Analysis of The Dead by J. Joyce (28/3/12)

The Dead is a short story taken from Dubliners by J. Joyce. The main character is Gabriel Conroy, who has an epiphany that causes him an illumination. The name of epiphany comes from the religious festival called "Epiphany", that celebrates the journey of the magi to celebrate Jesus Christ (Jesus represents trnasformation: God becomes man).
Another important character is Gretta, Gabriel's wife. The writer does not present her physical aspect, but she is characterized by the categories of the name, her social status, her relationship with her husband and sons. Her name sounds hard. The reader knows only she is married with Gabriel and they have two sons, but she does not care much about them and she never speaks about them. It is possible to understand she is an indipendent woman, who is able to make her personal choices and that she comes from a lower social status than Gabriel's. So Gretta is not a main character, but a device to make the reader understand how Gabriel transforms himself and to allow him to grow in the story. The reader does not know what she thinks, but only what she feels when she listens to the song and her story. Gretta tells Gabriel the story because her husband insists to know what the matter is. Gabriel suffers for her and it is underlined by their actions: Gabriel is worried and he is walking in the room in the hotel, while his wife is sleeping, lied on the bed. Gabriel is not a hero because he depends from someone else, his wife. After the epiphany he realizes he has not been able to really love, as Michael Furey did: at the beginning he hates him, but then he commisarates him.
The surname "Furey" recalls the power of passion, impulse and instinct.