I am always amazed upon rereading "The Dead" at how much Joyce is able to pack into this one little story. He highlights some of Ireland's political tensions with England, the frequent awkwardness of family reunions, the power of music, the "emotional rollercoaster" of being in a romantic relationship. and, most notably, the peace of a deeper understanding and empathy with others. Of course, Foster has already discussed this story to some length in his chapters on communion and rain/snow, but I am interested what other symbolism you all are able to extract from it. I want to leave this thread fairly open and see where you take the discussion, but here are some questions to potentially get us started.
1. Why "The Dead"? What role does the title play in the story? How does it affect the meaning as a whole?
2. Music seems to be always present in the story. How does Joyce use music to enhance his narrative?
3. When Lily, the caretaker's daughter, asks Gabriel Conroy if it is snowing outside as he arrives at the party, Mr. Conroy replies, “Yes, Lily... and I think we’re in for a night of it." How does this influence the remainder of the story, especially the end?
4. What is the significance of Gabriel's dance with Miss Ivors? His speech?
5. What makes the ending so powerful?
I think the title "the dead" goes with the story because at the end that is all Gabriel is thinking about.
ReplyDeleteI almost want to say that the ending is inspiring, but that wouldn't be the right word. How he explains the snow is very discriptive and makes you think deeper on what he means by it. Gabriel was definitely "in for a night of it" in the end of the story.
ReplyDeleteI think what makes the ending so awesome is the personification put on the snow. How Joyce makes the snow so unbiased, that it lands everywhere covering the city and the bogs. The living and the dead. It's like Joyce is making snow the great equalizer.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree Drew. Snow is the great equalizer as it could be a symbol of death, and death is the same for everyone. Death with eventually take all of us no matter our earthy circumstances. Death and snow do not care to pick and choose, but cover all. I think Joyce symbolically ties all the tenisons, political strife, and socio-economic class differences between all the guests of the party, and wraps it up with the reality that we are all equal. Just as snow falls on all of us, so will death.
DeleteI have to say that your assessment of snow in this manner was terrific. You hit the nail right on the head as far as symbolism is concerned. Thorough the story, there were several elements brought into play such as social and political differences. This equalizer was a terrific way to end the story, leading me to agree with what Mr. Pace pointed out, that this story was chosen for one of the best ending paragraphs.
DeleteThe title has some amount of irony in it when it comes to the story. The first part of the story is really about life, and just living. But at the end, it takes an abrupt turn to death, with snow (cliche by now, I know) being the big symbol here.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement about irony and how it changes from beginning to end. Snow can be symbolized as almost a burial for death or even a closure for death. Irony most definitley plays a major role in the title.
DeleteThe ending is so powerful becaused of the symbolism between death and snow. He explains the falling of the snow, representing coldness, darkness, but also can represent new life or rebirth. He creates an equalizer for Joyce between life and death.
ReplyDeleteI agree! I wasn't sold on the idea that the end of this story was supposed to be "one of the best", but it really was. It wraps up the whole story.
DeleteAs a pianisnt myself I felt I could connect with this story, especially when describing the influence of music. Music was a central part of this story, the whole party was centered around Mary Jane's piano recital. I felt that the music set the tone for certain scenes in the story. If the music was entertaining and lively the party went well, but on the other hand if a boring or stagnant song was played tensions arose at the party. At the end Mr Bartell D'Arcy sang a sad, sorrowful song in his hoarse voice giving the song an eerie like quality. This set up the rest of the night being sad, very emotional, and mournful in reminisence of a young life lost.
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DeleteThe concept of death is presented through the music as well. The music really helps to set the tone of the story. It's very interesting that you are able to connect with this.
DeleteThe ending is so powerful because it brings to the forefront something that all men face. The title connects with the ending and theme of death. The snow also sybolically represents death. Throughout the story death is somehow present.
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DeleteThe title it has is very relevant because the story is about how Gabriel's heart has died. The weather also relates to death because winter and snow symbolizes death before a new birth of spring. The main idea is that Gabriel’s wife will always remember her first love but Gabriel has never felt that so he feel dead inside.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Gabriel is dead on the inside. He will never feel the love that his wife did for the man before him. He is jealous in a sense that he can not feel that love, and is coming to terms with the idea of death itself. He has thought of only life, but now that the thought of death has touched his cold heart, maybe it will warm him from the inside as spring arrives after the cold deathly winter.
DeleteThe title, "The Dead" is significant since the whole story revolves around the idea of death and the fact that all life comes to an end at some point. At the beginning of the story, Gabriel believes that life and death are separate and never coinciding as one entity, but by the end of the story his beliefs waver a bit. After his wife tells him the story of a man before him in her life, that died while standing in the cold, he realizes that life and death are always together. That one can not exist without the other. The title fits into the story allowing us to know that death is ever percent in our lives and that all life does come to an end eventually.
ReplyDeleteInteresting interpretation. This makes me think more about how the snow is related to the story. How the seasons are in cycles and when one ends, another begins. Much like Gabriel's wife's love life. Her one love died and another came out in a new day.
DeleteThe death to me represented more than just the literal dying of a person, but to me meant that a part of Gabriel's soul, and his identity had died. Even within the story he transitioned from being amongst many others, to wanting to be left alone, and when the story finishes, he is alone with only the snow of death. It is almost as if he has an inner vampire that is stealing his innocence, and changing his soul, and quite possibly the reader could assume this "inner vampire" is a set of demons which Gabriel lives with. With these demons stealing the heart from the old Gabriel, and eroding away the inner strength Gabriel believed he had, death was all that he was left with, leaving the closing scene as the falling snow of death.
ReplyDeleteThis is a view that i did not consider, I liked how you associated his change thruought the story with a vampire, sucking life out of him and changing him.
DeleteTo me, the title "The Dead" carries more meaning than a deader might originally be left to believe. This name, along with the snow that fell throughout the story, brings out a good deal of symbolism. Over the course of the story, there were constant references to tension, political and otherwise. The snow, serving with the title, acted as weight distributed across all spectrums of the story. It balanced the scales bringing the characters equal in the end. This is believable when the many symbolisms that can be applied to snow are considered.
ReplyDeleteI belive that the title in this story carries as much weight as any other aspect. The speech that Gabriel gives at the dinner table has a lot to do with people who are already dead, and days gone by. At the same time I belive, in this story, that the music throuoght symbolizes the all of the life and youth in the house. I belive that the ending is powerful because the snow is much like its own character, but at the same time it is uncaring, much like the hands of time, constantly ticking by, not caring about the trifling worries of humanity.
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