Interesting that in this story, the main character, Gabriel, is referred to by his first name, whereas other main characters who are grown men are referred to as “Mr. ______.” The only reasonable explanation I’ve been able to come up with is that in some traditions the angel Gabriel is regarded as one of the archangels, or angels of death, and this story being called “The Dead,” well….it just seemed to fit. Whether or not this is correct, if I’ve learned one thing from reading Joyce, it’s that everything means something! Anyway, Gabriel seems to be the odd one out in this story, annoyed by the guests (and hosts) at the Christmas party who are either foolish or rude. He would rather be outside in the refreshing cold air rather than be with the party guests at the dinner table, yet he still forces himself to make a kind toast. The Christmas gathering is a tradition that has gone on for years and years, and Gabriel feels obliged to attend each year and mask his ill feelings. He is stuck because of tradition. Later that evening (early morning!) when he and his wife arrive at the hotel to spend the rest of the night, Gabriel is unable to express his amorous feelings to her. I find this to be somewhat ridiculous and sad, because they have been married for many years—it is a shame that they are so out of practice of being romantic together. After years of putting their work, children, and the household before their marriage, a good opportunity to rekindle their love is lost. However, a little later Gabriel realizes that perhaps his wife never really loved him that much—she had been secretly storing up for years her feelings about her first love, who died young because of her, and perhaps that prevented Gretta from keeping her marriage alive. The story ends with a chilling image of snow falling faintly upon all the living and the dead…but in Dublin, the living are “dead,” unable to accomplish anything that would allow them to be happier. No one really lives life.
I enjoyed this book overall because of the very distinctive characters and because of the way Joyce really got to the heart of human weakness. No doubt we’ll all be better off if we apply lessons learned from these characters to our own lives.
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I like that reference to Gabriel, Lindsay. I didn't realize how he was the only one called by his first name, but now that you mention the relation to "The Dead," I wouldn't be surprised if that was exactly what Joyce intended in this story.
ReplyDeleteHe does seem disgruntled over the party, complaining about how long his wife took to get ready, causing them to be late. His reaction to the maid was surprising. I didn't understand why he was offended because she was trying to be gracious and not accept money from him (which could have been demeaning in her eyes). It angered him?
He did have interesting observations about the people at the event. After the conversation with Miss Ivors while dancing, he said that "Irish was not really his language" so I wonder what his heritage was. He works for Brits which is viewed as going to the other side. It is almost as if he is viewing what is happening from outside of the party, he isn't really there. Like Lindsay mentioned, he is there because it is a tradition. They are family and he is stuck in that obligation and what is expected of him.
HIs speech mentioned those who were not present, to remember them which may have started his wife's remembrance of the one true love.
I got the same impression that she did not marry Gabriel out of love although she seemed to treat him kindly. She was probably experiencing some of the same feelings as he at the party, but they didn't talk about them. Joyce's couples just do not communicate.
I do believe she truly loved the boy from her past and gabriel is right. That love would always be in her heart, between them, no matter how he felt. So in a sense, he was "dead" to her. He ends the story saying the snow is falling "...like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead." It is as if he is feeling his own 'last end.'
Well I don’t even want to post this any more after what Lindsay said... I think she hit the nail right on the head. I might as well just cite 200 words out of the dictionary because Lindsay's is better... haha
ReplyDeleteI liked this story more than most the others. It was the only story that didn’t really leave you hating anyone in the end, and it was the only story that the character realized their own flaws with out having someone else show them. If there is any hope for someone to change they have to be the one to realize their own problems and want to fix them and I think that might be why the critics of The Dubliners might think that Gabriel is the only one with a chance at happiness. Also, I think that another reason Gabriel has the most hope of changing is because he is the only character who almost denounces Dublin as his own. He even practically says this to Mrs. Ivors when he said that Irish was not his language. In the end, I felt bad for him though because he realized that all along his wife had been comparing him to a past love, one which he could never actually compete with. I think that kind of made Gabriel dead inside in the end.
The Dead
ReplyDeleteThis was quite long compared to Joyce’s other stories yet it seemed to be a bit more interesting. I found it interesting that when Gabriel asked Lily about the wedding and she snipped back at him. I figured she would have said yes but she did not. As in the other stories the couples did not seem to be very happy and maybe she was the smart one by not getting married. Also this could have been a sign of the only positive story that we mentioned in class. Was Gabriel really fit for the place that he was living? He mentions that he is not sure if he should put the words of Robert Browning in his speech or not because he did not know if it would pass over the heads of the hearers. He appears to be somewhat smart. When his wife’s old love comes into the story things change a bit. Her feelings that she had for him are still in the pit of her stomach and it seems as if Gabriel can tell, and when she tells him she may believe that he died for her just reassures his thoughts. It then shows signs that Gabriel may be leaving Dublin for good.
Jonathan Taylor
ReplyDeleteI was a little disappointed with the last story the Dead. I was expecting James Joyce to have more of a grand finale to tie everything in and create a more memorable ending. But that wouldn’t fit in with the rest of the boring stories I guess. The Dead was an effective ending but it’s not a story or a book for that matter that I will find myself thinking about years from now. The main character Gabriel is a character that might actually change from his experiences in the story, but I feel like he is not a character who will influence others to change with him. His wife’s first love Michael is one of those people who could have made a larger difference- but he died before his time came. There will be improvement in Gabriel’s life and I hope he will shake things up at next year’s party and break the old, monotonous, traditional routine. The idea of living with a passion is spot on. A person isn’t really alive unless they have that flame lit inside of them- one that burns with passion, desire, and love. Dublin and the whole of Ireland need one enormous flame to break free of their paralysis and experience the change that Gabriel now longs for!
ReplyDeleteI thought The Dead was alright. It was better than most of the stories, and a solid ending to the book. I liked the very last paragraph where Joyce notes that snow is falling on both the living and the dead. This could be alluding to the fact that everyone is this story is already dead, in a sense, or that we all are going to die. Either way, they are happy thoughts. The characters were alright. The story about the kid that waited outside was pretty ridiculous. It was funny in a very, very sad way.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I’m glad this book is done. It is depressing topics, written in a depressing style, about depressing people. While Angela’s Ashes contains depressing topics, it is written in a fairly funny style that I always understand. Sometimes with this book I had no idea what was going on. Plus, nothing happened in 90 percent of these stories, and Joyce made it obvious. One of the most interesting parts of the book was a terrible scene where a Dad beats his kid as the kid offers to pray for him. In summary Joyce is really good at making you not want to go to Ireland.
Lindsay, you make an excellent observation about the use of the first name Gabriel. While reading the Dubliners, I found myself looking up interpretations of each story to give me a better understanding and for this one I found a particularly remarkable explanation. Kelly Anspaugh, writes in her Studies in Short Fiction, that there is a subversive feminist function in the writings on James Joyce and particularly The Dead. She suggests that Joyce intended to subvert a patriarchal society through Lily, Gretta, and Miss Ivors, who challenge Gabriel Conroy’s masculinity. Gabriel’s realization that Gretta’s feelings for Michael Feury can never match her current feelings does seem to take away some of the power that Gabriel feels and on another hand shows the paralysis felt by Gretta. The realization that Gretta has such strong feelings causes Gabriel to feel relieved from the paralysis that held his marriage but the revelation that Feury is the source of the emotions troubles Gabriel even further. The irony is that Gabriel now feels alone and mortal but suddenly feels emotionally connected with others for the first time. The Dead is obviously the Magnum Opus of the collection, but it seems to be a more direct story and more easily understood. Even the lyrical last paragraph, although with its own hiddien meanings, felt much more engaging that the rest of the collection.
ReplyDeleteThe Dead
ReplyDeleteIn contrary to a lot of other people, I liked how james joyce choose to end The Dubliners with the dead. Although it was very repetitive to paralysis and the depression of the irish people, it also, i believe, tied together what everyone in Ireland no matter what status they were, were going through. I believe Joyce was trying to portray that through tradegy and hardships, people realize themselves. Although they might not change in the future ( most people i expect didn't ) they realize a little about themselves and have to potential to change. Also i believe the last paragraph ties up the book quite wey portraying all of Ireland as merely existing and not living through the snow fall and and graveyard scene.
I agree with johnny about the irony of gabriel's realization about his wife and for the first time actually caring about anything in his life. It was his turning point and it actually made me think he would change unlike everyone else in the dubliners.
Kaitlyn Makar
The Dead
ReplyDeleteThis wasn't a bad story to end the Dubliners with. I did enjoy that calling the story "The Dead" was the symbolism for saying that Ireland residents are dead, as in they live their life on repeat and do the same things everyday. Even the party they have every year is the same thing. The same people do the same thing every year. Tradition isn't necessarily a bad thing to have, but I do understand where James Joyce is coming from. You have to "spice" things up a little in life. One can't fully enjoy life by doing the exact same things all the time. Having it snowing at the end was also nice symbolism too. All in all, I don't think that the Dubliners was as bad and painful as most people thought, but it most definitely wasn't a very strong read. There were way too many bad and depressing things going on in all of the stories. You could say that "The Dead" did have a positive outlook, but it was still depressing and bring down Ireland in the big picture. But as I mentioned, I do understand what James Joyce was trying to say throughout the novel. I am looking forward to reading Angela's Ashes.
The Dead
ReplyDeleteI think that The Dead being the title of the last story of the entire book kind of puts the book to rest, that there is nothing left to read. The book is dead. I would say that the last paragraph of this story is my favorite of all paragraphs. Gabriel visualizing the snow falling on everything and “upon all the living and the dead” leaves so many different options of what he could have meant by that. I don’t think Joyce had one meaning for what he said. I think he planned for the reader to make up their own minds and assume what they preferred to assume. Referring to what Lindsay said as well, I never noticed until she pointed out that Joyce didn’t use a Mr. or Mrs. when he speaks about Gabriel. I find that to be really interesting but I can’t say that I really know why, I actually don’t have a clue except maybe Gabriel is younger than the others he refers to with a Mr. or Mrs.
We find out while reading the story that Gabriel’s wife has a lost love. He died standing outside in the rain for her. It killed him because of his struggle with TB and the winter cold and rain is horrible when you have that condition. Also, it is easy to tell that his wife still is quite in love with this man. I don’t really think Gabriel really noticed until just the day of this party.
I know that no one really enjoyed reading this book, myself included. HOWEVER, once we went over them in class and I was able to actually understand the stories and interpret what Joyce was trying to say I actually really loved the entire idea of this book. I love his ability to be so creative in connecting each and every story to each other in some way or another. Also, it definitely makes me feel so much better about my life compared to all these other people in the story.
The Dead
ReplyDeleteI thought that the title was not suited for the story because it seemed to be a happier story instead of a morbid one. It was cute how excited the aunts were to see Gabriel and his wife Gretta. The strong family connection was a very positive aspect to the story. When the drunken friend Freddy arrives, his character is just another example of the alcoholism problem in Ireland. It seems like there is lots of happiness but is does not always last. Freddy even though he is a burden, is still helped by Gabriel and Mr. Browne to sober up. This is a nice overture of friendship and caring on their part. Miss Ivors, I find, is a difficult character to relate too, and she embarrasses Gabriel. I enjoyed Gabriel’s speech, which talked about the move from the past to present, death to life, illustrations. It amazes me how James Joyce is still able to illustrate the theme of paralysis in this story, because it seems to be the most positive story in this book. When Gabriel talks about his grandfather’s horse that always walked in circles, it is evident that Joyce was referring to the circles of poverty, alcoholism, and bad economy that the people in Ireland experience daily and cannot escape from them. This story ends up sad, because Gabriel’s wife Gretta still dwells on the past. Her lover Michael Furey, died for her waiting outside her window. Gabriel is obviously upset about what Gretta has shared with him.