"The Dead"

Jei Woo

            In his collection of short stories titled, Dubliners, James Joyce displays his mastery of the craft of the short story in a particular piece, “The Dead,” which follows a certain dinner party in Dublin. The predominant theme that underlies the entirety of the short story seems to be the relationship between life and death.

Joyce weaves this potent theme into the piece through a number of narrative techniques: the talk of the “dead” resonates throughout conversations between characters and the thoughts of characters, and at a certain point in the story, the bittersweet remembrance of the dead causes a dramatic turn in the plot. When he is introduced with respect to the hostesses of the party around which the story takes place, the protagonist, Gabriel Conroy, is described as “the son of their dead elder sister, Ella…” (188). Gabriel’s dead mother reappears again as a memory in his mind when he happens upon an old photograph: “A shadow passed over his face as he remembered her sullen opposition to his marriage” (196). Though Ella passed away, a simple look at a photograph stirs an emotional change within Gabriel; merely looking at her face resurrects an image of her that almost seems alive from the array of memories.

In addition to Gabriel’s dead mother, Joyce addresses the notion of the “dead” or “being dead” when the party group discusses the ascetic lifestyle of monks, specifically their choice to sleep in coffins rather than comfortable beds. Mary Jane, the youngest of the three hostesses of the party, comments, “The coffin…is to remind them of their last end” (211). However, Mary Jane’s response, referring to the end of a person as when they die, is ironic because Joyce’s message concerning the relationship between the living and the dead is revealed in the climax of the story, which occurs after the party when Gabriel and his wife Gretta are alone in their hotel room. After hearing one of the partygoers sing a song at the actual party, Gretta reveals to Gabriel that as a young girl, she was once in love with Michael Furey, a boy who, though terribly sick at the time, walked to her house in the rain to see her one last time before she left for the convent. Gretta breaks down in irreconcilable remorse, which shows how much of an effect memories of the dead possess on the living. Joyce emphasizes the omnipresence of the dead even after their physical bodies have deteriorated. The dead, as demonstrated by Ella and Michael Furey, have almost as much influence on human beings as do the living; once Gretta hears the old song Michael used to sing, she is captured in a semi-catatonic state of intense emotion.

Through the short story “The Dead,” James Joyce suggests that there is a relationship between the living and the dead, which transcends the physical world. Instead, the living and the dead both inhabit a single plane, one of a metaphysical quality of memory, emotion, and soul. 

The Dead Response

One particular story in James Joyce’s Dubliners, “The Dead”, serves as an interesting place to exam the role of analysis and theme in a piece of fiction. The story follows the interactions of a wealthy man named Gabriel at an annual party held by the Morkans where he is confronted with tense situation after tense situation until he is finally thrust into center stage in a convoluted and contentious toast where he praises the old traditions and virtues such as hospitality while calling the need to let be forgotten the past and embrace the present. The story ends with his conversation with Gretta over unrequited love and him returning to his bed, looking out at the snow covered Ireland and festering in bitter thoughts.

               The bitter thoughts, of course, are those over his dear Gretta’s passion for someone named Michael Furey who she had loved previously and how even beyond his death he remains in memoriam. Gabriel’s relationship with Gretta is one of where he tries to accentuate dominance, to amorously control Gretta, but realizes that he is incapable of this when he realizes that someone before him has experienced her love in greater passions and still captivates it. He sadly comes to terms “how poor a part he, her husband, had played in her life” when another had died for her (Joyce 223). It is what possesses him towards the end, when he lies in bed looking out at the snow that fell “upon all the living and the dead” as though to signify that time and indifference escape no one, that all things recede to the past (Joyce 225). But the snow also recedes, giving birth to newer things, and in memoriam we carry the traditions of the deceased with us. This is indicated in how Gabriel feels a flowering new appreciation for his wife in lieu of this shocking story about Micheal Furey. But this is felt in a juncture, a cross-roads, between the world of the living and that of the dead, where his “identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world” (Joyce 225). He is being blanketed in this metaphorical snow as well.

               Also signified in this powerful image is the toast he makes at the party as well, where he lauds the hospitality of his hosts, but also lauds the progress of civilization and reminds the guests not to mourn the things of the dead. But this is a very contradictory passage because he constantly brings up how rare the virtues of hospitality and humanity are nowadays, marking them almost as tantamount, and so is doing a disservice to them when he says such things must be laid to rest. He, towards the end, thinks of “Poor Aunt Julia” who will soon die and be left in passing, but the idea therefore is that, between both his love and the party, that this company shall go, and with his own resurrection of character realize that in order to live unfettered and unchained people, and society, must detach themselves from the past while still keeping it in memoriam (Joyce 223).

The Dead Response

Katie Yook

February 25, 2013

The Dead Response

Throughout The Dead, James Joyce tells a story about an unremarkable day in life that sparks feelings of loneliness and highlights subtle frustrations that can build up and grow heavy. 

The narrator the story is an unknown, all-knowing figure.  The narrator is nonchalant because he/she never expresses emotions, and simply notes the thoughts, dialogues, emotions, and actions of all the characters at this party. In a setting of a social reunion, conversation tends to consist of small talk and short interactions. The narrator removes the fakeness of these interactions by giving readers an objective, detached account of what is happening. I feel that the narrator is honest and omniscient, giving me a stark picture of each character.  This makes me feel like all the characters are lonely in a crowded room. Though we see each character through their interactions, they all seem to be in their own world.

Joyce continually mentions the characters gestures and fidgets, making me feel like I am in their head.  Though very subtle and often unconscious, body language reveals A LOT about a person. Joyce’s descriptions of these gestures make me feel as if I am in that person’s body, experiencing the same emotions and thoughts and often unease and awkwardness that is revealed through body language. When Gabriel “patted his tie reassuringly,” I knew how he felt without being told he was feeling embarrassed and self-conscious (157). Again on page 159, Joyce describes the naïve girls dancing: swaying their bodies to and fro, with nervous jerks of their shoulders.” I immediately empathize with these subtle descriptions.

I feel really bad for Gabriel. Lily said one sentence to him that “cast a gloom over him” (155). Gabrial makes a speech but the “whole speech was a mistake from first to last, an utter failure” (155). To make matters worse, his “two aunts laughed heartily too for Gabriel’s solicitude was a standing joke with them” (156). Gabriel takes what people say too seriously and is way too hard on himself, but I think a lot of people are, including myself, which is why I sympathize with him so much. In this scene also, the two aunts and Gabriel’s wife are all ganging up on Gabriel and poking fun at him. I think this reveals something about how women interact with each other—the tendency to team up. Perhaps this is because women are more codependent on each other, or perhaps it is because they feel inferior to men, considering when this was written as well, so they jump at the opportunity to gang up on Gabriel.  Again in the scene between Gabriel and Miss Ivors, Miss Ivors is described as a ‘frankmannered talkative young lady,’ worth describing because most young ladies are expected to be polite and reserved. However, Miss Ivors’ frankness crosses the threshold of rudeness. Throughout their conversation, Gabriel just seems confused and defensive.

I’m always impressed when a story about mundane life can keep me interested. I felt that a heavy theme in this story and in other stories in Dubliners highlights the daily frustrations and repressed emotions experienced in quotidian life. On page 165, “Gabriel tried to cover his agitation.” Unlike most of the females of the story, Gabriel receives criticisms from others and bottles his emotions up, even though his encounters continue to bother him: “Gabriel tried to banish from his mind all memory of the unpleasant incident with Miss Ivors.” Again, I know this feeling, when you don’t want to care about someone’s stupid opinion or remark but it lingers in the back of your mind all day.

This makes me think of the piece I had workshopped last Thursday about the complex mental processes experienced in an ordinary day. Like in the Dead, I want to make my story have more of a connecting plot. Whereas my story seemed disconnected, I felt that the ending of The Dead tied together a point—perhaps the contemplation and revelation of the point of life and the feeling of remorse and giving up. I want my piece to feel like a conclusion and a completed thought by the end.

The Dead- Response

Jack Breene

Creative Writing

The Dead- Response

            Like many of the stories in James Joyce’s Dubliners, The Dead tells the story of a bitter realization. In this case, the main character Gabriel realizes just how out of place he is in his world.

            From the moment Gabriel enters the party, we see how out of touch he is with everyone around him. In addition to being somewhat of an intellectual in a world of simple folk, Gabriel also lacks social skills. This combination makes Gabriel a clear outsider and even gets him into a few very awkward situations. More specifically, Gabriel’s personality makes him contrived to practically everyone in attendance.

            The first time we see Gabriel feeling out of place is during a conversation he has was one of the maids, Lily. What starts as an innocent conversation about weather and school, turns to an awkward moment between the two when Gabriel hits one of Lily’s nerves by assuming that she will be married relatively soon. When Lily responds negatively to this assumption, implying that she doesn’t have a potential husband lined up yet, Gabriel and the reader are left confused. While both realize that they have made a mistake, neither is quite sure why or how. Through this interaction, James subtly hints to the reader that Gabriel is as much an outsider as his audience is, even though he is an actual member of the community.

            Another instance of Gabriel not belonging at this gather is during his discussion with Mrs. Molly Ivors. The discussion quickly turns into a disagreement when Mrs. Ivors mentions her disapproval of Gabriel’s side job, an book critic. While Gabriel sees nothing wrong with this profession, which he considers more of a hobby than a job considering how much he gets paid, it causes Ivors along with other guests to refer to him as a West Briton.  For Gabriel, being called a West Briton, an Irish colloquialism for an Irish who acts British in terms of their tastes in culture, is like being called bourgy. Gabriel is shunned again, this time for his intellectualism. However, in both cases he can’t understand what he has done to deserve such treatment.

            In both cases, Gabriel only makes things worse when he tries to make amends to the people he has offended. He offers money to Lily and he vocalizes his faith in Irish culture is his toast, but in both cases, he comes off as pretentious and condescending.

            Gabriel’s situation reaches a head when he truly realizes that he isn’t even significant in his wife’s life, spurred by her reminiscing about a gentle boy she knew in her younger days. The fact that there was so much about her that he didn’t even know about makes Gabriel truly realize how out of place and alone he is in Dublin.  

Only all Palaver: Class and Gender in "The Dead"

In Joyce's Dubliners short story "The Dead", what resonated with me most strongly was the role of men in this text, particularly conveyed through the character of Gabriel. “The Dead” puts Gabriel under an intense spotlight, because his actions and also the way he is treated by others is that of more than just dominance, but of complete control over the women in his life. 

In the moments where Gabriel is one-upped by women, it is clear that he crumbles psychologically, and this occurs in two crucial points in the text. The first is his encounter with Lily, the maid in the Morkan house. Rather than coyly (and in a stereotypical feminine way) accepting his compliments and even his money, Lily protests, telling Gabriel that “the men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you” (154). Gabriel, seeing this as an outlandish statement coming from not only a woman, but a maid at that, is completely out of place. Instead of behaving gentlemanly, he takes a coin and “thrusting it into her hand”, purposefully conveys a tone of “depreciation” (155). His interest is gone, and thus he is rejecting a challenging, progressive woman. As we’ll later learn, his negativity toward women in control grows exponentially in accordance with the scope of the audience as well as the class status of the woman in question. 

In a very similar way, he detests Miss Ivors when she challenges him in a different way, patronizing not his manhood but more his heritage and thoughts about his “own land”, his “own language”, his “own people” (164-165). The language Joyce uses here is different than that in the beginning with Lily—rather than being irked and slightly insulted, with Miss Ivors he is “heated”, “agitated” (165). Because she’s attacking him more personally than Lily, and in a more severe, intelligent way, Gabriel’s distaste toward her is far clearer and more extensive than the moodiness caused by Lily in the beginning of the story. Additionally, I think that class and publicity—together the idea of “keeping a good public image” – also play a role here. What Gabriel dotes on more than the insult itself, internally, is that she had “tried to make him ridiculous before people, heckling at him and staring at him with her rabbit’s eyes” (165). He is, of course, insulted about what she was calling him (a “West Brinton”), but he is more concerned and ashamed of the crowd, where she was calling him these things, undoubtedly judging him as she heckled (165). 

What I’ve gleaned from this is that class undoubtedly is intertwined with the roles of men and women in this text—different communities have different ideas pertaining to the behavior and interaction between the sexes, and I think that fact is eminent here. The crossings of classes in this scenario indicates to me that the role of men in this microcosm is more than just a dominance, it’s a psychology revolved around total and complete control over the women around them.

The Dead of Dubliners

James Joyce’s collection of short stories, Dubliners, is about just that: the citizens of Dublin, Ireland during the turn-of-the-century. It looks inside the culture of that time and place in order to investigate the deep flaws in the condition of its citizens. One of Joyce’s main themes is the intersection between life and death, and the paralysis of the living which synthesizes the two. In the closing story of the collection, called “The Dead,” this theme is demonstrated as it recounts the story of an array of Dubliners at a party. It focuses on the character of Gabriel Conroy, who, after the party retreats to his hotel where he has an inner revelation about life and death.

Joyce presents the idea of a kind of “living dead” throughout Dubliners. In “The Dead,” this theme is expressed first through the setting: an annual party at the Morkan house, where every turn of the evening is also annual—it is the same routine each time. The same characters show up in the same attitudes, they do the same things and have the same discussions.

The one moment of fire that occurs in “The Dead” is near the end, when Gabriel sees his wife’s eyes alight and her face blush, which in turn arouses in him a frenzy of desire and reminiscence, of their early days of marriage “before the years of their dull existence together”(186). As it turns out, however, the one subtle expression that injected life into Gabriel was caused by thoughts of a dead lover of his wife’s from her past. Gabriel thinks, “he had never felt like that himself towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love”(194). Gabriel here admits that he has never loved his wife, that their marriage has essentially been a routine. He only learns this once he hears this anecdote about the true, intense love which his wife felt for this boy who is dead. It is in that irony that Joyce’s theme animates.

The symbol of snow in “The Dead” also serves as a manifestation of the cold, frigid state of this society. When Gabriel first arrives at the party, “a light fringe of snow lay like a cape on the shoulders of his overcoat”(153). Then, when he is asked about the snow in the next scene, he replies, “I think we’re in for a night of it” (154). These moments when snow is mentioned both emphasizes the veil of death covering all of them, and that they are in for a night of paralyzing, lifeless routine. It foreshadows the end of the story, when Gabriel reflects on the idea of the snow covering all of Ireland. He realizes that this numbness is common to all of them.

While Gabriel states in his speech that they must not linger in the mourning of the dead, that “were we to brood upon them always we could not find the heart to go on bravely with our work among the living,” this sentiment becomes tragically ironic by the end, when Gabriel learns just how much the living and the dead are one and the same.

Dublin; the city of the dead and the living

James Joyce explores the coexistence of the living and the dead in “The Dead,” one of the short stories that compiles his collection Dubliners. The story is centered around Gabriel Conroy, an anxious man fatigued from his life in Ireland. Gabriel and his wife Gretta attends the annual Christmas party hosted by Kate and Julia Morkan sisters and their niece Mary Jane Morkan. Through multiple encounters and incidents that occur during the night of the event, Gabriel comes to the conclusion that the world he lives in is where the living and the dead intersect and coexist, as the dead constantly influences the living; the epiphany of the night.

After arriving at the house of the Morkan sisters and conversing with a few of other characters at the party (and unintentionally offending Lily the housemaid greatly and attempting to make it up to her by giving her a generous tip), Gabriel is paired up to dance with Miss Ivors, a super patriotic Ireland enthusiast, whilst Mary Jane plays piano. When Gabriel denies Miss Ivors’s offer to visit the Aran Isles, where the old Irish customs are preserved, Miss Ivors is greatly offended and accuses him of being unpatriotic and uninterested in his own roots. Gabriel then exclaims that he is indeed sick of Ireland.

Everything that happens in Ireland seems to be a dead, or at least dying routine for Gabriel. Like the horse that keeps on walking around in circle from the old story Gabriel recollects, everything in Ireland keeps repeating itself - the annual dinner parties alone proves to be a routine every year, with music, dancing, always-drunk Freddy Malins, and Gabriel’s speech at the dinner table. And what is dead of a routine proves to be toxic for Gabriel. Slowly but surely, the mundane routines paralyzes him and leaves him terribly depressed. 

During his speech at the dinner table, Gabriel urges the crowd to move on from the past, dwell in the present, and engage in the business of living. However, ironically, Gabriel ends the speech by praising the dying custom of old-fashion proper hospitality provided by the Morkan sisters, as James Joyce seeks to allude to readers that the dead and the living are undeniably inseparable and that Gabriel will eventually come to the epiphanic realization. 

The story Gretta tells of Michael Furey makes Gabriel realize that the world is in fact influenced by the dead. Michael Furey, who Gretta remembers after listing to Bartell D’Arcy sing, is a sickly former lover of Gretta. He dies after bidding goodbye to Gretta, the woman he passionately loves, in a pouring rain. Overwhelmed by the memory, she falls asleep crying after telling Gabriel the whole story.

Although Gabriel gets angry at first after learning about his wife’s love life before him, he eventually calms down and realizes that the dead still influences the world around him. Although Michael Furey is dead, the memories of him still haunts Gretta - the living can not escape from the dead. Gabriel ponders on the gloomy state of Dublin, Ireland, haunted by the ghosts and the memories of the dead; appropriately titled “The Dead,” turns out to be a melancholy tale after all. Who could have guessed.