Analysis Of "The Dead"

James Joyce’s’ use of symbolism and allusions are literary techniques used to compel readers to take what seems to be an ordinary story and obtain deeper meanings contained in the story. Joyce’s “The Dead” represents Gabriel’s constant struggle to redefine his character regarding his patriotism, interactions, and relationship with both the living and the dead. “In this way the story transcends its mimetic surfaces and moves towards an ambivalent, paradoxical, and yet unifying symbolism that make it a prime example of modernist art” (Loe).

Gabriel has internal issues regarding his patriotism that the reader cannot immediately see. From his opening conflict with Miss Lily, Gabriel discovers that he has difficulties with his self-assurance and how others may perceive him. It seems that his offering of a coin to her was a way to make him feel better about the situation, considered that he had felt that he failed in his attempt at conversation with Lily. “Then he took a coin rapidly from his pocket. “O Lily, he said, thrusting it into her hands, it's Christmas-time, isn't it? Just... here's a little...” (Sipiora 298). “Beneath such minimal action exist the real structural dynamics of the story's rich design: the complex series of images and allusions, unified through Gabriel's subjectivity and given meaning through interlocking associations and repetitions” (Loe).

As the story progresses Gabriel finds that he is dancing with Miss Ivors, and during the course of the dance, she questions his loyalty to his country. “Why should I be ashamed of myself?' asked Gabriel, blinking his eyes and trying to smile” (Sipiora 303). Miss Ivors appears to be sarcastic in her judgment but Gabriel truly feels that she is being antagonistic and offensive. Gabriel’s insecurity in himself and his beliefs lead him to this conclusion. “When their turn to cross had come he was still perplexed and inattentive. Miss Ivors promptly took his hand in a warm grasp and said in a soft friendly tone: Of course, I was only joking.” “Distinct stages in the story develop with increasing intensity Gabriel's uneasy preoccupation with the connections between Ireland and himself” (Loe). At this point, the conversation turns to Gabriel’s travels abroad upon mentioning his desire to travel away from Ireland Miss Ivors again goes on the attack. “And haven't you your own land to visit, continued Miss Ivors, that you know nothing of, your own people, and your own country” (Sipiora 304)? Gabriel’s discontent with himself and utter disbelief in himself is also reflected in his relationship and marriage with his wife.

“The claim that much of Joyce's artistry depends on suggestion and implication is well supported by the story's culminating scene in the hotel room” (Loe). Gabriel’s discovery that he had overestimated his relationship with his wife leads him down the path towards the end of himself, as he knew himself to be. Gabriel soon learns of his wife’s distant lover when tears come to her during a song played from her distant past. In Gabriel’s discussion with his wife, he realizes that she will never feel for him what she felt for her other lover. In turn, Gabriel feels that he can never be the lover that she longs for. In Gabriel’s mind, he thought “So she had had that romance in her life: a man had died for her sake. It hardly pained him now to think how poor a part he, her husband, had played in her life” (Sipiora 321). Gabriel’s’ transition was beginning; his love for his wife was dying. “His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself, which these dead had one time reared and lived in, was dissolving and dwindling” (Sipiora 322).

Gabriel’s interactions and relationships climax at the annual gathering leading him to the realization of his true self. His self-doubt and inner confliction tear him apart, ultimately leading to the end of the person that he believed he was. “His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead” (Sipiora 322). The Christian belief of death involves the resurrection of the soul and in “The Dead” we are witnessing the death of one mans soul and resurrection upon a new day. “Above all else, the story demonstrates Joyce's ability to invest common events with an uncommon significance and to make an intensely private experience universally emblematic” (Loe).

Sipiora, Phillip. “The Dead.” Reading and Writing about Literature. Pearson Education, Inc, 2002. 297-322.

Thomas Loe, "The Dead: Overview" in Reference Guide to English Literature, 2nd ed., edited by D. L. Kirkpatrick, St. James Press, 1991.