting himself daily to prayer and contemplation of Catholic doctrines. He sweeps away any doubts or misgivings he has with the idea that at a later stage of his spiritual development, all will be clear. He forces different forms of unpleasantness on himself to punish each of his five senses. He prays fervently, and attends mass every day. At times, he is gripped by a great, spiritual love for God and His Creation.

But before long, Stephen's old independence begins to reassert itself. He finds it difficult to maintain a state of saintly serenity. If anything, his various methods of self-discipline make him more irritable. He does not grow more charitable or kind to his family or his peers. He thinks of the various clergymen he knows, and how they seem just as subject to human pettiness and irritability as everyone else; he also has some doubts about the rather rigid Catholic compartmentalization of different virtues and wisdoms.

The director of the school asks Stephen to his office. Having noticed Stephen's piety and his academic talent, the director wants Stephen to consider the priesthood. The director tries to draw Stephen to the calling by describing the incredible responsibility and power of a priest. The idea is not without its appeal for Stephen. But after he leaves the rector's office, he continues to reflect on the life of a priest. He thinks about a long life of pondering obscure questions of Catholic doctrine. Even more vividly, he imagines the stale odour in halls of Clongowes, and of spending his life wandering through corridors such as these; in the end, he realizes that such a life repulses him. The life of a priest would be contrary to Stephen's desire for freedom and independence. On the way home, he sees a tidy shrine to the Virgin; walking in a lane that leads to his home, he notices the faint smell of rotting cabbages coming from the kitchen gardens down by the river. He realizes that his soul belongs to this kind of disorder rather than to the tidiness of the shrine to Mary: he prefers the simple smells and sensations of life and living.

Back home, he looks at his brothers and sisters, reflecting on how everything that has been denied to them has been given freely to him. Yet they do not hate him for it. We learn that the Dedalus family will be moving again, no doubt because of another blunder of Stephen's father. The children begin to sing, and behind the hope and innocence of their voices Stephen feels a weariness and a deep sorrow.

Later, Stephen waits for his father and a school tutor, who have gone into a building in the city on Stephen' behalf to get some information regarding university. Stephen grows impatient and takes off for a walk. The idea of going to university thrills him, although he is not sure yet what his calling is. He encounters some school chums, who are swimming in the sea; the sight of their spindly teenage bodies makes him somewhat anxious, reminding him of his discomfort with his own half-grown body. They call out to him, inviting him to swim, but he does not come. As they call his name, he thinks of Greek myth's great artificer, Dedalus, who fashioned a pair of wings that enabled him to escape from his island prison. He has a sort of vision of the flight, imagining himself as the one who soars through the air.

He continues to walk along the beach. He comes across a beautiful girl, near his own age, wading in the water. The vision of her makes him feel something akin to divine revelation. He continues on his week, and settles down to take a long nap on the beach. When he wakes up, it is night.

Analysis:

Almost as soon as Stephen begins his new regimen of spiritual self-discipline, his nature begins to rebel. The movement from Catholic piety to an acceptance of the physical as part of beauty is central to this chapter. The central themes of entrapment by Ireland and escape are key. Stephen, having given in to carnal pleasure, is made to fear for his soul. He returns, feverishly, to the Church. He tries to stifle the very impulses that distinguish him as an individual: sensitivity to sensation, interest in beauty. But the sensual world of real living wins: ironically, it is the suggestion of the priest that Stephen consider the clergy which sets Stephen back on the path to his destiny.

And when Stephen imagines the life of a priest, his repulsion is grounded in the physical senses: it is the stale odour of Clongowes that strikes him as he considers the rector's suggestion. Stephen prefers another odour: the sour smell of overripe cabbages in the path leading home. It is the world of life and living, with it's mess and shear physicality, that interests Stephen. He realizes that he will "sin" again; he accepts that he was not made to live a spotless life. Rather, he will live life to the fullest and accept that part of his growth will include making great mistakes. The shrine of the Blessed Virgin is too tidy, too sterile. Stephen prefers mess, and he will live his life accordingly.

But it should be noted that Stephen is not without his anxieties regarding the world of the body. The sight of the other boys reminds him of how embarrassed he is by his own half-grown body. This moment reminds us that Stephen's growth is incomplete, both physically and spiritually. Though drawn to the sensual and the physical, shame still manages to stick to him at unexpected times.

Joyce calls our attention to the symbolism of Stephen's name. Stephen, in a vision that he does not completely comprehend, envisions himself as the winged Dedalus. Stephen's destiny is foreshadowed: as Dedalus escaped from his island prison, Stephen will escape from the island prison of Ireland.

The girl wading in the ocean water gives Stephen a revelation of great strength. In looking at her beauty, he feels "an outburst of profane joy" (195). "Profane," because in the Catholicism of Stephen's upbringing, his spiritual reaction to a girl's physical beauty is alien. He realizes that his fate is to "live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to create life out of life" (196). In allowing himself to enjoy the beauty of the girl, to believe in her beauty, Stephen accepts his own nature. Here is the theme of growing up as accepting one's own character and destiny.

This acceptance will allow Stephen to escape. He comes to look at the priest's suggestion as a kind of trap, a way for the Jesuits to take Stephen from his own fate and make him serve their ends. Escape becomes a powerful motif towards the end of the chapter. Joyce uses Dedalus, Stephen's mythical namesake, as a symbol for what Stephen was born to do. He must escape Ireland, which constricts his freedom.

Summary and Analysis of Chapter 5

Summary:

Years have passed. Stephen is at university. It is morning; he is in the kitchen with his mother, who worries that he has been changed by university. He looks at the pawn tickets that have been necessary for his family's subsistence. He is also late for class; from upstairs, he hears his father ask one of his sisters if her "lazy bitch of a brother" has gone out yet. Stephen sets out for class, unhurt by his father's comment. In other ways, he is deeply fatigued by his family's increasingly desperate financial situation.

We see a day in the life of a university student: Stephen goes to lectures, usually bored by them, and interacts with peers one by one. We meet a large number of his friends: Cranly, one of his best friends; Lynch, a good natured boy who listens to Stephen's theory of aesthetics; Davin, a simple boy from the country with a great love for Ireland; Temple, a somewhat pretentious boy who admires Stephen; and McCann, a friend of Stephen's who tells Stephen he is antisocial and antidemocratic and who tries to get Stephen to sign a petition for universal peace. The university is a natural place for boys to agitate themselves over politics and Irish nationalism; Stephen wants no part of it. He refuses to sign MacCann's petition, and he will not be cowed by anyone. He is increasingly absorbed in his ideas about aesthetics, ideas influenced by Aristotle's Poetics and the works of Thomas Aquinas. From his morning classes, we see that he has grown somewhat frustrated by the routine of college life. During lecture, attention wanders back to his ideas about art.

Later, during a hurling match, his friend Davin tries to get Stephen to be more sociable. He also tries to get Stephen to be a more patriotic Irishmen. Stephen has a deep scepticism of Irish politics: he points out that the Irish have never had a hero whom they didn't betray or leave for another. Davin continues to implore Stephen to be one of them. Stephen finds Davin's limitations frustrating, but something about Davin touches him. Later on in the match, Stephen explains his theories of aesthetics to an obliging Lynch. Although too complicated and lengthy to summarize in a satisfactory way here, this passage (pages 232-45) merits a close look for readers who want a deeper understanding of Joyce. Highlights include Stephen's definitions of pity and terror; his delineation between static art (the sublime art that invites contemplation without spurring the viewer to action) and kinetic art (art that moves the viewer to do something); his definitions of lyrical, epic, and dramatic form. He hails the dramatic form as superior because the artist refines his personality out of the work, leaving just the object for the contemplation of the audience. As the head toward the library, he sees Emma. Stephen is speechless as always. He feels somewhat cross towards her because he thinks she flirted with a priest and mocked him behind his back. Even his anger feels like a kind of homage.

But he dreams about her that night, and is inspired to write another poem to her. It is ten years since he failed in the writing of his first poem to Emma. This time he succeeds, but he does not send it.

Later, Stephen sits on the library steps. He dreamily watches birds flying through the air. Some nearby boys begin to argue about politics. Stephen goes to look for Cranley; he finds him in the library, puzzling over chess problems with a medical student named Dixon. Stephen makes clear that he wants to speak to Cranley, but Cranley seems in no hurry.

On the porch, a long conversation between the boys takes place. The boys gathered include Temple, O'Keefe, Goggins, Dixon, Cranly, and a few others. Stephen says nothing throughout the whole talk. The boys trade insults and bluster; Stephen becomes distracted from their talk when Emma walks by. Once again, he is torn between worshipping her and damning her. In her wake, she leaves Stephen thoughts of poetry and beauty. Meanwhile, Temple and Cranly are getting involved in a war of insults, culminating in Cranly chasing Temple with a stick. Stephen asks Cranly to come away with him on a walk, so that they can talk. This time, Cranly obliges him.

Stephen asks Cranly's advice. He is involved in a fight with his mother, who wants him to participate in the Easter rituals. Stephen no longer considers himself a Catholic. Cranly advices him to go ahead with, belief or no belief. He should do it to because it costs him nothing and will please his mother; but for Stephen, Cranly's suggestion seems like a compromise of his integrity. Stephen and Cranly have a long conversation about religion, politics, family, and Ireland. Stephen admits, under Cranly's intelligent questioning, that sometimes he fears that the Catholic Church is right and he'll be damned and sent to hell. But he still must choose as he will choose. He realizes with sadness that after he leaves Ireland his friendship with Cranly will come to an end; he accepts that he may be alone. He must be independent. He is not afraid to be alone. He is not afraid of making a mistake, even if that mistake sends him to hell.

The novel closes with a series of diary entries chronicling Stephen's last days in Ireland. He describes a meeting with Emma, in which they actually talk; he is surprised that he likes her that evening, which is a new feeling. Stephen is thrilled by the idea of leaving Ireland. His journal entries include small experiments in writing. Before he leaves, his mother tells him she hopes he'll learn something of the human heart; it is his wish as well. He resolves "to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race" (288). He invokes Dedalus, the mythical artificer, as he makes his way into the world.

Analysis:

The theme of entrapment and escape develops in this final chapter, and Stephen becomes aware that Ireland is a trap. In his discussion with Davin, he calls Ireland the sow that devours its own offspring. Ireland is a trap, restricting Stephen's independence from too many directions.

We open looking at his family, and, as always, they are more destitute than when we left them. Stephen can do little to help them. Sacrifices have been made for his education, but there is nothing he can really do to alleviate the poverty of his parents and his siblings. He feels removed from them, and through his mother continues to be loving, his father seems to have developed a certain amount of animosity against Stephen (as seen when he refers to Stephen as a "lazy bitch of a brother").

University has provided crucial intellectual material for Stephen's growth. His aesthetic theory, very sophisticated for a college student, is deeply indebted to Aristotle and Aquinas. Stephen's methods and manner of reasoning also shows the influence of the Jesuits and the education he received from them. The kinds of questions he poses about beauty have a similar character as questions he posed about theology in early chapters; Lynch tells him that his methods have "the scholastic stink" (244) which refers to the Catholic philosophy, first developed in the Middle Ages, that synthesizes Greek philosophy with Christian teaching.

At the same time, Stephen has gotten everything that he can out of university. We see him bored in lectures; he also has a very unsatisfactory conversation about beauty with his Dean of Studies. We see Stephen as a very isolated young man, too individualistic and critical to remain happily in Ireland, even in an intellectual community. He feels trapped. In the long conversation between the boys on the steps of the library, he says nothing. And even with Cranly, an intelligent and challenging friend, Stephen realizes that their days of friendship or coming to an end.

His new ideas about beauty are his obsession. This chapter shows the growth that Stephen has undergone; he has moved from sensitivity and unfocused love of beauty to an obsessive and methodical contemplation of aesthetics. His obsession with Emma is more aesthetic and abstract; he has admired her from afar for ten years, but in truth he does not know her that well. His contemplation of her is based on a very abstract idea of woman. He can only damn her or worship. His ideas about woman are actually very shallow. Emma exists more as Stephen's muse than as a flesh and blood woman. In his diary entry, we finally see a conversation between the two of them: Stephen warms up and feels "like" for her, which is new. It hints at the growth that he still has to undergo, which is reiterated in his mother's wish that Stephen learn something of the human heart.

Worth noting is that Stephen is still concerned with questioned of Irish identity. He does not seek to involve himself in politics, but his goal is to forge the conscience of his race. He will help Ireland as an artist, and he can only be an artist if he is independent. Paradoxically, he must leave Ireland to gain his independence. He will do his nation a great service by leaving her. But his need to leave should not be mistaken for a desire to become foreign: he is insulted when Cranly asks him if he is going to become a Protestant.

Escape as a theme is powerfully woven through the chapter, and the idea of escape is most often symbolized by flight. On the library steps, Stephen watches dreamily as the birds fly above him. Stephen's name refers to the flight of Dedalus, and it is on Dedalus that he calls when he leaves Ireland. He has become a self-assured and courageous young man, willing even to risk hell for his convictions.

http://www.gradesaver.com/portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-man/

رستم ميرلاشاری و گلبانگ بلوچستان در سوئد

artists — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:59:18 GMT

۱۳۸۸/۰۳/۱۴

گلبانگ: عماد شکوری (بالا-چپ) رامین یوسفی (جلو-راست)

شهرام میریان

رادیو فردا: رستم ميرلاشاری، زاده بلوچستان ايران، ۱۸ سال است که در سوئد به سر می‌برد و ۱۵ سال است که يک گروه موسيقی از هنرمندان بلوچستان ايران، آفريقا و اروپا با نام «گلبانگ» برپا کرده است.

اين هنرمند تحصيلات خود را در رشته موسيقی ملل در دانشگاه استکهلم، پايتخت سوئد، به پايان رسانده و در حال حاضر در همين دانشگاه مشغول کار است.

رستم ميرلاشاری در گفت‌و‌گو با راديو فردا با اشاره به اين موضوع که از آميزش و هم‌نشينی فرهنگ‌ها است که فرهنگ جهانی بارور می‌شود، از هدف‌ها و تلاش پيگير خود در تلفيق موسيقی بلوچستان ايران با موسيقی بومی و محلی ديگر مليت‌ها، می‌گويد: «‌هدف من از تلاش در ارتباط با موسيقی اين است که بتوانم موسيقی بلوچستان ايران که با آن بزرگ شده‌ام را با موسيقی ساير ملل بياميزم. روبه‌رو شدن فرهنگ و موسيقی ملل مختلف اين امکان را می‌دهد که هم برای رشد خود از آنها کمک بگيريم و هم برای شناساندن موسيقی و فرهنگی که با آن بزرگ شده‌ايم و احساس می‌کنيم اين موسيقی و فرهنگ چيزی دارد که می‌تواند مورد علاقه و توجه ديگران قرار گيرد. »

وی در ادامه می‌افزايد: «بر اساس اين فلسفه، وقتی من در استکهلم فعاليت‌های موسيقی خود را آغاز کردم به همراه تعداد ديگری از علاقمندان به اين فلسفه، گروه "گلبانگ" را تشکيل داديم و موفق شديم موزيسين‌های خوبی را گرد آوريم که هر کدام ريشه در يک گرايش موسيقيايی داشتند. وقتی روی گرايش موسيقيايی تکيه می‌کنم منظورم موسيقی فولکلور ملت‌های مختلف است. به اعتقاد من اين تلاش موفق بوده و به همين خاطر ما توانسته‌ايم ۱۵ سال فعاليت کنيم، موسيقی توليد کنيم، مورد توجه رسانه‌های جمعی قرار بگيريم و تورهای مختلف داشته باشيم. »

رستم ميرلاشاری در ادامه گفت‌وگو با راديو فردا به ويژگی‌های اين نوع موسيقی اشاره می‌کند و می‌گويد: «‌ بدون شک موسيقی بلوچی تحت تاثير موسيقی‌های ديگر قرار دارد ولی در عين حال قائم به ذات خود است و ويژگی‌های خاص خود را دارد. گرايش‌های مختلف در اين موسيقی به وفور يافت می‌شود، ولی بدون شک به موسيقی ايرانی بيشتر از موسيقی هندی نزديک است. »

رستم ميرلاشاری، موسيقی دان از بلوچستان ايران، با حمايت دانشگاه موسيقی شهر استکهلم همه ساله دست به برگزاری يک جشنواره جهانی موسيقی می‌زند و هر سال به دعوت او يک گروه موسيقی از ايران نيز دراين فستيوال شرکت می‌کند.

http://www.radiofarda.com/content/f35_Golbang_Sweden/1746512.html