I need help with a thesis statement tying the novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man to Marxism.

A good thesis statement
not only makes a claim about something but it also offers a line of reasoning or a brief
rationale for that claim. A claim is a statement with which someone else might argue, and so you
have to provide textual evidence in your body paragraphs which will support that
claim.

One way in which this novel is influenced by Marxist ideas is in its
treatment of religion. Karl Marx argued that religion is the opiate of the masses, and we see
how, in Stephen Dedalus's world, strict Catholic doctrine seems to govern people's behavior and
perception of their world rather than potentially developing an awareness of oppression or
privilege (and then organizing a move against them).

When he compared
organized religion to a drug, Marx suggested that religion was necessarily harmful because it
clouds one's perceptions by reducing some aspects of their suffering; it presents them with dull
fantasies, like opium does, that allow them to continue living their routine and unfulfilling
lives, and it prevents them from questioning their realities (rendering it impossible that they
would rebel). Stephen is essentially compelled to choose between an austere life in the
churchgiving up things that are beautifulor a life as an artist, someone who can see the true
effects of the church on the Irish citizens who continue to endure financial, political, and
social oppression from various groups again and again.

It is another tenet of
Marxist thinkers that art is a cultural institution that has the potential to unite people from
different social statuses and eventually lead to a society without class distinctions. Stephen
eventually does decide to abandon thoughts about a life in the church and embrace the role of an
artist, even determining to leave Irelandas a place where the class structure was so
embedded.

Therefore, I think you could certainly argue that
this novel is influenced by Marxist ideas regarding both religion and art, as
evidenced by Stephen Dedalus's decision to embrace beauty and art and reject religion and class
traditions.