MCorte - James Joyce's The Dead - The Dead(Dubliners)

The Dead is the last short story from Dubliners by James Joyce. The main protagonist is named Gabriel Conroy and he participates with his wife Gretta, to the annual party given by the family Morkan. During the party, Gabriel meets and talks with different people: Mrs Ivors, nationalist person, opposite to Gabriel who wants to escape Ireland. During the party Gabriel has a speech about Irish hospitality and also traditions. After the party Gabriel remembers all the happy moments with his wife and he desires to love her. In a hotel room, Greta shows to feel sad and she reveals she remembered a time ago, a young boy was in love with her and to see her once again, he defied his sickness and died. This makes Gabriel understand how precarious it was his life and his wedding.
Considering the structure, the short story can be subdivided in two parts: the first party is setting at the Markons' party: in this part the reader learns about the main protagonist, Gabriel Conroy. He is a teacher and he is a family man, with wife and children; the main characterization of this character is given by the meetings he has with the other people at the party; moreover the context of the party and the guests makes the context of the story and Irish society, described by Joyce. The second part of the story takes place in a hotel room where Gabriel stays with his wife Gretta who was nearly absent from the narration up to this moment. This is the main part because it is in that part Gabriel has the revelation that generates his epiphany. This is the final convey of the story, of Gabriel and also of the Dubliners.
The main character of the story is Gabriel Conroy. The reader knows his personality reading the dialogues he had with other people at the party. He is a conservative man, affectionate to the past and he despise the present life of Irish people. He wishes to go away from Ireland; this aspect reminds also of Joyce's experience, living in exile. He thinks to be realized because he has a wife and he thinks to be loved. The final revelation from his wife reveals the superficiality and the failure of his life(as other characters of Dubliners) because he learns someone else showed his wife to be more deep than him. The other characters have the function to compose Irish society, in fact The Dead in Dubliners, is the short story representing public life. The people at the party shows the most important aspects about Irish society, according to Joyce. Mrs. Ivory is a nationalist lady and Gabriel has a conflict with her. Julia and Kate Morkan are organizers of the party and it is showed how they are so concentrated on the aspects of the party(they are worried by Gabriel's delay because he has to make a speech). Freddy Malins is a drunk man, annoying other people, especially Markon sisters. These people makes the vision of Joyce about Irish people: they are superficial, inconclusive and most at all paralyzed by religion, tradition and also alcoholism(an important problem also for Joyce).
As in other short stories of Dubliners, Joyce uses the technique of interior monologue, because he reports all the thoughts and feeling of Gabriel as he feels, without logical order. This technique is necessary for the narration, because the sense of the story and Dubliners, is based on the development of characters' thoughts and how they change after their own epiphanies.
In The Dead Joyce gives importance to the symbolic realism. Starting from the name of the character, Gabriel, that is a remind the announcing archangel, representing avenging and remorse, that are the main feelings of Gabriel at the end. Moreover Michael Fury, reminds also the archangel defeating evil forces and this gives more characterization to his role: he is the man who defies his sickness for love, so he is who will battle for something of deep; moreover his surname, Fury, reminds also to "furying" representing passion. So this character is represented as a person who battles for deep sense of love, that is the main point remembered by Greta and that defeats Gabriel.
The most important technique of Joyce's story is the use of the epiphany. In this story it involves the main protagonist Gabriel. He wishes to love his wife but she reveals him someone died for loving her. In front of this revelation Gabriel feels initially jealous but then he feels sad and lost. In fact he understands he has never loved his wife as Michael has. This is the loss for him because his life seems to be so important but now it is revealed it was only illusion. Michael is dead but for what he did, he is more "alive" for Greta than the superficial Gabriel. In this condition Gabriel feels he is dying as soul while Michael is dead only physically. In this condition it is better dying immediately as Michael than dying slowly consumed by time and useless life. The final scene, where Gabriel and Greta sees the snow falling, represents consciousness of his condition: the snow falls over living and dead and it seems there is not any difference between one and others. In this situation it emerges once again symbolism of the story. The snow represents falling: the ideal wedding of Gabriel is revealed to be failed and superficial as Gabriel's life; so he feels his life and his love are fallen; the world around him is fallen because now he understands completely how paralyzed and useless is the Irish society he belongs to.
This was one of the best and most important stories of James Joyce and also of Modernism. This is also a story very interesting and that makes reflection in one's mind. Final conclusions of Joyce in his stories are not restricted in the book but they are so useful and promoting reflection in normal life. This is one fo the best features of Modernist author, especially Joyce: they represents "life or spirit, truth or reality" in their hidden aspects, according to the individual, expressing also the change of human conception, that is reflected nowadays.