The Dead1

A detailed Summary of The Dead1

The Dead" is a story saturated in music. In it, the Morkan women - Aunt Julia, Aunt Kate, niece Mary Jane, all music teachers - are giving their annual Yuletide fete, complete with song and dance. Most of the "The Dead" takes place at a Christmas party in Dublin about a century ago. The annual celebrations is right around Christmas time and takes place in a very traditional Irish fashion.

Among the guests is their nephew Gabriel Conroy, a teacher and writer who acts as a somewhat pompous master of the rebels. In my view he is one of the main characters and a lot of focus is put on the annual speech he is giving at the dinner feast as well as the influence that someone from the dead has on his life. Gabriel does not want to be identified with Ireland. He wants to be identified as a citizen of the world. His arrogance is revealed in his interaction with others.

A primary example would be the way he treats his wife Gretta as an object. The images reflect Gabriel's ego in a sense, at the same for his marital relationship, and at the end death, which may not be physical but spiritual. Gabriel who is tallish and stout symbolizes authority and also wants to be perfect for all times. He suffers from a mental block, which makes

2. ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, Britannica.com Inc. 1999-2000. http://www.britannica.com/

4. Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia. Microsoft Inc. 1998.

The snow at the end of the story takes a different form. As when Gabriel realizes that his wife Gretta has really been thinking about someone else while he thought that all her thoughts would be about him, especially at the moment where he is in a romantic state of mind. His world comes hurdling down when Gretta informs him that she has been thinking about her life when she was an adolescent and had a seventeen-year-old boy who was madly in love with her. Despite the fact that he was suffering from tuberculosis, he waited in the rain just to have a glimpse of her. This aggravated his condition and eventually he died. "I think he died for me." "A vague terror seized Gabriel at this answer as if, at that hour when he had hoped to triumph, some impalpable and vindictive being was coming against him, gathering forces against him in it's vague world" (57).

Aunt Julia's expresses the touching memory of a lost love while the delicate intimacy of the love between Gretta and Gabriel can almost be felt. This assumption would be fatally untrue to the story though. For what concerns Joyce is not just the music but also the way songs summon memories of the dead. The power of "The Dead" lies in the wonderfully delicate balance between the vivid joy of a festive celebration and the ghostly recollection of those who are no longer present at life's feast.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Gretta Gabriel, Gabriel Conroy, Mary Jane, James Joyce, Aunt Julia's, , Britannicacom Inc, Story Writer, Grolier Inc, Martin's Press, snow story, joyce's intended, intended theme, wife gretta, gabriel realizes, major role, joyce's intended theme, intended theme paralysis, main characters, theme paralysis,

Approximate Word count = 1028
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English