Stephan emphasized the importance of art, especially in the literary sense, in his childhood because he took many negative aspects of his life, and he turned them into a poetic ensemble and subsequently transformed them to happier thoughts. At school, the dean questioned his desires to become an artist, and he posed this question that really helped Stephan in his search. .
You are an artist, are you not, Mr. Dedaelus? Said the dean, glancing up and blinking his pale eyes. The object of the artist is the creation of the beautiful. What is beautiful is another question. (Page 185).
The dean posed this question, and Stephan thought about it afterwards and he realised that this was the key to finding the role that the artist played in his life. There were also the three important attitudes that Stephan had about art. "To discover the mode of life or of art whereby your spirit could express itself in unfettered freedom." (Page 213) These three attitudes were: Art as a vocation or a calling, where he felt that his calling to art was so strong that he could not shun it, and even if he had to go through loneliness, poverty, or exile, he would still have to follow his calling as an artist. Art as flight was the second attitude where he saw imagination as a refuge away from reality, and poetry became his way of expressing the bad things in his life and transforming them into beautiful words. Art as a religion was the third attitude, where he saw himself as a priest of imagination rather than the traditional and accepted priest of the Catholic Church. All of these things contributed to Stephan's search for the role of the artist in his life. The role that the artist played in the life of Stephan Dedaelus caused many struggles for him, and all the hardships that he experienced led to his self-discovery. .
Stephan's alienation from society came as a direct result of his pursuit of self-discovery and independence.
