Personal Identity And Intellectual Analysis

Superior Essays
“You talk to me of nationality, language, religion. I shall try to fly by those nets” (Portrait, 182). Stephen saw nationality as a “net,” meaning that it would halt the progression of his personal identity. While nationality, language, and religion are stated as three separate categories, an extreme form of nationality can overwhelmingly influence all three. Nations tend to have a national language, and may even at times have a national religion. If one feels that their given language and religion are superior to all others, this is when nationalism creates a dangerous prejudice. Portrait represents nationalism as pressing preferred languages, “idées reçues,” and religions onto people in order to push personal agendas held by “elitist” or aristocratic groups; thus giving warning, through the character of Davin, against a strong nationalism that creates prejudice. Countries with de jure national languages force unto their people what is believed to be the “ideal language,” thus coercing a bias against those who speak other languages. Creating the idea of an “elite language” is done in many countries in order to create a “supremacy” over those who do not speak that language. Cheng shows that “native languages” force the idea that there is somehow a superior language and it is shown in him saying, “…the “native” Gaelic tongue that the Celticist movement advocates but that is no more native nor natural… to Stephen than English” (394). This author emphasizes that there is no natural language, just a forced language. If a child who is born in America is put in China, that child will learn most likely learn Mandarin. Not because he or she is of Chinese heritage, but because that is the language the child has been surrounded by. Stephen chooses to keep English as his language in order to keep the individuality that he has, but this does come with prejudice of others. An example of this from Portrait is exemplified in a conversation Stephen had with Davin about the Irish language. In this conversation Davin states, “Try to be one of us… In your heart you are an Irishman but your pride is too powerful” (181). This suggests that Davin believes that his language makes him who he is, and because Stephen does not speak the “native tongue” he cannot possibly be an Irishman. Stephen, despite this prejudice shown, keeps English as his language in order to “fly by those nets” (182). A modern example of this is the prejudice held against those who do not speak English in America. While Spanish is one of the fastest growing languages in the United States, there is a general idea that this language is somehow less superior to English, and gives the perception that those who speak Spanish are somehow less intelligent. One’s language is not a determiner of who they are, and …show more content…
Countries will set state religions in order to create a set of moral beliefs for their people. This also creates prejudices against those who do not accept the “country wide religion.” Cheng expresses this idea by stating, “Stephen thinks of the church precisely in terms of militaristic and imperial rule” (395). Meaning, that he sees it as a way to control the people. There are numerous examples of how Stephen was controlled by the moral beliefs set by the religion of his country, but one could also see signs of aggression shown throughout the book when one opposed the religious system. One example shown in the book was when a man named Temple opposed the religion held by his country he was met with aggression (178-179). One could say that his outspokenness about this religion could get him into real trouble, which is why the idea that a state set church is “militaristic” and has “imperial rule.” In some countries one can find that the “church” or its people have their own set of penal laws. While one may not agree to the moral laws set in place, they still must follow them, sometimes because they fear for their life. Religion pushed by a group of “elitist” can take away the religious freedom of choice but also the power of choice in being an individual. With the control a nationally set religion can have on the moral standards of people, it has the ability to take away one’s right to be an

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