Analysis of the Comparison in Literary Devices and Historical Periods Basing on the Story, The Dead

Because so many literary techniques have been employed over the years, literature is regarded as timeless. Through his collection of short tales “The Dead,” James Joyce has helped to close the generational gap between two groups that were separated by more than 200 years. (Burgess 11). The early 1800s book contains an account of current occurrences that have an impact on modern man. We have witnessed several events in men’s lives that have to do with their political views, women, and their place in society, and the gap that still exists between the middle aged and the new generations. Death as a natural occurrence is inevitable and its existence since time memorial is captured in the story clearly (Burgess 15). “The Dead” gives a clear a picture of the relation between the events that took place in 1800s and to those of the present; therefore, we must concur with James Joyce’s work in relating the events that are more than two centuries.

Through James Joyce’s its evident that the present is closely related to the past, it’s only the generations that change but events that revolves around a man are just but the same. A clear picture of these events have been created and is worth discussing.

Analysis of the Case Study

James Joyce uses his short story ”The Dead”, to capture the life cycle of a man in a very captivating way that arouses all readers to find the underlying cause of the story (Joyce 2). Through his main character Gabriel Conroy, he portrays the gap that exists between people of different generations, the ideology on political matters, and the miscommunication that takes place in our daily lives even to those people that are very close to us. He clearly shows the pride and jealousy exhibited in men in their relationship with the women. James Joyce also highlights the role women play in the society and he finally sums up the story by relating and connecting the dead and the living as seen in the case of Gretta Conroy and the late Michael Furey (McElligott 23).

Although the story has been written in male perspective, the author has clearly shown the larger role women play in highlighting the injustices committed in Dublin’s society. In addition to Gabriel’s belief on the roles given to the women in the society, the most common way is in which Joyce critics the role of the women in the Catholic Church of Dublin in early 1800s. Aunt Kate laments on how the pope and the church bans women from participating in church choirs. She calls it ”not at all honorable” her anger is only short lived since she is a woman in Dublin’s society (Burgess 21). She laments with anger but off course, she cannot question the pope. In addition to that, Aunt Kate makes strong allegations by offending a man, Mr. Browne. As such, she is asked to refrain. The author exposes the hypocrisy of the Catholic Church through this interaction, even though the worshippers are aware of their rights and the wrongs commanded by the church but they cannot question it. He also shows how women have no say in the society, even if they disagree with men’s opinion, they are not allowed to make strong statements less they offend the men as in the case of Aunt Kate to Mr. Browne.

Joyce also portrays the role of women in Dublin society through how Gabriel sees and interacts with women. Gabriel is glad that his woman, Gretta sticks to her role as a woman and does not challenge his authority as other women he interacts with. He seems to be attracted to her frailty and seemed helpless and he vows to protect her from an evil as he considers her special and unique. Therefore, it seems these are the qualities that women in Dublin society should possess. To Gabriel gender roles seemed to be centered on power, he is happy to overpower and be ”master” of his power. As the story ends, Gabriel realizes that Gretta was also an individual with a past. In this view, Gretta had earlier found a true love in the late Michael Furey. This was an indication that Gabriel had been seeing Gretta as an object with no past. However, he just like other men of Dublin he had been seeing women as objects to be used in their marriage not subjects who had their own personal experiences in their lives (Burgess 33).

In the current society just as the Dublin’s in early 1800s, the clergy and the church are assumed spiritual leaders and their stand on societal issues have remained unchallenged over the past years. In regard to this, man chauvinism over women has eventually changed over years, this is attributed to the organizations advocating for women’s rights in the society. Furthermore, educated women have been able to understand their roles in society today and thus shape the nature of the society (Walzl 20).

The author also brings about the clear picture of a nostalgia and the past verses the present. Through Gabriel and Gretta we see the past being recalled and taking center stage over the current issues. This happened because of their nostalgic feelings of the past destructing them from present events. For instance, Gretta allows her past feelings with Michael Furey to take over her present life with Gabriel. Instead of building and making her current relationship with Gabriel, she is lost in her memories of the past. This happens unexpectedly as Gabriel on the other hand thinks of being intermit with her. Gabriel’s view of the past is also seen when he talks about ”cherishing the memory of” these good days like the dinner. He focuses on the past highlighting the need to focus on the good old days while ignoring the bad days. Nostalgic feelings of the past has been portrayed as individualistic feelings that a different person may never understand (Herr 25). On the other hand, Gabriel thinks of their early relationship with Gretta, she is lost in memories of her first true love with Michael Furey a number of years ago.

Additionally, the characters such as Just, Gabriel, Gretta and many other characters of ”The Dead”, depict the symbol of the past. These characters allow their past to destruct them from the present. This is reflected in the current society where one is likely to get preoccupied with the past and forget about the current events that he/she should be doing. The dead have also portrayed similar effects compared to those who lived in 1800s (McElligott 18). The legacy left behind by the dead acts as nostalgia to our past friends making it hard for individuals to forget about the past and start a new life in present. In this regard, Gretta recalls her first lover Michael Furey, she sees him as a martyr who died protecting their true love. Regardless of the brief spell of love they had and how long dead he is, she saw it as the purest love she ever had. Gabriel on the other hand is terrified of Michael Furey, he seems to think that the younger boy had stronger love than he has to his wife. Gabriel also thinks of his late mother, her positive contributions towards getting his degree from Royal University. A cruel reality hits Gabriel that death is universal and constantly approaching, just like snowfalls covering the Ireland, everyone shall die. In this regard, death is considered a universal phenomenon that does not discriminate people as per their class, race or religion. Gabriel’s realization of the approaching death and death being universal coincides with his realization that he had been leading an empty life with no meaning. The envying of Michael Furey is not because of his powers but because he lived and died in passion of love. He concedes defeat and accepts it is better to fade off in the other world with passion than to fade off dismally with withered age (McElligott 24).

Issues of ant-nationalism and foreign have been in existence since time immemorial. Joyce portrays this through Gabriel, who is not happy to be in Dublin and thinks of being in UK and the rest of Europe. He shows signs of escaping his country just like most of his compatriots. This is manifested in his quest to own everything that is foreign (Joyce 33). Gabriel seems to see everything that is not from Ireland to be exotic and superior to those found in Ireland. His admiration of other parts of the continent manifests from his wear, the choice of his quote from English poet Robert Browning, and his desire to explore France and Belgium. Furthermore, it’s not only Gabriel who does not see anything good from Dublin, this is indicated by a conversation between Mr. Browne and Mr. Bartell. In their conversation, they discussed the origin of best singers in the world. However, they believe most of them are in London and Paris. In this view, Gabriel does not really seem set to escape his country but it is clear in his ant-national sentiments about Dublin and Dubliners. He has developed a negative attitude towards his fellow citizens and the country itself, he seems to think that at least those that stay in his home country are a bit stupid (Joyce 12) This is implicit when he wonders if they will understand the Robert Browning quote, he has chosen to include in his quote.

In conclusion, James Joyce uses ”The dead” as less a critic of Dublin life but a critic of Gabriel’s life on idealization of foreign things and his condemning of Dublin and her citizens. He also uses this title to portray how the Catholic Church is being hypocritical and does not allow criticism and questioning by its followers. Additionally he shows how the society is dead by not giving the women equal chances as men.

Works Cited

Burgess, Anthony. Here comes everybody: an introduction to James Joyce for the ordinary reader. Hamlyn, 1982.

Herr, Cheryl. Joyce’s Anatomy of Culture. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986.

Joyce, James. The Dead and Other Stories: A Broadview Anthology of British Literature Edition. Broadview Press, 2014.

McElligott, Anthony. The German Urban Experience: Modernity and Crisis, 1900-1945. Routledge, 2013.

Walzl, Florence L. ”Gabriel and Michael: The Conclusion of“ The Dead”.“ James Joyce Quarterly 4.1 (1966): 17-31.