James Joyce, Dubliners (1914) The dead

1. Why did I choose this part and not another?
2. Elements of symbolic realism that you consider of particular importance?
3. Symbolism of proper names
4. Shade, light and darkness discuss

1 . The last part of The dead deals with the scene of Gretta and Gabriel returning to their hotel room after Misses Morkan’s annual dance. The scene is mostly set in the room, enlightened by the dim light of the moon. Though the focus of the scene  is on Gretta and Gabriel’s dialogue, the each surrounding element is important and significant as well. That’s why, in my opinion, we have chosen the last part of the novel since it is the most significant and representative to exemplify Joyce’s narrative style, and in particular, his peculiar use of symbolic realism, thanks to which the story acquires a deeper significance on the connotative level.

2 . The scene is rich of elements of symbolic realism. Actually each detail of the scene, from the furniture of the setting to the character’s movements, noted by the narrator reminds to a deeper significance and hides a different meaning. Therefore the analysis of the denotative level is not enough to understand the real message of the short story: the reader must take into exam the connotative level, looking for the meaning of the symbolic elements. A clear example is Gretta’s pair of boots left next to a chair: one standing up, the other sagged. The pair of boots stands for the relationship between Gretta and Gabriel, that doesn’t happens on the same level since there is an invisible  wall of incommunicability between them. The window through which the lights enters, the mirror that reflects Gabriel’s image, Gretta’s tears and the snow falling at the end, are other elements of symbolic realism enriching the meaning of the scene.

3 . The characters’ proper names are symbolic as well: Gabriel and Gretta. Gabriel recalls to the Archangel Gabriel, a biblical reference that might stands for the spiritual dimension aspired by the character, that spiritual dimension that is absent in Grabile when he looks at his image reflected in the mirror seeing “a ludicrous figure, acting as a pennyboy for his aunts, a nervous, well-meaning sentimentalist, orating to vuglarians and idealizing his own clownish lusts, the pitiable fellow he had caught a glimpse of in the mirror”.

4 . Light and darkness have a fundamental importance in the scene because of their metaphorical implications. The light is that dim one of the moon, entering from the window and enlightening a part of the room leaving the other one in the semi-darkness. The characters move alternately from the window, from the light to the darkness, in a game of shades that acquires symbolic meaning, revealing the attempt to avoid the light and hide into the dark.