Order enforced to stem chaos only brings more tragedy

Stephen Dedalus, a young man in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, changes dramatically throughout his youth. Once a curious child with a beautiful and unique way of looking at the world, as a young man he drifts away from his innocence and seeks the company of prostitutes. A dramatic swing in his personality occurs when he vows to commit his life to God, even considering accepting a position in the Church. After all of these changes, these conversions, Stephen discovers a middle ground, a haven between the innocent child, the delinquent, and the saint. As an artist, he focuses his life on the beauty of creation, specifically that of his own hands. He marvels at the ability to form and mold, and uses this revelation to discover his purpose in life. He finds order through the process of creation. Yet what was necessary for him to find this sense of balance in his life? The constraints of Dedalus’ society are partly responsible for the mess he made of his life as a young adult. Pressure from his family’s politics and the burdensome expectations of the Catholic Church weighed heavily on young Stephen. In a college and new atmosphere that offers more temptations to him, while simultaneously accusing him of his behavior, Dedalus feels trapped and constricted, but his pleasure-seeking only results in increasing guilt. The enforced order on him, his parents’ religious and political views and the decrees of the Church, only result in strife for young Stephen. Does this mean that unless a person achieves order for himself, only more harm occurs? If order is not discovered individually, it has an opposing effect? In Beloved, I found that a person seeking individual order harms himself and others. Yet Portrait seems to argue that one can only overcome personal chaos through self-discovery. Societal institutions, in Dedalus’ case, the Church, hinder him from creating order in his life, wreaking havoc instead. Stephen argues that others forcing order on people is not true balance, noticing how “[…]the creatures of the air have their knowledge and know their times and seasons because they, unlike man, are in the order of their life and have not perverted that order by reason” (202). So then, what is the middle ground? Does a person have to acknowledge that only he can bring order to his life, while recognizing the effects this quest for reason may have on others?