The short story “The
dead” by James Joyce depicts the stream of consciousness, a symbol of death and
self-realization. According to Merriam Webster, the stream of consciousness is “the continuous unedited chronological flow of
conscious experience through the mind.” The story reflects the fundamental
image of a dying city, real parochialism, and the hospitality of Dublin
City. (Mohammad, 2011)
This story revolves around a round character who
undergoes psychological changes. Gabriel Coronal is the protagonist in the
story who attends an annual party with his wife at his aunt’s place. Throughout
this celebration, a sequence of insignificant happenings makes him change his
feelings of self-confidence and supremacy. The criticism of the maid, Lily, and
his colleague Molly Ivors challenged his dignity. While on other hand, his
aunt’s dependence on him and his speech reinforced his self-esteem. The
Christmas festival and the possibility of an unusual stay at the hotel triggered his
romantic feelings, for his wife, that have been hidden for so long. But later
on, when he approached his wife, he discovered that his wife was in remembrance
of her past love, Michael Furey, now dead. This incident gave him the vision of
his own self and his encounter with his deceased adversary, made him evaluate
himself. Moreover, he realized that his physical existence was nothing in front
of the love of a dead. (Walzl, 1966)
The title of the
story not only creates a feeling of death and burial ground all over but also
shows the dead relationship of Gabriel with his spouse. Few critics say that
this story revolves around the theme of ‘living dead’ as Bernard Benstock says
that this story is related to "those who remain alive, but fail to
live: the disillusioned, the self-destructive, the blighted and wasted
lives". The theme of death in this short story is illustrated by the
themes of ‘corruption’ and ‘moral paralysis’ which lead to spiritual and
physical death, respectively. In the story, the death of Michael Furrey and
other residents of the graveyard where he lays underground shows Joyce’s motherland
and its natives and Joyce blames England and the church for this loss rather
than Irish themselves. (Mohammad, 2011)In the start of the
story, the writer has tried to create a dark and gloomy situation by using
“dark, gaunt house on Usher's Island" and "Julia, though she was
quite grey”. Moreover, the name of the daughter of the caretaker, Lily, is linked
to a flower that is used at funerals that also points towards death. When
Gabriel enters the party with his spouse, Lily welcomes them and asks for a reason
to come late, he replies “but they forget that my wife here takes three mortal
hours to dress herself” which symbolizes the theme of death in itself. Most
important, the snow embodies frostiness, loneliness, heartlessness, paralysis,
and death. For instance, in the sentence "He stood on the mat, scraping
the snow from his galoshes”, the snow and the galoshes both represent death.
The latter was also used by other critics to signify death as they were trendy
in Europe and not in Ireland. Furthermore, the west of Ireland is related to
the past of Gabriel’s wife, Gretta, so the death is connected to his expedition
to west Ireland. His clash with Miss Ivors revealed his personality that he
pulls out himself from the blunt argument. After Gabriel’s speech, it was obvious
that the past and death overshadowed the happiness of the annual party. (Mohammad, 2011)
When the party ends,
everyone leaves for their homes and Gabriel waits for his wife to come
downstairs who was listening to the voice of some man singing. Gabriel never heard
that music but Gretta was nostalgic to that music. This music brought her back to the time she spent with her past love, who died loving her
passionately. This scene made Gabriel
realized that he was separated from the secret life of Gretta. The lyrics of
that song were related to the stillness of Gretta and the profound pain of her previous
emotional condition and the death of her past lover. While on other hand, these
lyrics generated a sexual desire in Gabriel for his spouse, but he was unaware
of the fact that his imagination will betray and embarrass him. When both reach the hotel after taking a cab, Gabriel tried to approach his wife, and she burst
into tears. After some time, she told her husband that the song reminded her of
Michael Furey whom she found at her stay at Galway. Moreover, she informed him
of the sudden death of his former love at the age of seventeen who worked at a gas station. All this information took Gabriel aback and hurt his self-esteem.
His confidence was destroyed, and he was mortified for not being equal to such
an ordinary teenager. He started realizing his importance and considered
himself inferior to Michael. James Joyce is story says, “He saw himself as a
ludicrous figure, acting as a penny boy for his aunts, a nervous, well-meaning
sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealizing his own clownish lusts,
the pitiable fatuous fellow he had caught a glimpse of in the mirror.
Instinctively he turned his back more to the light lest she might see the shame
that burned upon his forehead.” (Mohammad, 2011)
After telling her
husband the whole story, Gretta went to sleep, and Gabriel felt insignificant
as if he never lived with his wife before. His eyes were filled with tears, his
dominancy disappeared, and his lust changed into love. This was his first
step towards maturity, giving up his pride and ego for his wife. In last,
Gabriel looks at the snow and thinks that its time to move towards the west
Ireland. Although the west was symbolized as a death place, it was a place of love
for Gretta, and for Gabriel, it was related to the past which was now different.
Moreover, the falling snow signifies the combined mindfulness of living and
deceased. Gabriel started musing through an epiphany about snow that falls all
over Ireland, on the living and the dead. He thinks that snow is unifying both
east and west Ireland and it emerges the sense of love in him for his wife and
her dead lover. Some critics portray Gabriel as living dead, but he recognizes
his individuality in the living world. Moreover, this was a point of
self-realization for him that is not different from others. (Mohammad, 2011)
The theme of death in
“The Dead” is related to the theme of mortality in “The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar
Allan Poe”. The short story, Tell-tale heart is based on the literary device of
stream of consciousness. This story is a killing mystery in which a man killed
an old man with a vulture eye. After the murder, he could hear the heartbeat of the
old man and he realized that a dead heart could not beat. This was actually the
realization of the crime he had committed, and he was guilty of it. (Amir, 2018) Similarly, another
story, Hills like white elephant by Earnest Hemmingway is also related to the theme
of death. This story is about an American man who represents the lost
generation and White Elephant symbolizes the unborn child. The man asks his
girl to abort their child which represents the idea of death.
References:
Merriam-Webster. (n.d.). Stream of consciousness.
In Merriam-Webster.com dictionary. Retrieved December 27, 2020, from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stream%20of%20consciousness
Mohammad, K. K. (2011, September). Self-discovery in
the James Joyce's The Dead. 1-24. Retrieved December 27, 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331791607
Walzl, F. L. ( 1966). Gabriel and Michael: The
Conclusion of "The Dead". James Joyce Quarterly, 4, 17-31. Retrieved
from https://www.jstor.org/stable/2548660
Amir,
S. (2018). Analysis of short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" by Edgar
Allan Poe. The creative launcher, 2. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328162362_Analysis_of_the_Short_Story_The_Tell-Tale_Heart_by_Edgar_Allan_Poe?enrichId=rgreq-7573af98195f89a62c8e53262297d059-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMyODE2MjM2MjtBUzo2Nzk3MTc4NDE2NzgzMzdAMTUzOTA2ODc3MDQ2MA%3
