Snowy Dead People                                        Andrew Walleck        

                                                                        10/28/99

        “The Dead,” a short story by James Joyce tells the story of an evening dinner party and the events immediately following said party. It takes place in Ireland, as do all the other stories in Dubliners and the story is loosely centralized on Gabriel; a pudgy, educated man who has attended this dinner party for many years running. The party is held by two sisters, Kate and Julia, the elder of whom is visibly near death. The attendants of the party are mostly upper-middle class, well-educated, patriotic Irelanders.

        At the end of the story, Gabriel reaches an epiphany in terms of discovering the true relationship he holds with his wife. This epiphany, the use of the elements, and the clever selection of title all help present a central theme, which is the ability of the human emotion to transcend place and elements, and even death.

        In the story’s final pages, Gabriel’s wife admits to Gabriel that she once had another love in her life (notwithstanding that the other is now dead) named Michael Furey. She then falls into a fitful sleep and Gabriel stays awake to attempt to contemplate. In his own words, Gabriel admits to himself that “He had never felt like that himself towards any woman,” and that “he knew such a feeling must be love,” (page 152.) This outright acknowledgement of his inability to match what he feels for Greta with what the deceased Michael Furey felt for his wife relates to a larger idea of Gabriel’s sterility to outside emotion and lack of devices to cope with any level of interaction beyond the superficial.

Join now!

        The elements play a very important role in this story as symbolic of the inner workings of the characters they are involved with. In the beginning of the story, Gabriel dons a large overcoat and galoshes (regarded as slightly extreme by other members of the party and his wife) to protect himself from the snow. As he walks in, he is described as a “snowman” – snow piled on his shoulders and head. This is an important connection, because Gabriel is later illustrated to be frigid, icy, and generally “cold” towards other people. He is involved in his own ...

This is a preview of the whole essay