Unintentional Findings Essay, Research Paper

Unintentional Findings

EN 102 Honors February 12, 1997

One can find their place in society much the same way as Stephen did.

Unintentionally he went back and forth between extremes until he found his own

preference. Figuring out what one wants to do with their life can be confusing,

especially since there are so many opportunities in the world, but giving each a

chance and finding one that suits one’s personality and attitude is the best

thing to do.

Many people think Stephen went from one extreme, wanting prostitutes, to

another extreme, a life of celibacy as a priest, were done on purpose, on course

to finding his own happy medium. The same people might also say Stephen

purposely chose a happy medium as not to subject himself to either extreme;

being in the middle lets him experience a little of both extremes.

Different people might say that his oblique search for his place in

society was brought on from when he was very young with his artistic vision. He

looked at things differently then others boys around him and he knew that. He

always had extra questions about the simplest of matters and constantly thought

about what was wrong and right and how it lead to double-standards. This is seen

when he is asked if he kisses his mother at night. No matter what his answer is

he still gets laughed at and this remains in thoughts for a while. His artistic

vision can probably reflect his incessant habit of always having an opposing

opinion to his schoolmates even if it was something small such as who he thought

the greatest writer was.

In his school Stephen seemed to be told how he was supposed to think and

do things and in turn saw his family unable to follow the strict Catholicism

taught in his school. This guided him in his decision for his future plans

since he felt he was isolated from others because of the way he thought and did

things.

When looking at his decision for where he fit in society one should not

ignore the fact that his family life had an impact on his choice. Had Stephen

not been so sensitive it would not have bothered him so much how little he

gained emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually from the Irish nationalism

surrounding him and his religious background.

To begin his life as an artist, his final decision concerning his place

in society he realizes he cannot stay in the environment where he is seen as

anti-social instead of artistic. He chooses to leave his homeland of Ireland and

go to the Continent and find his artistic soul where it would be accepted.

When one wants to find their place in society, one should look at the

process Stephen went through, from his struggle with his religion in school and

the start of his isolation from his family. Stephen’s outcome was just to be

happy and if that meant leaving home find a soul than one should take his strong

individuality as an example.