The Dead is the last short story belonging to James Joyce's collection
of works called "The Dubliners". The main characters are Gabriel, a man of
letters, and his wife Gretta, who comes from Gallway.

Gabriel's name is related to the angel who announced to Mary she'd be
the mother of Jesus Christ. But it seems to the revelation comes from Gretta,
not from Gabriel. This puts Gabriel in the some company of the other characters
of Dubliners. He is an Irish man, married to Gretta, notwithstanding his mother
was not happy of his marriage, because she was considered a woman from the
country.

The contest of the short story is a party given by Gabriel's aunts who
are interested in listening and playing music because they are professional
musicians, in which people dance and eat. People who attend the party are
friends, students of the local school of music: it is considered a social
event. They expect from Gabriel to hold a speech, but in the beginning, showing
his inability to communicate, he commits a mistake: he asks to Lily if she has
got a boyfriend, without considering she could be refused by a fellow. 

Inside the Irish society was a strict division between men and women. In
fact men put their raincoats in a place, the women put theirs upstairs.

Gabriel is interesting in being trendy (galoshes), but Gretta does not
obey to him: she does not follow his overprotective recommendations.