Why does Father Dolan punish Stephen with the pandybat in Joyces Portrait of the Artist as a young Man ?

Eduncle Best Answer

Stephens involuntary memory of his pandybatting at Clongowes sets off a series of reactions in his mind. In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Father Dolan is Stephens young mind a frightening combination of all-too-human anger and religious power. The pandybatting incident begins when the inrascible and unreasonable prefect of studies announces his entrance into Stephens classroom with the loud crack of a pandybat on the last desk. Father Dolan asks the teacher of the class, Any boys want flogging here, Father Arnall ? Seeing a boy naked Fleming kneeling in the center of the room as a punishment for slackness in his studies, he exclaims, Hoho, Fleming! An idler of course. I can see it in your eye. After beating Flemings hands with the pandybat, he singles out Stephen for questioning, and learning that Stephen has broken his glasses and therefore cannot do his work, he says, Out here, Dedalus. Lazy little schemer. I see schemer in your face. Stephen must hold out first one hand and then the other, and Father Dolan his each hand once. Joyce evokes Stephens immediate reaction in A Portrait with images of fire and burning-the word livid, scalding, burning, hot and flaming are repeated over and over in the space of a few paragraphs.