Discussion on James Joyce’s The Dead

李敏 蔣佳琦

The Dead is the last and longest short story which considered to be a climaxed ending part of Dubliners（1914）. It mainly narrate what happened to Gabriel Conroy on and after the Morkan sisters' annual party. However， what we can feel about the party according to Joyces description is not a joyfully festive atmosphere. Persons who attend the party and things people do on the party are never changed. Not only corners in Dublin but also Dubliners spiritual world Joyce knew well. Their ordered lives and helpless feelings are miniatures of Irish peoples life under the control of Britain. “My intention was to write a chapter of the moral history of my country and I chose Dublin for the scene because that city seemed to be the center of paralysis.” （ from Joyces letter to a publisher） The word “paralysis” shows up in the first paragraph of The Sisters， the short story in Dubliners， penetrating the whole collection. The readers can sniff out a smell of “death” from it.

The dead can be considered of three kinds. The first kind is the one who has already died， for example， Grettas lover Michael Furey. When Gretta was going to leave Galway， Furey was terribly sick but he traveled through the rain to Grettas window. Although he finally managed to meet her and speak to her， he died in one week. The second kind is people who will be dead soon like Gabriels aunts Miss Kate and Miss Julia. “His aunts were two small， plainly dressed old women”. “Her hair， drawn low over the tops of her ears， was grey； and grey also， with darker shadows， was her large flaccid face”. In Gabriels mind， Julias death “will happen veryy soon”. The third and last kind is living dead who is still living but haunted with gloomy thoughts and sad memories. Gabriels wife， Gretta is typical of this kind. She cant get rid of remembering her dead lover even if she has been married. Shes always feeling nostalgic after having heard The Lass of Aughrim. Mary Jane lives with her aunts after fathers death and hasnt gotten married until thirty years old. The housemaid Lily said with great bitterness when asked about wedding as if she is hurt by her boyfriend. Freddy Malins is always came late and turn up screwed. Joyces depiction mainly focus on the protagonist Gabriel who is on the center of “paralysis”. Therefore， the title “The Dead” actually insinuates all the characters.

Besides vivid detail descriptions， symbolism in wide rang is also a distinctive feature of The Dead. Joyce has a masterly command of symbolism which can be divided into three ways.

Firstly， the symbolic meaning of peoples name. The opening sentence of The Dead is “Lily， the caretakers daughter， was literally run off her feet”. In western countries such as England and Canada， white lily was used in funeral to lament the dead. Joyce gave the name Lily to the housemaid to imply that death has flooded “the dark， gaunt house” at the beginning of the party. Secondly， the purposeful use of place names. For instance， Nuns Island and Monkstown. Gretta began and ended his first love on Nuns Island and married Gabriel Monkstown. The two Islands are reminiscent of nuns and monks， who are usually seen on funerals. It suggests that the love between Gabriel and Gretta exists in names only—— it is dead.

The last and most brilliant symbol of death is snow. It runs through the whole story showing the changes of Gabriels attitude towards snow. Generally， it snows in winter， so snow means the end of the year to some extent. Besides， snowing can make some animals and plants half dead or even cause the death of them. Thus snow can be thought of death. That is probably why the scene of the story was set in cold winter. There are three scenes mainly describing snow in The Dead. The symbol changes gradually with the evident expanding of the affected areas. When Mr. and Mrs. Gabriel come into the house， snow appears for the first time： “A light fringe of snow lay like a cape on the shoulders of his overcoat and like toecaps on the toes of his goloshes； and as the buttons of his overcoat slipped with a squeaking noise through the snow-stiffened frieze， a cold， fragrant air from out-of-doors escaped from the crevices and folds”. When snow scene is written again， the area covered by snow becomes wider： “The snow would lying on the branches of the trees and forming a bright cap on the top of the Wellington Monument”. Here snow contrasts sharply with the warm， dreary party， which just like “Gabriels warm， trembling fingers tapped the cold pane of the window”. What snow brings into the house is a stream of cold but fresh air while the atmosphere in the house makes Gabriel uncomfortable. He stands at the window and looks out at the view desiring to “walk out alone”. Gabriels personality has changed. At the end of the story， “it began to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes， silver and dark， falling obliquely against the lamplight”. Snowing has expanded to the whole Ireland. “Yes， the newspaper were right： snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain...”. That means Irelands mental death and paralysis. Here Gabriel is put on the brink of life and death， where he come to know they are an entia.

In the Dead， Joyce successfully expressed the death topic by using different kinds of symbols expertly. The Dead is saturated with Joyces great concern to his homeland and it is created with his deep thought of “paralyzed” Ireland people.

Works Cited ：

[1]Joyce， James. Dubliners. The USA： Bantam Books， 1990. 1， 142-182. Print

[2]Wang， Zhengfeng， ed. Symposium of James Joyces Works. Shanghai， China： Shanghai Yi Wen Publisher， 2015. Print.

[3]Qiu， fen， and Zhang Boxiang. “Being-towards-death——Discussion of the Snow scenes in The Dead .” Sichuan FLC Journal. 2002

[4]Xu， Dan. “Symbolism in Joyces The Dead.” Data of Culture and Education. Dec. 2010.