The pandy scene in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is, in many ways, quite typical of a coming-of-age story. A child or young adolescent finds himself in a situation where he is in conflict with the adults around him and the situation ends up being traumatic for the child. What is unusual about Stephen's experience is that he refuses to allow Father Dolan, a person of clear authority, to have the final say. By addressing the rector and asserting his right to be treated fairly, humanely, and justly, Stephen as a future artist claims authority over his own conscience. He leaves the dean's office in control of his life, no longer a passive recipient of adults' wrongdoings. Stephen is initially chosen by Father Dolan among the other boys 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 has been 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, "seeing" life differently than others. More imaginative and introspective than his classmates, Stephen already exemplifies the qualities of an artist. It is this uniqueness, symbolized by Stephen's visual abilities (or disabilities), that brings him to Father Dolan's attention. Perhaps Joyce is pointing out that being an artist will always attract the suspicion of those who see life in more simplistic terms; for people like Father Dolan, strength and authority are much more important than art and truth. Although the physical pain caused by the 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). “Then 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 how the prefect had stopped to hold his hand in order to cause Stephen the greatest pain, unfair that he had been publicly called a schemer, and unfair because he had done nothing wrong. Prompted by a classmate's observation that "the Roman senate and people declared that Daedalus had been unjustly punished" (298), Stephen identifies his experience with other great acts of injustice throughout history and identifies with those “great people” who protested injustice; "The story was all about those men" (298-9).