A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Stephen had to make many important decisions in Portrait, and one of them was the choice between following his religion as a devout Catholic and becoming an artist and immersing himself in the ways of the world. This relates to my big question because many of the choices Stephen makes to become a better artist are not ones that society looks upon as 'good' and tend to lean more toward 'evil' on the moral judgement scale. Stephen makes these choices because they are what's best for him; they are not based upon what anyone else wants him to do. In the beginning of the novel, he visits a prostitute, which definitely constitutes evil. He does this, however, to learn how to relate to people better. He later learns that visiting a prostitute does not constitute the love and beauty he looks for in women. Maybe his stray from moral choices was simply an experiment. The choice of evil over what is morally upstanding might just be something people dabble in before learning it will not really provide much help in later life.