The Dead is a short story written by James Joyce. It belongs to Dubliners, a collection of stories published in 1914.

 

The story, set in 1904’s Dublin, deals with the traditional Christmas party organized by Kate and Julia Morgen.

The event is a dance party, followed by the dinner. After that, all people go away, and in particular Gabriel and his wife Gretta go to a Hotel for the night. Before going away, Mr. D’Arcy, a tenor, sing a song that remember to Gretta the sad story of Michael Furey.

He suffered of tuberculosis, and he was in love with Gretta; one night he moved to Gretta’s house before her departure to convent. Some day after he died.

In the hotel room Gretta starts to cry and explains her sad story to Gabriel, and that prompt him an epiphany.

 

The Structure

 

The first part works as an introduction, presenting the event. Besides it start to portray people at party. In particular the organizers are worried about Gabriel’s lateness, because he has to utter the speech.

 

In the second macro-sequence the dance starts. At the same time, there are lots of dialogues and meetings between guests, for example Mr.Browne and Mr.Freddy Malins, Gabriel and Mrs.Ivors. These meetings and the description of character’s behavior are useful to better characterize all of them.

During all this time, Gabriel thinks about his speech and if it will be appropriate for his audiences.

 

The third macro-sequence is the dinner. It starts with Mrs.Ivors’ departure and the carve of the goose. After the dinner there is the Gabriel’s speech, which introduce the final part of the party and the greetings.

 

The fourth part is divided by a line from the previous one; it deals with the end of the party and the departure of all the guests. In this part there is the most important fact of the all story: Gretta hears Mr.D’arcy singing. This breaks the previous balance of narration, even if the reader can understand this only in the last part.

 

Last part deals with Gabriel’s epiphany. The song remembers to Gretta, the guy whom she was in love with, Michael Furey. She tells the story to Gabriel, and that prompts a reflection about his love for Gretta and his life.

 

The structure recalls the myth (Dubliners is published before Ulysses, but it is present a form of mythological method): the first and second parts coincide with the exordium; the third one is the hero’s proof (Gabriel is an antihero) and after that we have the ending. But unlike the myth, the antihero does not win. Gabriel after the epiphany becomes aware about his collapse in love.

 

Characterization

 

Main Characters

 

1.       Gabriel: he is a middle-aged stout and tall man; he has glossy black hair, without beard, and he wears gold glasses. Glasses suggests he should be intelligent, well-educated, indeed he is a university-educated teacher, writer and also reviewer. He is respected from all guests. He is sensitive and thoughtful, in fact in all his dialogues we can find his impression and thoughts on other people.

 

2.       Gretta: she is Gabriel’s wife. She seems to be caring, indeed she helps the Aunts. We do not have a physical precise description. During all the story she is in background, until the end of the story, when she becomes essential: her thoughts about Michael Furey are essential for the final Gabriel’s epiphany.

 

Secondary Character:

 

1.       Lily: she is the door keeper’s daughter. She’s the young housemaid to the Morkan sisters. Even if she is young, the comment on men that strikes Gabriel, reveals she is mature.

 

2.       Julia and Kate Morkan: they are sisters. They have organized the party and they are worried about the right development of the evening, in particular Kate. They are old but Kate is more vivacious then Julia.

 

3.       Mr.Browne: he is a tall wizen-faced man, with a stiff grizzled moustache and swarthy skin. His behavior is often irritating.

 

4.       Freddy Malins: he’s the drunk man. Two sisters are worried about his behavior. There is also his mother at the pary.

 

5.       Mrs. Ivors: she is the nationalist that has been Gabriel’s university fellow. She is well-educated, indeed she read Gabriel’s criticism; according to Gabriel she is also envious about him.

 

Setting:

 

The story is set in Dublin in 1904. The party take place in a hall. The last part of the story is set in a hotel room.

 

Narrative techniques:

 

James Joyce alternates dialogical and narrative parts. The narrator is a third person omniscient narrator, in fact he know also past events of chracter’s private life.

Besides Joyce uses the interior monologue to convey character’s thought: in particular in the final part Joyce communicates all Gabriel’s though process.

 

Themes:

 

One of the most important themes in The Dead is the inadequacy: the Morkan sisters are worried about Freddy Malins because his behavior should be inadequate at the situation; in addition, Gabriel thinks that Browning’s quotation should be inadequate to his audiences.

 

Another important theme is the paralysis: the paralysis should be related to Gabriel. Gabriel understands that he does not know his wife, and during all their life he has always been passive. The presence of the snow underlines this sense of not-being.

 

Use of language:

 

The language used is precise, in particular to refer character’s feelings. Physical description are meticulous, and it helps the reader to typify characters.

Besides Joyce uses symbols to convey precise state of mind of his characters: snow means the paralysis.

 

Epiphany and his meaning:

 

Gretta tells Michael Furey story to Gabriel and that causes the epiphany. Furey is dead for love: this implies a true and power feeling for Gretta that Gabriel has not ever tried. So Gabriel has always lived in a passive way. From that he starts to think about death: all people have to die, but Michael Furey’s death is not sad because he’s died thinking about her love. On the other hand, Gabriel’s existence is fading out into a “grey impalpable world".