This thesis is a study of the main male character, Stephen Dedalus, in A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man of James Joyce. The writer is curious why Stephen chooses to abandon his faith and become a non-believer and why Stephen fails in his repentance, then how the process of Stephen's changes from a believer to a non-believer happens. Through the analysis, the writer finds out that at first Stephen is a believer, which is shown through several parts of the story. Stephen has faith in religion when he is still in Clongowes Wood College. Until then Stephen is trapped in adultery and tries to repent from his sin. The trouble begins when Stephen begins to realize how useless his repentance and his religion are because they are not able to make him free from his
sin. Stephen begins to abandon his religion and refuse to join the priesthood. Stephen's heretic attitude also speeds up the process of Stephen's change from a believer to a non-believer.