James Joyce wrote an assembly of fifteen short stories,
published in 1914 under the collective title Dubliners. These stories depicted
the average life of middle class Irishmen during the early 1900’s and their
hardships, especially the struggle of human acceptance of death. In the final
story, The Dead, Joyce explores this universal theme of mortality. One of the
most important supporting symbols is the setting: the story takes place in the
middle of a winter snowstorm in Ireland at the old home of Morkans on the night
of the Feast of Epiphany, ending the next morning in a dark hotel room.
Winter is
a time for celebration and holiday but it is also a symbol of eternal sleep and
death. The human life has seasons: spring, summer, fall and winter. Setting the
story in the winter is Joyce’s way of metaphorically setting the story at the
end of someone’s life, paying homage to the title. Gabriel Conroy arrives at
the party with “a light fringe of snow lay[ing] like a cape on the shoulders of
his overcoat and like toecaps on the toes of his goloshes” (Joyce, 23). This image
of Gabriel parallels with the scene Gabriel describes in the final paragraph,
with the snow “faintly falling, like the decent of their last end, upon all the
living and the dead” (59). Gabriel is covered in snow, just as the grave of
Michael Fuery. The concrete description of snow is the intermediary state
between water and ice, and the snow in The Dead takes on a deeper meaning,
symbolizing how humans are the same way, frozen temporarily in an impermanent
state: alive but always dying; just as snow will always melt, human life will
always end.
Setting
the story in Ireland during this specific era is also symbolic. During the
beginning of the 19th century, Ireland was still recovering from much death
caused by the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and the Great Famine (1845 – 1852). The
Dead does not give any particular date as to when the story takes place, but it
can be assumed that it takes place after these two events, considering the
conversations that arise at the party between Gabriel and Miss Ivors. At first
Miss Ivors accuses Gabriel of being a “West Briton” (31) because he wrote
articles for a British newspaper, but later confesses she “liked the review
immensely” (31). Miss Ivors is supposed to represent nationalism, for she goes
on and on about returning to the Irish countryside and all but publically
ridicules Gabriel for not feeling the same about his Irish heritage. But when
she reveals that her friend gave her the article to read, it is symbolic of a
figurative death of both Irish pride and culture, for now even people who claim
to have great pride and loyalty for their country read, and possibly even
subscribe to, the literature of their adversaries.
For the
majority of the plot, the story takes place in the “dark gaunt house on Usher’s
Island” (22) owned by the Morkan sisters for over thirty years. The house is
also a symbol of mortality in that it also represents tradition: the house is
seemingly sturdy and appears that it will last another thirty years. However,
just as with tradition, houses do not stay perfect forever and require
maintenance and modifications in order to last, but even then, most traditions
are lost within time, and old houses are torn down so new ones can be built in
their place. Inside the house, the staircase is a reoccurring feature.
Symbolically, a staircase represents a journey, and whether on is ascending or
descending determines whether that journey is good or bad. When Gabriel runs up
the stairs at the beginning of the story, he is starting his hopeful journey of
figuring himself out, and when Gretta comes slowly down the stairs at the end,
she is starting a journey mingled with confusion and sadness. But even more
vaguely, a staircase is just a link between two floors, or in other words, two
states of being, which parallels the repeating image of life and death.
The party
is set on the day of the Feast of Epiphany, a Christmas-like holiday
celebrating of the birth of Christ, and the story ends the next day with
Gabriel’s personal epiphany about life and death. The final setting of the
story is a hotel room with no light except for a street lamp outside. Hotels,
as temporary means of residence, symbolize a transition from one stage to
another: once again, another metaphor for life and death. More specifically,
the transition that happens in the final scene is Gabriel’s realization that it
is “better [to] pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some
passion, than fade and wither dismally with age” (58); that is, his life is not
meaningful without passion and love; he might as well be dead since he is not
living his life to the fullest. Another important aspect of this setting is
Gabriel’s denial of the candle. Gabriel believes that his “passion” is enough
to heat up the space, both literally and figuratively, but his wife remains
cold, filled with thoughts of the dead and unable to feel warm and happy. Just
as there is not candle, there is no flame to be sparked between Gabriel and
Gretta, in both their marriage and their life. The only light offered in the
room is the “ghostly light from the street lamp” (53), and it represents the
cold, harsh light of reality, shining down on Gabriel as he realizes his life,
so far, has been a farce.
The Dead
is the last, and longest, story in James Joyce’s collection of short stories.
Rightfully titled, The Dead’s overarching theme is mortality, or the
susceptibility to death, and is best supported by the symbolism found within
the majority of the setting, especially smaller details that parallel the
concept of life and death throughout the work. The impermance of each aspect of
the setting (winter, an old house, a hotel room) support not only the theme,
but some of Gabriel’s final lines: “He was conscious of, but could not apprehend,
their wayward and flickering existence. His own identity was fading out into a
grey impalpable world…” (59). Once, those who are now dead walked the same
earth as the living do now, but their memories are becoming lost in fading
minds. Everyone, alive or not, is connected, and only the living can keep the
dead alive.
Works Cited
Joyce, James. The Dead. Ed. Daniel R. Schwarz. The Bedford
Books of St. Martin’s Press: Boston MA, 1994. 21-59. Print.
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