James Joyce's The Dead: An Analysis

(I wrote this analysis for an assignment in a fiction writing class that I took many moons ago. This was
suppose to be a brief one-page analysis that eventually metastasized into seven. James Joyce's short story
masterpiece, 'The Dead' can be found in his collection of short stories centered around the city of Dublin,
Ireland called 'The Dubliners'.)
This story really tested my patience. It is a slow and brooding piece. This is the kind of story where you
(or at least, I) do not grasp the point of the story until the very end. This is also the kind of story where
nothing explicitly tragic occurs, where the tragedy is exposed very subliminally. My immediate response
as I was reading through the story was: Too Irish for me. (Whatever that means.) However, I have to
confess that once I persevered to the end, the meaning of the story began to reveal itself to me slowly but
surely and I found myself unable to shake the story from my head.
The story is about those who are living, those who are dead and those who are alive but are really dead.
The ones who are alive but are really dead are dead because they lost something. Lily is dead because
she lost her faith in men. Aunt Julia is dead because she lost her faith in the Church. Gretta is dead
because she lost her first and only true love. The events that occur in the story all revolve around the main
character of Gabriel. The key to grasping the meaning of the events that unfold throughout the story is to
observe its effects on Gabriel. All the events and dialogue in the first three quarters of the story serves one
purpose and one purpose only, to set up Gabriels reaction at the end of the story. In fact, the author even
tells us this by this line in the denouement: He wondered at his riot of emotions of an hour before. From
what had it proceeded? From his aunts supper, from his own foolish speech, from the wine and dancing,
the merry-making when saying good-night in the hall, the pleasure of the walk along the river in the
snow. To prove my point, I have conducted a full analysis of the story listing all the main events of the
story in chronological order and examining the effects of each event on Gabriel and how it sets up his
reaction at the end of the story. The results of my analysis can be found in the appendix.
One of the most striking features of the piece is the way the author creates his cast of characters and how
he makes them interact with each other. The title of the story, The Dead refers not just to those who are
physically dead but more importantly, those who are still alive but for one reason or another, are dead to
the world. The reason why this story was initially difficult for me was because the characters whom this
story is about (the dead), are all in the background for most of the story: Lily, Gretta, Aunt Julia, Mrs
Malins.) The author further accentuates their insignificance by explicitly pairing them up with very

dominant characters. Thus, in the story, Gretta (referred to as Mrs Conroy throughout the narrative for
added anonymity) is overshadowed by Gabriel, Aunt Julia is overshadowed by Aunt Kate and to a certain
extent Mr Browne, Mrs Malins is overshadowed by her son, Freddy Malins, Johnny, dear never-to-beforgotten Johnny overshadowed, quite literally, by the late lamented Patrick Morkan, and Lily
overshadowed by everyone else.
The way the dialogue is handled is especially noticeable using dashes instead of dialogue markers. This
creates a muted feeling, a hushed sensation, like Im seeing a painting of the scene instead of the scene
itself. The only other time I have encountered such a technique for handling dialogue is in Charles
Fraziers Cold Mountain which has a similar feel.
The way the author develops his characters is especially noteworthy. The character of Gabriel is slowly
developed throughout the piece as he is the focal point and the protagonist of the story. Aunt Julias
character is established at the beginning of the story and midway through the story, the author reveals the
reason why Aunt Julia is dead as a precursor to the archetypal living dead character: Mrs Conroy aka
Gretta. The author introduces Mrs Conroy at the very beginning of the story yet refuses to develop her
character throughout the piece preferring to leak bits of information about her in the narrative. Only in the
climax of the story does he let her character bloom. This then is how the author develops his living dead
theme. There are three main characters that exemplify the living dead theme; Lily, Aunt Julia and Mrs
Conroy. He introduces the character of Lily in the very first sentence of the story and very rapidly
develops and resolves her character in the very first scene of the story. At the end of her initial interaction
with Gabriel, we know why she is dead; she lost her faith in men. This then sets up a slightly more
complex living dead character, Aunt Julia. At the point that Aunt Julia is introduced, Mrs Conroy is also
introduced but the author does not develop her character yet, preferring to let Aunt Julias character
develop and resolve as a forerunner to Mrs Conroys character. At the halfway point (see Aunt Julias
song in the Appendix), Aunt Julias character is resolved. We know that she is dead because she lost her
faith in the Church. Then comes the end when Mrs Conroys character is fully developed and resolved in
a fitting climax to the main theme and the story as a whole.
The author fills the story with keen observations on human behavior and interaction. There are many
points of awkwardness in the story which happens in any social situation and is simply a delight to read
about.

The line that haunts me is this one: He did not like to say even to himself that her face was no longer
beautiful but he knew that it was no longer the face for which Michael Furey had braved death.
APPENDIX
Chronology of events and its effect on Gabriels reaction in the denouement

Gabriels initial interaction with Lily

The result of this interaction was that he was discomposed by the girls bitter and sudden retort. It had
cast a gloom over him which he tried to dispel by arranging his cuffs and the bows of his tie. At this
point, the author is setting up the mood reversal that will come at the end of his speech by starting Gabriel
off in a dark mood. This mood will reach its nadir during his interaction with Miss Ivors. This episode
introduces (unbeknownst to a first time reader) the main theme of the story, that of the living dead,
those who are alive and go through the motions of living but who are essentially dead to the world. We
know this is true of Lily from her bitter response to Gabriel and also in the next scene when Aunt Kate
remarks that she did not know what has come over her lately and shes not the girl she was at all. The
author also takes the opportunity in this interaction to show us Gabriels generous (sincere if somewhat
shallow) character which will be further developed in the story. This episode also introduces a sub-theme:
class distinctions between the highly-educated and the common folk. At the end of the encounter, we find
Gabriel obsessing over his speech. From the narrative we know that he is concerned about coming across
as a highly-educated snob. He is extremely conscious of the class difference that separated him from the
rest of the crowd.

Discussion in the hallway between Gabriel, Mrs Conroy, Aunt Julia and Aunt Kate.

In this scene, the author further develops Gabriels niceness. We discover that Gabriel is a caring if
overly solicitous fellow. Aunt Julia is introduced and her character established as the second living
dead. She is described as a passive woman who did not know where she was or where she was going.
Aunt Kate is introduced as the dominant contrast to Aunt Julia to further accentuate the living dead.
Mrs Conroy is introduced but interestingly, even though she is the archetypal living dead character, the
author does not develop her character here or very much at all throughout the story until the very end.

Scene in the back room

Mr Browne is introduced and his character established. He is described as a flamboyant, ladies man. His
role in the story will be to play the part of the dominant living character to contrast with the living
dead. Bartell DArcy who will play his part much later on in the story is also introduced. Freddy
Marlins, the town drunk is introduced. His role, like Mr Browne, is to play the part of the dominant
living character and specifically will be used in the story as a contrast to his living dead partner, Mrs
Marlins, his mother.

Scene in the drawing room

The author uses this scene to inform us about Gabriels family background. This is a further development
of the class distinction sub-theme as we find out how Gabriel came to be so highly educated. The author
also very briefly develops Mrs Conroys character; we know that she is not very educated and she is a
caring person.

Gabriels interaction with Miss Ivors

At this point, the author builds the class sub-theme up to a climax. The author also uses this opportunity
to reveal much of Gabriels character to us. We know that Gabriel is somewhat ashamed of his own
culture, Irish culture (O, to tell you the truth, Im sick of my own country, sick of it!) The author uses the
class sub-theme to bring Gabriel to the nadir of his emotional state. By the end of his encounter with Miss
Ivors, he is completely agitated, off-balanced and defensive. There is further development of the main
plot line. We find out that Mrs Conroy has a strong attachment to Galway. This point will recur in the
climax of the story (Perhaps that was why you wanted to go to Galway with that Ivors girl?)

Before supper

There is more obsessing by Gabriel over his speech. The author does a good job of setting up the speech
which I find to be one of the most moving passages in the story. The author exposes the shallowness of
Gabriels niceness by giving us a full glimpse of what he really thinks of his aunts (What did he care
that his aunts were only two ignorant old women?) One of the results of Gabriels interaction with Miss
Ivors is that he is at this point, very self-conscious about his class status and desperately wants to be
accepted among his countrymen. This is reflected in what he plans to say in this speech.

Aunt Julias song

Aunt Julias character is completely revealed. We understand what caused her death: she was betrayed
by the Church.

Miss Ivors sudden and unexpected departure

Her leaving enabled Gabriel to nail his speech and gave him that emotional reversal which in turn set up
his reaction at the climax and denouement of the story (It shot through Gabriels mind that Miss Ivors was
not there and that she had gone away discourteously: and he said with confidence in himself).

Supper

This is one of the events mentioned in the denouement as the cause of the riot of emotions that set
Gabriel up for the final scene.

Speech

This is also one of the events mentioned in the denouement as the cause of the riot of emotions. The
author uses the speech as a resolution of the class sub-theme. At the same time, he uses the speech as a
means to delivering that emotional reversal that put Gabriel in a state of ecstasy.

Goodbyes

This is another one of the events mentioned in the denouement as the cause of the riot of emotions. This
is the beginning of the finale, when the first wave of lust towards his wife hits Gabriel as Mrs Conroy
hears Bartell DArcy sing The Lass of Aughrim, stirring up the memory of her first and only true love.

Walk along the river

Again, this is one of the events mentioned in the denouement as the cause of the riot of emotions.

Climax and denouement

Here the author finally allows the character of Mrs Conroy to bloom and we get the climax and resolution
of the living dead theme. She was dead because she lost the first and only true love she ever had. It is
also here that Gabriel gets his comeuppance for his well-disguised snobbishness at his superior status as a
highly-educated man.

Summary
A professor and part-time book reviewer named Gabriel Conroyattends a
Christmastime party thrown by his aunts (Kate and Julia Morkin, grand dames in the
world of Dublin music) at which he dances with a fellow teacher and delivers a brief
speech. As the party is breaking up, Gabriel witnesses his wife,Gretta, listening to a
song sung by the renowned tenor Bartell D'Arcy, and the intensity of her focus on the
music causes him to feel both sentimental and lustful. In a hotel room later, Gabriel is
devastated to discover that he has misunderstood Gretta's feelings; she has been
moved by the memory of a young lover named Michael Furey who preceded Gabriel,
and who died for the love of Gretta. Gabriel realizes that she has never felt similarly
passionate about their marriage. He feels alone and profoundly mortal, but spiritually
connected for the first time with others.
Analysis
By general consensus, this is the greatest of all the stories inDubliners the longest,
richest, and most emotionally affecting and the story more than any other that points
toward Joyce's career as one of the English language's greatest novelists ever. (He
would follow this book with A Portrait of the Artist As a Young
Man,Ulysses, and Finnegans Wake.)
The story reiterates the great themes of Dubliners. Gabriel's marriage is clearly suffering
from paralysis, the condition of nearly all the characters in the collection. This accounts
for his excitement at story's end when he believes that Gretta's passion relates to him
and them, as their marriage has decayed badly over the years. In this story, paralysis is
represented as usual by the colors yellow and brown, but Joyce also employs the
symbolism of snow and ice; after all, if something is frozen, it is motionless
paralyzed.
Thus, when Gabriel enters his aunts' party, "A light fringe of snow lay like a cape on the
shoulders of his overcoat and like toecaps on the toes of his galoshes; 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 crevices and folds." The symbolism
returns at story's end, in the justly famous final paragraphs describing a snow-covered
Ireland. Not only Gabriel but his entire homeland has been paralyzed, Joyce is saying

(or, more precisely, revealing). Alternatively, at the conclusion of Dubliners, something

connects Gabriel to his fellow Irishmen, a connection he had until that time disavowed.
Gabriel's paralysis is partly a result of his denial of and lack of interest in those fellow
Irishmen, dramatized in his encounter with Miss Ivors. Like Kathleen Kearny in "A
Mother," she is involved in the movement to restore Irish language and culture to the
island. Gabriel writes a column for a newspaper opposed to Irish nationalism; indeed, he
goes so far as to tell Miss Ivors, "Irish is not my language." Additionally, he tells her that
he is uninterested in a vacation to the west of Ireland, preferring to holiday in Europe.
She parries by calling him a West Briton that is, an Irishman who identifies primarily
with England, a cultural traitor and this appears to be at least partly true.
After all, Gabriel plans to quote in his after-dinner speech from the work of the poet
Robert Browning (an Englishman); when he finally delivers that speech, it includes
extemporaneous remarks criticizing the "new generation" of Miss Ivors and her
associates. Gabriel wears galoshes, fashionable in Europe, though more or less
unheard of in Ireland. He earned his college degree at Anglican Trinity College in
Dublin. When he thinks of going outside, what comes to mind is the snow-covered
monument to Wellington, a British hero who played down his birth in Ireland. And
speaking of monuments, another symbol of Ireland's inability to progress is Gabriel's
grandfather riding his horse Johnny around and around the statue of William III,
conqueror of Ireland on behalf of England. (The circle as symbol of pointless repetition
was introduced in the stories "After the Race" and "Two Gallants.") Thus, as in
many Dubliners stories before it, "The Dead" connects paralysis with the English. To
summarize, Gabriel suffers from paralysis, at least partly because of his admiration for
and attraction to things English.
Of course, Joyce also holds the Catholic Church accountable for Ireland's failure to
move forward into modernity. Thus, in one of the story's most striking images (that of
Trappist monks sleeping in their coffins, which is a myth, but that does not make it any
less effective a symbol), Joyce portrays the most pious of clergymen as no less than the
living dead, zombies among us.
Though "The Dead" includes much believable dialogue, it is the story in all
of Dubliners with the most and the most evocative descriptions. For example,

Joyce uses closely observed details to add to the reader's understanding of the story's
characters, as in this description of Freddy Malins: "His face was fleshy and pallid,
touched with color only at the thick hanging lobes of his ears and at the wide wings of
his nose." Not once but twice Freddy is described as "rubbing the knuckles of his left fist
backwards and forwards into his left eye." As a result he is easily visualized, and despite
Freddy's movement in and out of the Morkin sisters' party, the reader never quite loses
track of him.
Joyce also uses description for pacing; the author cinematically cuts away to the
ordinary objects within the room during the story's enormously dramatic penultimate
scene. The result is that the already considerable dramatic tension of "The Dead"
actually increases: "A petticoat string dangled to the floor. One boot stood upright, its
limp upper fallen down: the fellow of it lay upon its side."
As effective as the combination of theme, symbolism, dialogue, and description were in
the prior story, "Grace," they mix here to yield something even more impressive: a story
that begins simply, builds slowly, eventually grows hypnotic in its power, and ends in a
truly heartrending burst of emotion. "One by one they were all becoming shades,"
Gabriel thinks of the people he knows and, until now, has taken for granted. "Better pass
boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither
dismally with age."
"The Dead" is unforgettable, and it launches the reader from this collection of carefully
wrought and closely joined stories (the world of Dubliners) into the world of Joyce's
remarkable novels.
Glossary
had the organ in Haddington Road played the organ at St. Mary's Church on
Haddington Road, in south-central Dublin.
Adam and Eve's a nickname for the Church of the Immaculate Conception, in
southwest-central Dublin.
back answers back-talk; insolence.

screwed (slang) drunk.

palaver flattery; cajolery.
Guttapercha a rubberlike gum produced from the latex of various southeast Asian
trees.
Christy Minstrels a popular nineteenth-century American theatrical troupe featuring
white performers made up to look like stereotypical black characters.
the famous Mrs. Cassidy, who is reported to have said "Now, Mary Grimes, if I
don't take it, make me take it, for I feel I want it."apparently the punch line to a
popular joke of the day.
Quadrille a square dance of French origin, consisting of several figures, performed by
four couples.
the two murdered princes in the Tower the two sons of England's King Edward IV, put
to death in the Tower of London by their uncle, most likely, who would become Richard
III.
tabinet a poplin-like fabric made of silk and wool.
man-o'-war suit presumably a child's costume intended to resemble a soldier's outfit.
curate a clergyman who assists a vicar or rector.
Lancers a nineteenth-century quadrille.
an Irish device a Celtic emblem.
a crow to pluck (slang) a bone to pick.
West Briton a sympathizer with the English in Ireland.
the University question the issue of Irish higher education. At the time the story is set,
the country's main university, Trinity College, was Protestant affiliated, while the vast
majority of the population was Roman Catholic.

go visiting perform a particular square dance figure.

embrasure an opening (for a door, window, and so on), especially one with the sides
slanted so that it is wider on the inside than on the outside.
the park Phoenix Park, prominently featured in "A Painful Case."
Three Graces the three sister goddesses who have control over pleasure, charm, and
beauty in human life and in nature.
Paris in Greek legend, a son of Priam, king of Troy. Of three goddesses (Aphrodite,
Athena, and Hera), Paris chose to award the golden apple of Discord to Aphrodite; she,
in turn, granted him Helen, wife of Menelaus, thus causing the Trojan War. A reference
is made to golden apples in "A Little Cloud."
An irregular musketry a sound like many guns being fired, though not simultaneously.
"Arrayed for the Bridal" a song from I Puritani, an opera by Vincenzo Bellini.
refractory hard to manage; stubborn; obstinate.
the pope to turn out the women out of the choirs Pius X, pope at the time this story
is set, excluded women from singing in church choirs.
the other persuasion Protestant.
To take a pick itself to have a bite to eat.
beannacht libh (Irish) goodbye.
blancmange a sweet, molded, jellylike dessert made with starch or gelatin, milk,
flavoring, and other ingredients.
minerals mineral water.
the Gaiety a theater in south-central Dublin.

pantomime a drama played in action and gestures to the accompaniment of music or of

words sung by a chorus.
a pass free admission.
prima donna the principal woman singer in an opera or concert.
slept in their coffins Trappist monks were mistakenly believed to sleep in their coffins.
last end mortality.
Fifteen Acres a lawn or field in Dublin's Phoenix Park.
laid on here like the gas made permanently available.
trap a light, two-wheeled carriage with springs.
stock a former type of large, wide, stiff cravat.
King Billy's statue an equestrian statue of King William III, the Protestant conqueror of
Ireland.
old Irish tonality a pentatonic or five-tone scale.
the palace of the Four Courts a building in north-central Dublin; the location of
Ireland's central courts.
heliotrope reddish-purple.
the statue a statue of the Irish patriot Daniel O'Connell, known as "The Liberator."
toilet-table dressing table.
cheval-glass a full-length mirror mounted on swivels in a frame.
delicate suffering from tuberculosis.
gasworks a plant where gas for heating and lighting is prepared.

pennyboy errand boy.

great with him close to him, though not sexually intimate.
convent a convent school.
Oughterard a village north of Galway.
Nuns' Island a district within the city of Galway.
Shannon a river in west-central Ireland, flowing southwestward into the Atlantic.
Character Analysis
Gabriel Conroy

Before we even meet Gabriel Conroy, there's a lot of anticipation surrounding his arrival
at the Morkans' annual party. That's in part because Gabriel's part of the family (Aunt
Kate and Aunt Julia are his aunts), and also because they can trust him to keep an eye
on things. Without him, who knows what would happen?
In fact, Gabriel's role in all of Dubliners is a little bit like this. All of the other stories'
intricate investigations of the feelings of love, shame, anxiety, and disappointment
anticipate Gabriel's "arrival" in "The Dead." So put on your thinking caps, because
you're about to tackle one of the most important characters in the entire collection.

Party Pooper
Sure, he's just arrived at what should be a big bash, but Gabriel's first feeling is one of
shame for how his talk with Lily works out. All he does is ask her if she's going to be
married soon, and she bites his head off. Then, when he gives her a tip, it's pretty
awkward. Their brief chat bothers him so much that he thinks about it later in the story,
showing us that this poor guy is more than a little neurotic.
Anxiety makes its way into "The Dead" again when Gabriel frets about the speech he'll
give over dinner. He's worried about condescending to his audience, about whether he
sounds like a jerk for using very intellectual allusions, and even about whether Miss
Ivors will hear him and object to his words. As it turns out, Gabriel's speech goes over

quite nicely. Even though he claims that he's most comfortable carving a turkey, his
words move his aunts to tears. So we think the dude should take a chill pill.
But of course he doesn't. Things take a turn for the even more emotional and serious in
the last few pages of the story, when he discovers that his relationship to Gretta turns
out to consist of equal parts love and disappointment.

Bummer Ending to a Bummer Evening

Just as they leave the party, without understanding why Bartell D'Arcy's singing has
Gretta acting all weird, Gabriel feels so strongly toward his wife that he, like Farrington,
has to hold himself back to keep from doing something inappropriate: "He longed to be
alone with her" (The Dead.355). And even more, he not only sees her face in the
present, he cycles through a whole list of memories of the past that are, for him, some
of the most important of their relationship. The dude's practically swooning.
But at the same time, Gabriel knows his marriage hasn't been what he might have
wished: "For the years, he felt, had not quenched his soul or hers" (The Dead.354).
There might be still be hope, and some fire, he thinks, but tonight, as he finds out, isn't
going to be the night for it.
Instead of a rare romantic evening away from the children, he'll spend most of the night
listening to Gretta's story of another lover. Not only is he bummed that their perfect night
didn't go quite as planned, he also feels disappointment and shame that "he had never
felt like" Michael Furey, feeling so intensely that he'd risk his life to show his love (The
Dead.458).

Let It Snow
Despite all the people who anticipated his arrival at the party, and whom he entertained
with speeches, turkey carving, and a funny after-party story, Gabriel gets some very
important me-time at the end of "The Dead." The epiphany that this time provides marks
one of the most famous passages in all of Dubliners, and maybe in all of the last
century's stories and novels. The fact that a lowly book reviewer in a slightly unhappy
marriage gets to close off the collection by blurring the line between "all the living and
the dead," well, that's powerful stuff.

After all, Gabriel is the name of an archangel, and as much as other people want him to
arrive and do what they want at the party, he has a message to bring to all of us. A lot of
the early stories in the collection end on a note of very painful or negative emotion (think
of "An Encounter," "Araby," and "A Painful Case.") While Gabriel didn't expect to be
alone at a hotel window tonight, what he accomplishes there in terms of thinking must
surely change his life forever. Joyce has better words for it, but sometimes when life
gives you lemons, you have to make lemonade.
Gretta Conroy

Gabriel's wife took care of Gabriel's mother in her final illness, but she still said, to
Gabriel's horror, that Gretta was just "country cute" (The Dead.100). Now, we think
Gretta deserves a better than that.
But before the final pages, we don't know a whole lot about Gretta. We see that her
relationship with Gabriel is close: they joke with each other about Gabriel's making her
wear galoshes, and after she notices the tense conversation he has with Miss Ivors, she
comes over to check on him. Even when he responds rudely to her desire to go to the
West for a vacation, she can laugh at his moodiness.

Good Gretta
This makes us like Gretta a lot, just like we like Gabriel, and that's going to make the
last few pages of the story really tough on us. Because we're going to learn some
painful things, and we're going to have to see them through both Gretta and Gabriel's
eyes.
Though she doesn't do much at the party, Gretta does one major thing in the story: she
kills the mood. And how does she do that? By bringing the dead to the land of the living.
When they're back at their hotel, and Gabriel's feeling, shall we say,affectionate, Gretta
tells him why she paused so long on the stairs to listen to Mr D'Arcy singing "The Lass
of Aughrim." It turns out Gretta had been in love once, when she was younger. But it
couldn't last, because the boy had died.
And that story changes everything.

Mysterious Gretta

First, it shows Gabriel that there's a lot about his wife he doesn't know. This throws quite
the wrench into their relationship, because, as our narrator tells us, "While he had been
full of memories of their secret life together, full of tenderness and joy and desire, she
had been comparing him in her mind with another." Poor Gabe's clearly worried that he
doesn't stack up.

Gabriel's Gretta
And secondly, it puts death front and center for our main man Gabriel. After Gretta
shares her past, he thinks of Julia's impending deathshe is an old lady after all. And
then he thinks to himself, "One by one, they were all becoming shades. Better pass
boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither
dismally with age. [] His soul had approached that region where dwell the vast hosts
of the dead. He was conscious of, but could not apprehend their wayward and flickering
existence."
Yikes. That's some serious stuff that Gretta's story has brought about in her husband's
mind. Suddenly the world of the dead is right there in the room with him, and all over
Ireland, for that matter, just like the snow. Maybe the difference between the world of the
living and the world of the dead isn't much of a difference after all. After all, the snow
covers graves and homes all the same.
Minor Characters

Aunt Kate Morkan

Along with her sister and niece, she's a host of the annual party. Gabriel describes her
in contrast to Aunt Julia, and says that "Aunt Kate was more vivacious. Her face,
healthier than her sister's, was all puckers and creases, like a shrivelled red apple, and
her hair, braided in the same old-fashioned way, had not lost its ripe nut color" (The
Dead.30).
Aunt Kate claims to be more with it, but she's just pretending a lot of the time. When
Gretta talks about "galoshes," Aunt Kate makes fun of her sister for not knowing what
they are, but then she has to admit that she doesn't really have any idea either. Still,
Aunt Kate's manner is totally likable. She wants to make sure that Gabriel and Gretta
will be safe getting to their hotel after the party, and she can't say enough times how

much better she feels with Gabriel around. When he gives his speech and recognizes
her, she tears up because it means so much to her.

Aunt Julia Morkan

With her sister, she hosts the annual party at their house on Usher's Island. She had
been a singer in a church until the pope banned women from singing in choirs (and this
topic causes some heated discussion around the dinner table). Gabriel describes her as
"an inch or sotaller" than her sister, and adds that she hasn't aged as well. The word
that he repeats when describing both her hair and her face is "grey."
She's also a little more confused, and had "the appearance of a woman who did not
know where she was or where she was going" (The Dead.30). It's a little ironic that
Gabriel says this, because later, as his epiphany approaches, he tells us that he knows
exactly where Aunt Julia is going: "Poor Aunt Julia! She, too, would soon be a shade
[]" and he imagines returning to the house for her funeral (The Dead.456).
During the party, Aunt Julia sings "Arrayed for the Bridal," and it's surprisingly good.
Unlike her niece Mary Jane's piece, with its runs that no one can follow, Gabriel notes
that "though she sang very rapidly she did not miss even the smallest of the grace
notes. To follow the voice, without looking at the singer's face, was to feel and share the
excitement of swift and secure flight" (The Dead.157). It's her biggest achievement of
the night, and it really is quite a surprise because almost every other description of Aunt
Julia highlights her confusion or her age.

Mary Jane Morkan

The youngest of the hostesses of the party, Mary Jane is a cousin of Gabriel and a
niece of Aunts Kate and Julia. She came to live with them when her father (and their
older brother) Pat, died. She earns money by playing the organ for a Dublin church and
by teaching music lessons to children.
In the story, Mary Jane has a small but significant role. She's present in a small way in
some of the most important scenes of the story, and interacts with or comments on the
drunkenness of Freddy Malins, the nationalism of Miss Ivors, and the singing of Bartell
D'Arcy, in turn.

Early on in the party, and unlike the other accompanists, she shows off her talent by
playing a complicated song that causes most of the guests to leave the room or to get
bored. "The only persons who seemed to follow the music were Mary Jane herself, her
hands racing along the keyboard [] and Aunt Kate standing at her elbows to turn the
page" (The Dead.99). Now Gabriel in particular thinks that it "had no melody for him," so
it sounds like he and Mary Jane are at odds a little bit.
We can compare and contrast Mary Jane's role as an aging single woman on Usher
Island to Gabriel's isolation as a married family man. Their "performances"her song
and his speechare very different, just as their ways of perceiving the world are. When
Mary Jane hears Bartell D'Arcy, she rushes up to him to make him sing more, and ends
up offending him. Gabriel waits at the bottom of the stairs and pays more attention to his
wife, thinking about a painting he would make of her called "Distant Music."
Even if Mary Jane is, in some ways, a convenient contrast to Gabriel, she does
contribute two lines that return in Gabriel's epiphany, and they are two of the most
recognized lines of "The Dead."
First, speaking about the weather, she has a strange way of phrasing the observation
that it's snowing everywhere: "They say, said Mary Jane, we haven't had snow like it for
thirty years; and I read this morning in the newspapers that the snow is general all over
Ireland" (The Dead.329). In the final paragraph, Gabriel notes, "Yes, the newspapers
were right: snow was general all over Ireland" (The Dead.459).
Secondly, her description of the Mount Melleray monks also ends up in the climactic
final sentence of "The Dead." After several vague explanations of why these monks
sleep in their coffins, Mary Jane, with a startling directness, says to the dinner table,
'The coffin [] is to remind them of their last end" (The Dead.237). These little insights
just go to show that Mary Jane is more than just a partygoer. She's got a little wisdom in
her, too.

Freddy Malins
A funny drunk whose exaggerated gestures and loud words provide comic relief in "The
Dead." Even though the Morkan sisters worry that he will show up "screwed" (that is,
drunk), when he does he's pretty tame. Sure, he repeats his stories and rubs his hand in
his eyes, and his compliments on Julia's singing are a little bit over the top. And to top it
off he silences the dinner conversation by accusing Mr Browne of not respecting a black

opera singer. But all in all he doesn't cause any major gaffes. Especially if we compare
him with Farrington from "Counterparts." Near the end of "The Dead," Freddy's hijinks
about giving directions to the cab driver provide an intense contrast with Gretta Conroy's
simultaneous listening to Bartell D'Arcy's singing of "The Lass of Aughrim."

Bartell D'Arcy
This poor singer unfortunately has a cold on the night of the party. He speaks briefly
about famous tenors during the dinner conversation, but his main contribution to the
story is his singing a few bars of "The Lass of Aughrim," the song that Gretta Conroy's
old flame, Michael Furey, used to sing. Even though he only sings for a minute, it's
enough to change the course of the whole story, since after this Gretta's story of
Michael Furey and Gabriel's pondering of these events makes up the last pages of "The
Dead."

Mr Browne
A Protestant guest at the Morkan's party, he's a little bit of a creepy old man, but for the
most part he's pretty tame. During the course of the party, he helps take care of Freddy
Malins, flirts with dancing girls while drinking, and questions the strange habits of the
monks of Mount Melleray. He takes a cab home with Freddy Malins and his mother, and
is part of the final scene of laughter in the story before things turn significantly more
somber.

Miss Ivors
A vivacious and aggressive young Irish nationalist, she challenges Gabriel during a
dance. Her remarks to him make a big impression. Not only does she accuse him of
being a "West Briton," or a supporter of English rule, she accuses him of not paying
enough attention to his own country, his own language, and his own customs. She says
all this because Gabriel writes a book review for a conservative (English-leaning)
newspaper and because he vacations in Europe rather than in Ireland.
Gabriel remembers her words later in the story, and even worries about how his dinner
speech will affect her. Miss Ivors, however, has to leave the party before eating dinner,

so she's not even present to hear his words on the great "hospitality" of the Irish. Crisis
averted.

Lily
A young woman who does the housework for the Morkans, Lily seems to be acting
differently recently, maybe because of a problem with a boyfriend or lover. When Gabriel
asks her, almost jokingly, if she'll be getting married soon, she sends back one of the
harshest lines of the story (and definitely the least grammatically correct): "The men that
is today is only all palaver and what they can get out of you" (The Dead.19). Lily's lines
are mostly important because they have an effect on our main character's mood, and
he's embarrassed that he said anything in the first place.

Modernism

When you hear the name James Joyce, the first word that should come to your mind
is Modernism. And while his later works, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young
Man, Ulysses, and Finnegan's Wake go really crazy with the radical literary techniques
of the genre, Dubliners is where it all begins.
One of the key characteristics of Modernism is a kooky sense of narration. See, unlike
in fiction written in previous dusty centuries, Joyce uses multiple narrative points of view
within the single collection, switching from the first person in the first three stories to the
third person omniscient limited point of view later. And that third person limited
omniscient point of view can jump from one character to another in the course of a
single story, which allows Joyce to explore the feelings of two different characters in a
story without giving up the realism that a fully omniscient narrator just can't bring out.