In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce we follow Stephen Dedalus through the experiences in his life that ultimately transform him into an artist. Most important among these experiences are the women he meets and the way his view of women in general evolves over time. It begins with the first attempts at poetry inspired by the mother and the governess of Daedalus Dante's children. It then evolves through his infatuation with Emma and later with a girl he sees standing in the waves on a beach. In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen's evolving view of women serves as a catalyst that transforms him from a naive, idealistic child into the artist he later becomes. Stephen's first attempt at poetry acted as a coping mechanism over his fear of punishment. During dinner he had hinted that, when he grew up, he would marry his neighbor Eileen, who was Protestant. His Catholic family disapproved, but it was his mother and Dante who had the strongest reaction, saying that eagles would gouge out his eyes if he didn't apologize. While Stephen hid under the table, he made up a simple nursery rhyme: "Put out his eyes, / Apologize, / Apologize, / Gouge out his eyes, // Gouge out his eyes, / Gouge out his eyes, / Gouge out his eyes, / Sorry." ( 2) This play on words is as simple as his opinions on women at this stage in his life. His experiences so far have been limited to his mother, the housekeeper (or mentor), and “the girl next door,” several story archetypes that often appear in fairy tales and which serve primarily as a means of motivating the hero forward, or as a means of motivating the hero to move forward. initial push into the world or a final prize. By looking for the girl the man becomes the hero of his story. These ideas form the basis of what will become h...... middle of paper ......tist. At every major turning point in Stephen's life a woman is there, physically or symbolically, to initiate him into the new phase of life. These changes also bring about a new evolution in the way he views the women around him. From the bearers of discipline he finds in Dante and his mother, to the sexual liberation he finds in prostitutes, to the purity he seeks in Emma and the Virgin Mary, to arrive at his definitive transformation thanks to the woman on the beach. His experience with women advances his character and transforms him into the artist he was meant to be, helping him grow from a boy to a man. It was the women in his life that set him on the path to becoming an artist and his opinions and experiences that shaped him into the artist seen in the end. Indeed, if it were not for the women he met, Stephen would never have become an artist.