The Portrait of an Artists as a Young Man

The portrait of an artist as a young man by James Joyce is the story of a young man, Stephan, as he grows up. Most of the book is internal and is told to the reader through stream of conscious. Due to the uniqueness my big question of sheathed the characters in the book have free will or if they are controlled by a greater force. The book being told solely through Stephan's thoughts adds a deeper level to this question. Unlike books that focus on external action and need a set of (convenient) events to progress, the reader was allowed to see each step Stephan took to grow. It is due to this personal and intimate connection between reader and Stephan that the book progresses purely through free will. I never felt as though the events were conveniently created for progressing the story.  Stephan progresses the story solely through his thought epiphanies which are seen by the reader due to Joyce's use of stream of consciousness.  Overall I believe that having the main character have free will instead of controlling the story with fate adds more to the story