Analisys of The Dead, J. Joyce

The Dead is an extract from The Dubliners, James Joyce’s  first collection of short stories, published in 1914.

The short story is set in Dublin during and after the annual party given by Kate, Julia and Mary Jane Morkans, ants of the main character, Gabriel Conroy. The protagonist participates to the party with his wife, Gretta. When they arrive at the party, Gabriel talks to the caretaker’s daughter, Lily and  when he comes to know that the girl has already finished school, the protagonist asks her  when she is going to get married. In this way, Gabriel reveals his traditional idea of a woman life standard. But Lily answers to him in a strange way: "The men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you.". The answer given makes the protagonist feel uneasy.

Afterwards, Gabriel makes fun of her wife who in turn makes a joke about the husband forcing her to wear galoshes due to the bad weather.

During the party, Gabriel dances with an old friend: Miss Ivors. Both have worked as teachers but the woman is an Irish nationalist while the protagonist admits he wants to go away from Ireland. Their  different points of view are revealed on the occasion of a discussion about Gabriel’s reviews published in the Daily Express.

Later, after the dinner, Gabriel holds a speech in which he praises the hospitality of her aunts, all-Irish, and the tradition which is almost absent in the new “hypereducated” generations.

When the party finishes, everybody starts going except for Mr. D’Arcy who sings The Lass of Aughrim. The song makes Gretta remind something that moves her and makes her weep.

Once Gabriel and Gretta take leave from the three sisters, the protagonist starts to think about his wife possible  secret moments he lived with his wife and he start to desire her passionately . But once they arrive at  the hotel where he supposes he may sleep  with his wife (the protagonist wanted to spend some time alone with her), Gabriel first is angry with Gretta because she did not turn when she called her, but when she comes near him and kisses him he calms down. However, he is not able to tell Gretta what he is thinking and strays asking her if she is not feeling well and asks her what she is thinking about. So Gretta talks about a young man that had fallen in love with her when she was living with her grandmother in Galway. As a result

she tells Gabriel about Michael Furey who  had fallen in love with her and used to sing The Lass of Aughrim.

The boy was ill and when Gretta had to go to Dublin he went to visit her for the very last time. Even if he knew he might die because of his desease, he kept staying under the rain starring at her and a few day after she left, he died.

After the revelation, Gabriel understands that he had not shared much with his wife, but then he thinks about what she how she must have looked like back then and that Michael Furey have fallen in love with another Gretta. Further on, the protagonist thinks about her aunt Julia who also she was sad when she was singing. He thinks that it will not pass much time and also Julia will die and he will sit near Kate who will be telling about how her sister died.

Gabriel thinks about how he is near to the world of the dead even if he cannot sense their presence and in the end the falling snow is compared with the end of life which falls upon all the living beings.

In The Dead James Joyce uses the interior monologue technique. In fact, the reader follows thoughts, feelings  and characterization of the protagonist without any mediation of the narrator, who is omniscient and unintrusive. This type of narrator is typical of impersonality technique, developed during the end of the XIX century.

Like other character in The Dubliners, Gabriel is paralyzed. Paralysis is a main theme of the all collection. An example can be found in Eveline. The protagonist wants to go away from Dublin with her boyfriend but she is too scared. In fact in the end Eveline is compared to a helpless animal.

In  The Dead instead Mr. Conroy is not able to tell freely what he thinks to Gretta and also to Miss Ivors, to whom is not able to tell directly that his reviews published on the Daily Express does not imply politics and does not respond when the woman asks him why he wants to go away from Ireland.

Gabriel also looks quite pathetic because of his incapability to say what he thinks. But his pathetic attitude is revealed also by his blunder when he asks Lily hen she is going to get married, by his embarrassment caused by the joke his wife told and by his fear to make a bad impression during his speech.

Gabriel’s aunts are the image of the old women who know everything about everybody in the city but their culture is not as high as Gabriel’s.  In fact he was afraid about quoting some verses of Shakespeare because his aunts may think he was showing off  his higher education.

Mr. D’Arcy has quite a important function because singing The Lass of Aughrim is the trigger which makes Gretta think about Michael Furey.

Gretta appears in the beginning of the short story and makes a few appearances during the party. Only after she and her spouse leave the party she has an important function. In fact is thanks to the story the woman tells that Gabriel has an epiphany.

In the end of the short story Gabriel discovers that his relationship with Gretta is not so happy like it looks like in the beginning (they joke and laugh together) and he thinks about how he have had a small part in the woman’s life. The epiphany makes him also reflect about how the dead and the livings are close due to the precariousness of life to which the end comes closer day by day.