"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" represents the transitional stage between the realism of Joyce's "Dubliners" and the symbolism of "Ulysses", and is essential to the understanding of the later work. This novel is a highly autobiographical account of the adolescence of Stephen Dedalus, who reappears in "Ulysses", and who comes to realize that before he can become a true artist, he must rid himself of the stultifying effects of the religion, politics and essential bigotry of his background in late 19th century Ireland.