Hidden Politics: The Impact of Politics in The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man By definition, politics is the partisan or functional intrigue within a given group. However, in The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce, there is no such concise definition, as politics are perpetually melded with Roman Catholicism and Irish nationality. Politics themselves are presented in three different manners: directly, and through the use of symbols and commentary. The direct and symbolic portrayal of politics in Portrait occurs mostly in the beginning of the novel. However, since the n