The Dead By James Joyce Symbolism

James Joyce’s stories are usually filled with the main characters having some type of revelation about death but usually it is too late to change. In “The Dead” the main character, Gabriel, has this revelation but he is still alive to make this change. That’s what makes this story different from the others. In this paper I will explain my understanding of the work, symbolism, the connection between Michael Furey and Gabriel, and of course the revelation in this work.

Before we depict our characters, let’s look into symbolism. Symbolism plays a major role throughout the story. Death is everywhere. It is in the names, the people and the environment. Like the picture of Romeo and Juliet. Everyone knows the story of them but how does it connect

to this story? Why is it important? So Gretta and Michael are a live version of Romeo and Juliet but they didn’t kill themselves. Michael dies trying to show Gretta love and Gretta dies emotionally from the loss of Michael. Crazy right? Maybe this is why Gretta is “perished alive.” All of the characters are apart if the living dead. They have old mannerisms such as; they were set in their ways, they were old and they didn’t like to change. It seemed as if the characters were just living to die, especially Gabriel. Miss Julia and Miss Katie are good examples of repetition in the story. Every year they throw the Christmas part as if it was a ritual. It is their ritual. It is tradition. A story about a horse that constantly walked around in circles was told at the party. This is just like the party. The same thing happening over and over again. Also the snow is symbolic but we’ll see that later on in this paper.
Gabriel is self-absorbed in my eyes.

He has an image to obtain. He is a professor of literature and is held to a high stature. Maybe this is why he is so respected by the aunts and cousins. But he needed a taste of reality. He had these tastes fixed at least twice times in this story. One when he had his “talk” with Lily.” He asks her about her love life and if she plans to be married soon. Lily was unappreciative to this statement and told him off. Gabriel then gives her money as if that was supposed to fix things. I saw this as him trying to gain control of the situation. Fail in my eyes though. Two was when he was trying to talk to Miss Ivors. She made him feel as if he was a traitor to his people by calling him a “West Briton.” This is apparently an insult. This talk doesn’t sit well with him and makes him reflect on her words. Gabriel feels that what is done in the past should stay in the past. Also those things done in the past should not affect the future. When Gabriel hears the song, he lusts for Gretta. It didn’t make him think of his love for her but what he wanted to do to and with her. And he misconstrued what she felt. When Gretta hears the song and becomes out of her element, it is because she is thinking about Michael Furey, Gabriel realizes that the past does haunt you in a way. You hold on to things and they help define you as a person. Gabriel sees that the memory of the dead can live on. Just because you die, doesn’t mean that the memory of your existence

does too. I believe that Michael Furey is a major part of the story. He makes Gabriel contradict himself and brings back memories for Gretta. Gabriel is fixated on the present. He talks about the past but only to show how great the present is. At the end of the story, Gabriel notices the snow falling down. He also realizes that just as the snow is falling on the people walking around; it is also falling on Michael Furey. The snow is touching the dead and the living.
I believe that Gabriel cannot connect to Michael Furey. Gabriel realizes that after speaking with his wife he has never really experienced love. That the love he thought he shared with Gretta was not real. The love he shares with Gretta does not even compare to the love Michael Furey and Gretta shared. I believe that that hurt him to know that he may not get to experience it. Gabriel also feels that he is now affected by the dead. He thought that once you are dead you are gone and never to be thought of again. He now realizes that Michael Furey has played a role throughout his relationship and he didn’t even know. Michael Furey’s purpose in this story was to make Gabriel become alive again. To show him that life is too short to be in a state of paralysis.