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LMorelli - questions about The Dead
by - (2009-03-23)
Up to James Joyce and Fiction
THE DEAD by James Joyce
What narrative technique is used in the text?
Joyce uses a third person narrator, monologues, free indirect speech. But the main technique used in the text is the dialogue, so using direct speech.
Why does the writer make extensive use of the monologue?
Gabriel's reflections are underlined by the use of monologue. As a matter of fact that Joyce wants to transfer his attention on it because he doesn't want to talk about events. In this way Joyce can talk about Gabriel in order to talk about human life.
Does he use reported speech or direct speech and why?
Joyce uses the direct speech in order to convey the idea of reality and so the reader can have a personal opinion about the story, without narrator's interference.
The leitmotiv of the story is death: how is it expressed?
It is expressed with unusual references and usually events. There are many examples Gabriel thinks about death thinking about his old aunt or when he analyses the behavior of the snow the covers everybody, alive and dead, the theme has another connotation: the point is the quest is now the meaning of death and its necessary role in life, or when Greta speaks of Michael Furey's death.