The Dead is the last short story by James Joyce that belongs to the collection Dubliners. It is the last because it unites the themes found in the earlier stories. In his book, Joyce wanted to give the history of Ireland. The prominent characteristic he saw in Ireland, and particularly in Dublin, was the spiritual paralysis of its people. 

The main characters are Gabriel Conroy, the narrator, and Gretta, his wife. The intelligent reader understands that the name Gabriel is the name of the archangel, his name is symbolical. Gretta is his wife and she is presented by Gabriel's thoughts, in the all short story the character is presented by what other person think about her.

The short story develops in Ireland and has got two sets: the set of the party organized by Gabriel's aunts, an happy atmosphere, and in the outside set is winter and it's snowing, winter is the time of holiday but also the time of dead.

The structure of The Dead made be divided into three parts.

In the first part there is the description of the party, where Gabriel is considered an important figure and the guests expect that Gabriel will hold a speech. There are people especially from the house of music, there are some that play instruments like the piano, a lot of food and drink. When Gabriel arrives to the party outside is snowing, he wears a coat and rubber shoes, he likes to be trendy. After he talks with Lily, an housemaid of the party, and asks her if she has finished school and if she has got a boyfriend, but Lily doesn't feel at ease. The reader understands that may be Lily had got problems with men, probably someone have deluded her, so Gabriel makes a mistake in communication. Gretta arrives with him, she is a woman who is disappointed by Gabriel's family. The rider imagines Greta to be different from the conventional wives (the conventional wife does what her husband asks her). Gabriel is much involves of her wife, he is protective, J.Joyce takes a lot of time to talk about how much he is defensive. Gretta creates problems right the start because she doesn't conform.

Second part of the story:

The party is an occasion for the community to stay together, between people who loved music: all guests are slaves of conventions. During the party they talk about a lot of arguments. Their conversation emphasizes that an Irish party would not be Irish without reference to Irish politics. Gabriel is preparing the speech, he wants to explain some quotation by Robert Broning but he considers that the people of the party won't follow his culture.

The central moment during the party is when people are dancing and Gretta is sitting on the stairs. Gabriel noticed her, she is sad after earing the song "The Lass of Aughrim".

Third part of the story:

When Gabriel and Gretta arrive to the hotel that Gabriel had reserved, the porter brings them to the room, he is full of amorous feelings for her, but Gretta seems upset about something. He tries to make conversation with her, but her mind is clearly elsewhere. Finally, she breaks down and weeps. She cannot stop thinking of the "The Lass of Aughrim." A boy she once knew used to sing that song. Gabriel is angry, but tries to hide it. He asks if she was in love with him, and she admits that they courted. She says that the boy is dead. His name was Michael Furey.

He feels insignificant in her life; a man died for her love. He feels the power of Furey's passion; he has never felt something like that for a woman.

Joyce joins the themes of isolation and mortality. Gabriel feels himself becoming one of the deceased: "His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts of the dead". The snow, falling upon "all the living and the dead" becomes a metaphor for isolation, the inability to know others, even those with whom we are intimate. Ironically, the snow also functions as a symbol for the death that comes indiscriminately. Opaque where it lies "thickly drifted" over objects in cities and distant graveyards, it masks all behind a shield of white, isolating each thing.

Joyce is interested in the thoughts of his characters. In fact through the actions and the thoughts of the characters he wants to convey what their inner part is. The thoughts don’t have a chronological development, but they start from a sensorial experience and they develop themselves through associations and analogies. In this short story Joyce wants to represent the thought, which is a subjective and relative time of everyone’s mind. Gabriel's thoughts move from past to present and future: from Michael’s Fureys love and untimely death, to his wife faded beauty, to the main emotions of the evening. Of course, death is the main idea which connects all the thoughts. Moreover, while thinking he has a sudden spiritual revelation, an epiphany “he had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love”: he feels love for her, he feels sad because he had never known about Michael Furey.

In this story Joyce uses a third person narrator who tell us what he sees; however, sometimes the narrator disappear in order to let the thoughts of the protagonist develop. Another technique is called free indirect thought, because it is not introduced by the words of the narrator; the narrator disappears and let the reader enter into the mind of the character.

Therefore, the traditional description of the character’s appearance, personality and behaviour was replaced by the presentation of their stream of consciousness, that is, a mixture of impressions, mental associations, ideas and feelings that a name reveals. So, what the character are, what the character feel and think is more important than what they do. Another novelty, was the development of the story not in a conventional linear way. Finally, Joyce needed an appropriate narrative technique that was the interior monologue, which was meant to represent the mental activity of the character as it developed, and even before it was organise into logical thinking, so, the role of the narrator was no longer necessary, and the reader’s access to the character’s inner life was made more direct.