The Dead - notes

The Dead is a short story by J.Joyce. It belongs to Dubliners which is a collection of short stories.

The Dead is the last short story in the collection.

The main character is Gabriel who is a man of letters who is married to Greta. Greta come from Galway.

Gabriel's name becomes symbolical: Gabriel was an archangel who announced Mary she would be the mother of Jesus Christ.

It seems that in the short story the revelation  turns upside down.

The reader knows different parts ofGabriel life: he is a man of letters, he is an Irish man and he married to Greta. His mother wasn't happy of his marriage because she considers Greta a woman of the country.

Nevertheless Gabriel didn't have the approve of his mother, he took his decision. Heis different from Eveline, because he makes conscious and autonomous choice.

We know Gabriel inside the context of a party. The short story develops in the Walkan party.

The party is organised by his aunts, it is organised every year for people that interests listening and playing music. All the students of the school of music goes to the party.

Gabriel is considered an important figure on the party, people expected Gabriel to hold a speech.

In the first part of the short story, everybody is waiting Gabriel, and when he arrives outside it is snowing and he makes a mistake, he meets Lily (the servant) and he asks her if she has a boyfriend,she does not feel at ease in front of Gabriel's question.

The reader immagines Greta to be different from the conventional wife: she does not do what her husband asks her. 

Gabriel and Greta are different,and she is not a subjugated woman. She creates problems right from the start,because she does not conform.

The party is an occasion for the community to come together,people goes there because it is a convention.

During the dance people has a conversation: the most important conversation is between Mrs. Ivons and Gabriel, about his idea of Ireland.  Gabriel wants to leave to Ireland, he considers it soffocting. On the contrary Mrs. Ivons is a nationalist.

An important theme in the short story is the RELIGIOUS. 

After dancing,dinner starts. Gabriel make play the rule of priest.He is not spontaneous, he prepares the speech.

He wants to exploit some quotations  from Robert , but at the end he changes idea,because he considers that people of the party doesn't follow him.