Even though Michael Furey is dead, his legacy still lives on in the mind of Gretta. “A vague terror seized Gabriel at this answer, as if, at that hour when he had hoped to triumph, some impalpable and vindictive being was coming against him, gathering forces against him in its vague world.”(Joyce 782). This idea absolutely terrifies Gabriel upon hearing it. Gretta also reveals to Gabriel that she has never fully achieved the same level of love and passion with another person since the death of Michael Furey. Gretta then tells Gabriel that Michael Furey died out of love for Gretta. Gretta reveals to Gabriel that she was passionately in love with Michael Furey. Most importantly Gretta’s old boyfriend Michael Furey. “The Dead” is seemingly centered around death, more importantly dead people and the legacy they leave behind. James Joyce incorporates the use of color, light, Gabriel’s male pride, snow, the living versus the dead, the past versus the present, and nationalism to help emphasize this theme of death. This theme of death is accompanied by is supported by multiple motifs and symbolism. As the title suggests, death is a central and prominent theme of the short story both literally and metaphorically. James Joyce's “The Dead” demonstrates the life of the Irish middle class in Dublin around the early 1900s. In this collection of short stories, the final and longest story of the collection is named “The Dead”. James Joyce published a series of short stories named “Dubliners” in 1914.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |