s birdlike characteristics but alsoadds insight to Stephens thoughts toward his unchaste peers (76). Herontaunts Stephen, sardonically naming him a model youth who doesntflirt and doesnt damn anything or damn all (76). This blatant remark bythe bird-like boy is an obvious verbal threat to Stephens character. Continued as Heron and his friend viscously chide Stephen for hisadmiration for Byrons poetry, Joyces bird imagery bears in this scene arestraint of Stephens uniqueness by threatening his self-expression.As Stephen mentally develops in the progression of the novel, hebegins his search for the freedom and power of his soul, as the greatartificer whose name he bore would have done (170). Stephen is now atthe beach, pondering his new sense of maturity as he grows near to thewild heart of life(171). Walking down a rocky slope, he takes notice to a girl alone and still, gazing out to sea(171). Stephen watches her, andawed by her likeness of a strange and beautiful sea-bird, he realizes sheis the epitome of all that is the wonder of mortal beauty(171). Painted byJoyces radiant imagery of the darkplumaged dove he sees before him,this rationalization is the basis of Stephens internal epiphany; she is, toStephen, an envoy from the fair courts of life (171, 172). This wholesomebird-like girl with long slender bare legs (that) were delicate as a cranes,gives Stephen a perception of a true virtuous beauty he has never knownbefore, and a calling to recreate life out of life, as is the role of the trueartist he aspires to be (171, 172).A few years later on the steps of a library adolescent Stephenstands, wondering what birds are they as he watches dozens of birds flyfree above him, their darting quivering bodies flying clearly against thesky (224). Now more restless and philosophical, he wonders at theirimages. Joyces truly audible imagery of the birds cry (that) was shrill andclear and fine and falling like threads of silken light is, f...
