“Portrait” is a coming of age story. Or rather a “coming of aesthetic sensibility” story. Look at this prose...
“Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.”
“Look at this prose...’Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age.’
That theme was much better expressed in Mark Twain’s short story, “The Five Boons of Life.” Perhaps Joyce had read it, and tried to dress it in gaudy finery.