be alone. .
This is the exact opposite of Lily's situation. Stephen is a sensitive and intellectual person and was even so as a younger boy. Although he has siblings, his parents decide to send only him to the expensive Clongowes Wood College, where he is initially an outcast, but by the end of his schooling there proves himself to be both smart and capable of standing up to any injustices. Stephen's time at Belvedere College further illustrates his intellectual superiority. He earns the reputation of being one of the smartest boys there and his teachers and classmates respect his level of intelligence. .
The only consequence that this positive reinforcement has is that it gives Stephen the confidence to be his own isolated person and to eventually leave Ireland to pursue his art of writing. Stephen states "I do not fear to be aloneAnd I am not afraid to make a mistake, even a great mistake" (Joyce 218). From this positive feedback and respect that Stephen has received on behalf of his classmates, teachers and society as a whole he conjures up the courage to face the world alone for the sake of pursuing his art. .
These two characters view their art and the effect it has on society around them very differently. Lily views her painting in the exact opposite way that Stephen views his writing. While lily is consumed by her work, thinking about painting even when she is not at her easel, she never likes to share her work with others. William Banks is the only person that Lily lets see her painting and even that makes her brush shake. Woolf describes Lily's interaction with Banks, "she did not, as she would have done has it been Mr. Tansley, Paul Rayley, Minta Doyle, or practically anybody else, turn her canvas upon the grass, but let it stand" (Woolf 17-18). .
This nervousness and lack of confidence is a stark contrast to the sureness that Stephen feels. Lily simply does not have the same lofty hopes about her art that Stephen has about his writing.
