How Does Joyce Use Diction In The Dead

In “The Dead” by James Joyce, Gabriel Conroy, the main character of the novella, is the epiphanic revelation of love. While attending the fancy Christmas party which is a tradition of the upper class, Gabriel realizes the shallowness of his love for his wife—Gretta. Joyce utilizes abstract and concrete diction, abstruse symbolism, and profound epiphany to illustrate Gabriel's relation with the dead and understanding of his own soul and identity. To begin with, Joyce uses several kinds of diction to depict the troublesome relationship between Gabriel and Gretta. First, using abstract diction helps the author show the internal thoughts of Gabriel. When Gabriel and Gretta are led by an old man who is going upstairs, Gabriel is "trembling with

After further thinking with regards to the effect this phrase creates, the readers may realize that this use of abstract diction suggests that Gabriel only considers his wife as a person whose purpose is to bring him pleasure. However, Gabriel eventually overcomes his lust for her, which indicates that Gabriel no longer wants Gretta only because of her sexy body that can make him happy. Later, Joyce shows Gabriel’s selfish regard toward Gretta. Although Gabriel senses that Gretta is abstracted, he doesn’t care about what Gretta is thinking; in stead, his only wish is "to be master of her strange mood" (187). Here, the word “master” presents the meaning that Gabriel has no regard for Gretta’s well-being, and all he wants to do is to be in complete control of her at all times. After reading these descriptions of Gabriel’s actions and internal thoughts, readers can know from Gabriel’s actions and internal thoughts that he is not deeply in love with Gretta. Moreover, Joyce depicts the feelings of both Gabriel and Gretta by using concrete diction. In the novella, Gretta suffers from great pain after losing her true love back home when she thinks her lover “died for [her]” (189). Although the phrase of “died for” is easy to understand, it is actually such a selfless

After knowing Gretta has been thinking about another man while they have been in a marriage for such a long time, Gabriel is first angry with his wife; in other words, he cannot tolerate that Gretta’s heart actually belongs to another man. He thinks about how Gretta carries so much fondness for her dead love and becomes envious that she has found her one true love: “A shameful consciousness of his own person assailed him…Instinctively he turned his back more to the light lest she might see the shame that burned upon his forehead” (188). Here, the example might indicate that Gabriel knows that he is displaced from his own place as the center of the universe by his wife's revelation. Thinking about the dead Furey, he realizes that they are all ultimately getting older, and becoming closer to death. He realizes that he has never loved anyone as deeply as Furey loved Gretta. He decides, having fully realizing that they are all dying, that it is better to live boldly than fade away. What’s more, Gabriel experiences another epiphany in which he thinks about his own faith and identity that night in bed with his wife: “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. His own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself, which these