The pandying scene in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is, in many ways, quite typical of a coming-of-age story. adulthood. A child or young adolescent finds themselves in a situation in which they are in conflict with the adults around them, and the situation resolves in a traumatic way for the child. What is unusual about Stephen's experience is that he refuses to allow Father Dolan, a person of obvious authority, to have the last word. By going to the rector and asserting his right to be treated fairly, humanely, and justly, Stephen, as a future artist, regains his authority over his own conscience. He leaves the rector's office in control of his life, no longer a passive recipient of the misguided actions of adults. Stephen is initially singled out from the other boys by Father Dolan because he is different. He asks Stephen: “Why don't you write like the others? and although Stephen's teacher explains that he broke his glasses and was excused from work, Dolan immediately decides that Stephen is a "lazy little schemer" (294). The fact that Stephen wears glasses suggests that he is sensitive, intellectual and physically delicate, he "sees" life differently from others. More imaginative and introspective than his classmates, Stephen already embodies the qualities of an artist. It is this uniqueness, symbolized by Stephen's visual abilities (or disabilities), that brings him to the attention of Father Dolan. Perhaps Joyce is pointing out that being an artist will always attract suspicion from those who see life in more simplistic terms; For people like Father Dolan, strength and authority are far more important than art and truth. Although the physical pain caused by the pandy bat is intense, once it wears off, Stephen becomes increasingly outraged at the injustice of Father Dolan's punishment. He didn’t deserve it since “the doctor told him not to read without glasses” (297). “So, to be called a schemer in front of the class” when Stephen was usually first or second in his studies was “unfair and cruel” (297). It was cruel the way the prefect had taken the time to pin down his hand in order to cause Stephen the greatest pain, unfair that he was publicly labeled a schemer, and unfair because he had nothing done harm. Prompted by a classmate's remark that "the Senate and the Roman people declared that Daedalus had been unjustly punished" (298), Stephen equates his experience with other great acts of injustice throughout the history and identifies with these “great people” who protested against injustice “The story was entirely about these men;" (298-9).