The dead is the title of the last of the twelwe short stories collected in Dubliners written by James Joyce.
By reading the title the reader expects the story to be about death ( obviously) and probably its effects on people who are still alive. However at the very beginning It looks more like the simple narration of the annual Christmas party thrown by the Morkans and their niece, Mary Jane.
The first part of the story  is mostly decated to the detailed and realistic description of all the guests and the setting: people are dancing, singing,outside it's snowing...and the use of dynamic verbs such as "run off", "walking", "scamper",...makes the narration faster but at the same time more challenging as if the reader couldn't wait to get to the end.
Although one might think that the Morkans are at the centre of the story, as the narration goes on, the intelligent reader understands that "The Dead" revolves around Gabriel Conroy ( a name that makes the reader reflect since Gabriele was the name of the archangel who informs Mary at the Annunciation of her role in the incarnation) and his wife Gretta.
The first half of the story goes around them as if it was just a surface, a decoration. It looks like the writer doesn't want to get to the main point directly but again, through detailed and realistic descriptions, he wants to give the reader a general idea and make everything perfectly clear with rationality and order ( as the chronological structure and the paragraphs confirm). However the persistent rhytme of the narration, given by the presentation of all the guests and by the different forms of entertainment that were at the party, easily bring the reader to the third part, which is the focus of the story.
At the beginning of the party Gabriel and Gretta appear to be a very happy couple. He loves her so much to the point that he rents a hotel room after the party: it is too cold and he is concerned about her wife and the possible illness she can get by going home.
When she was with her he felt like "they had escaped from their lives and duties, escaped from home and friends and run away together with wild and radiants hearts to a new adventure"
He also shows his love by a passionable and sensual prespective. He desires her and he wants her like a man wants a woman. But his desire is not only sensual. It goes a long with a sweet sensation suddenly interrupted by Gretta's changing of mood.
Gabriel,in front of the hotel door, realizes that there is something that is bothering his wife but he can't figure out what it is. Finally after he asks her multiple times she confesses that at the party she heard a song "The Lass of Aughrim" that reminded her to a young man, Michael Furey. He was Gretta's first love who died for her when he was only seventeen years old. It's clear from her hysterical sobbing that Gretta has still not come to terms with losing her first love.
During the dinner at the Morkans Gabriel, in his table speech, declares that life shouldn't be overshadow by the ghost of the past:
"There are always in gatherings such as this sadder thoughts that will recur to our minds: thoughts of the past, of youth, of changes, of absent faces that we miss here to-night. Our path through life is strewn with many such sad memories: and were we to brood upon them always we could not find the heart to go on bravely with our work among the living. We have all of us living duties and living affections which claim, and rightly claim, our strenuous endeavours."
But Gretta's reaction proves that he's wrong. You can't get over memories and even more difficult, you can't get over death. You can soothe the pain but you'll never get over it.
At this point Gabriel realizes that he wasn't Gretta's first love and there will always be someone else in her memories before him someone who is not in the world any more but keeps living in her mind. The intelligent reader can know understand that you don't necessarily need to be here, on earth, to be alive. There are some people who are here but they are dead like Gabriel. He is Gretta's husband but he'll never be able to steal the place Michael has in her mind and in her heart.
Moreover the reader realizes that probably Gabriel doesn't even know his wife very well. He loves her and he has been married with her for several years but he has never known about Michales. He has always been selfish carng about his own life. This behavior can be seen in the beginning of the story, when Gabriel upsets Lily with his question about an upcoming marriage. Gabriel doesn't think twice before speaking about whether or not his words might hurt Lily. He ends up offending her and he doesn't even know what he has done wrong. This selfishness carried over to his own marriage. In the years that he has been with Gretta, Gabriel never even thought to ask her about any past loves. Then he seems surprised to find out she had been involved with a boy before meeting him
By looking at the title again at the end of the story the intelligent reader can now understand "The Dead" is not only about death but it's about what love can do over it. Between Gabriel and Michael the real dead is Gabriel the one who keeps living. He lives only for himself, he has a wife who he doesn't even know, he treats people without caring about their feelings and what the consequences of what he says are ( like he does with Lily at the very beginning). Michael, on the other side, is still alive, in memories but he lives. Memories and history are important. In the context where Joyce is living, at the very beginning of the XX century during the greatest cultural crisis that the world has ever known, looking back at the past could be a solution to find out one more time the values that really count.