宗教对斯蒂芬成长的负面影响摘要：詹姆斯·乔伊斯的《一个青年艺术家的自画像》是一部关于斯蒂芬·迪德勒斯的成长小说。
本文通过从三个不同的角度，即家庭宗教环境，学校宗教环境，社会宗教环境，来分析宗教对史蒂芬成长的负面影响。
以此，读者可了解到乔伊斯在小说中表现的宗教主题，以及宗教负面影响对史蒂芬性格，生活的扭曲，对他追求艺术自由的阻碍。
关键词：宗教；负面影响；成长abstract：james joyce’s a portrait of the artist as a young man is a bildungsroman about stephen dedalus’ growth. this thesis analyzes the negative effects of religion on his growth from three different perspectives which are family religious environment, school religious environment and social religious environment. through these, readers can understand the religion theme shown by james joyce in the novel and the negative effects on stephen’s growth which twisted stephen’s character, life and blocked his pursuit of freedom of art. keywords: religion negative effect growthi.introductionthe ireland island was divided into two parts in 1921. one is northern ireland which belongs to the united kingdom, and the other is an independent country, the republic of ireland.most of the people in the ireland island believe in catholicism which has great influence on their lives. catholicism is a major branch of christianity. it sets strict rules to its believers. their major religious activities are seven sacraments, which are baptism, confirmation, eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders and matrimony. when receives baptism, it mean that he believes in jesus. and jesus is the only savior. the water which contains the blood of jesus can help them out of sins. penance demands the believers confess their sin to god. this sacrament gives great mental stress to the believers, which makes them always feel guilty. to some degree, catholicism may have some benefits. however, it indeed confines its believers’ thoughts and leads them to some illusions. especially, when it is combined with politics and taken advantage by some politicians, the religion will lose its original doctrines and the trust of its believers.james joyce was born in dublin into a middle-class catholic family, whose social and economic status slowly declined during joyce’s youth and adolescence. while joyce’s mother was a devout catholic, his father was ‘anti-clerical’, a man who fiercely objected to the interference of the catholicclergy in irish politics and whose attitudes to the church and politics joyce himself would inherit. during his youth time in ireland, he was totally disappointed at the religion he was converted to as soon as he was born. according to sydney bolt, the author of a preface to joyce, dublin in his views was a musty sick-room, in which everybody conspired to keep the windows shut, instead of letting in the fresh air of truth. james joyce chose to betray what he would never trust.one day, wells asked him whether he kissed mom before he went to bed. at first, he said yes. but as soon as other boys laughed at his answer, he said no immediately with blushed face. however, his changed answer still made others laugh. “he felt his whole body hot and confused in a moment.”stephen did not have his independent opinion. he was uncertain about many things. he was uncertain whether father was right or dante was right. he was uncertain whether it was a sin to like eileen. he was really a “to-be or not-to-be”boy.2.3.2 obedientone rule of catholicism is to obey god’s wills. raised up in a catholic family, stephen was accustomed to being obedient. just as zhu bingzhong, associate professor in wuhanuniversity and zhang zhengping, lecturer in xunyang normal university mentioned in their essay “on the growth of protagonist in “a portrait of the artist as a young man”that“for stephen, obedience is spontaneous and readily psychological mode of thinking and behavior model. he is weak, respectful and submissive in nature, and is a meek obedient person in front of authority, no matter the authority is from family, church or society.”to some degree, obedience is good. others’ warnings or experiences can help him avoid meet difficulties which they had suffered. however, two much percentage of it in one’s character will lead to the opposite direction. he would turn to a dull person with empty soul, a person who did not have his own idea and follow others unconditionally and unhappily. iii.negative effects of school religious environment3.1 chilling school environmentreligious schools are always decorated with some sculptures and pictures which are stories and characters from bible or ancient time. some stories are about heroes, and some are about monsters which are really horrible, especially, when walking in the evening in this kind of environment, thinkingthe story, inevitably the sense of horror will rise.most people are afraid of monsters, especially the little kids. stephen went to the religious school at an early age, when he should stay by his mother’s side and fell asleep with mother’s sweet story. however, the religious school life made him feel really scared in the evening. when it was time to go to bed, the dark night and ever heard horrible story made him feel cold and afraid. no sweet things happened in his dream.school should be a place full of sunshine, which encourages students to lead a happy and positive life. however, the atmosphere of the school was cold, dark and mysterious, which was really not a good place for the growth of an adolescent.3.3.2self-deniedin catholicism, god is almighty. then all human beings are small and weak. having received religious education since a little boy, stephen also felt he was weak and small. when he came into difficulty, god would help him.when he tried with great efforts to rule out what was after the universe, he gave up at last because he thought only god could rule out. it was really big for him to think about everything and everywhere. he also felt small and weak whenhe did not know where the universe ended. a young man’s imagination and creation were killed at this moment.it was not good for youth to be self-denied. they should believe in themselves and try to overcome difficulties independently instead of depending on something that does not exist.iv.negative effects of social religious environment4.1life occupied by religious activitiesliving in a religious country, stephen had no choice but to be born in a catholic family, go to catholic schools, attend regularly to all the religious activities, remember all catechism and wait for god’s call to be a priest. people’s everyday life is filled up by religious activities. only those who attend the church activities regularly show their loyalty to god and can go to heaven.baptism is a very important rite in catholicism. people become true believers in catholicism after baptism and can be absolved from guilt. in catholicism, wine and bread stand for the saint blood and body of jesus. hence, regular rite of eating the bread and drinking wine is held to show their respect to jesus. however, gradually, stephen began to doubt the reason and authority of these religious rites which hewas so familiar with and fed up with.stephen began to doubt the reason of religious activities. he wondered why biscuits and wine represent the body and blood of jesus. if they went bad, did they still represent jesus? gradually, there religious activities seemed to be more and more formal and nothing but an empty soul.4.2 torture in spirit4.2.1confessionin religious society, religious activities took major part of their lives. confession is one part of those religious activities. people told their sins to a priest in confession, and then they will get the help from god and be absolved from guilt.stephen sinned with a prostitute. just after that, he began to doubt the reason and authority of religion again. however, soon the mass held to remember saint francis xavier terrified him very much. because in the mass, the priest said that sinners would be sent to hell which was described as the center of evil.after the mass, stephen was really terrified by the horrible hell. “he came down the aisle of the chapel, his legs shaking and the scalp of his head trembling as though it had beentouched by ghostly fingers.” he couldn’t get out of the shadow of committing sin with a prostitute. he was afraid of being sent to hell. hence, he confessed in a small church to get his soul free from guilt after the mass.confession did not set stephen free from his sin wholly. on the contrary, he was always hovered by the fear of hell.4.2.2 destinyin a religious society, it is normal for children to go to religious school and then be raised up to be a priest. in stephen’s growth, he did not escape this routine. when he was born, all the voices around him urge him to be a catholic. father in school told him that “once a priest always a priest, remember.” due to excellent performance in school, stephen was chosen to be a priest. but this call from god, although, expected highly by his family, school and church did not make him happy at all. on the contrary, this call made him feel confused and depressed about his future. he thought “it was a grave and ordered and passionless life that awaited him, a life without material cares.”10 he couldn’t bear that “he saw himself rising in the cold of the morning and filing down with the others to early mass and trying vainly to struggle with his prayers against the fainting sickness ofhis stomach.”11 priest, a profession enjoyed by popular confidence, was a burden and hell for stephen.v.conclusionaccording to all the above discussion, we can see that stephen’s growth was twisted by the negative effects of religion from family, school and the society. born in a religious family, he was used to obeying all the dull and strict religious rules imposed on him by family members. divergences in family members’ religious views made him always live in quarrel and confused about what is right and what is wrong. he also became obedient and uncertain in this family religious environment. meanwhile, cold, dark and mysterious religious school also affected his growth a lot. the absolute authority of teacher made him feel they were so cruel and unfair. received education in the religious school, he turned to be a pessimistic and self-denied boy. growing up in a religious society, to be a priest is a destiny of most youth which is also a high expectation from stephen’s family, school and church. however, what this destiny gave stephen were only sorrow and torture. it confined his development and his pursuit of freedom of art. hence, through stephen’s growth, readers can understand the religion’s negative effects onstephen’s growth, which confine his thoughts, block his way to pursue the freedom of art.。
