Motifs in "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young man"

The Portrait concentrated on stating themes, arranging apparently transparent words into configuration of utmost symbolic density. For example during the passage where the director proposes Stephen to enter priesthood , words like "the looped cord", "the shadow"," the skull , twice emphasized waning daylight , "cross blind, "blind to the cross","blinded by the cross" all convey the denial of nature and entrapment for Stephen which the Priest's office represent for Stephen.
The central image, the epiphany of the interview is the contained in the movement of the priests fingers: "slowly dang…