James Joyce The Dead

The 19th century began the period of modernist literature, resulting in a literary shift in response to the changes happening in society. This was a time, with the rise of Darwinism, when science started overpowering religion, and the literature reflected a sort of mourning over the figurative death of god, resulting in a style of compensatory writing. The years after World War I spurred works that exposed the traditional world and the assumptions thereof. Features such as less socially prominent characters, more emphasis on experienced and subjective time, and a change in symbolic setting, characterized some of modernist literature. In James Joyce’s short story “The Dead”, themes of death, rebirth, the past and future are explored. Margot

Norris begins by pulling a sharp interpretation of the “The Dead’s” first line, “Lily, the caretakers daughter, was literally run off her feet” (Joyce 149). She says that this sentence has a suppressed truth, that Lily must be watched to not steal, and that her lack of boldness makes her valued. This introduces the bourgeois society that the text’s narration supports, and Norris goes on to depict the text as representative of the problems encapsulated in the bourgeois ideals by having back answers continually break the image of the seemingly flawless way of life. Norris says that Joyce demonstrates, through “The Dead”, that art in itself has politically oppressive roles and it is intent on hiding them. Norris reaches the conclusion that Gabriel and Miss Ivors quarrel has two purposes, to show the politics of nationalism and the politics of gender. The reason Miss Ivor’s comment “West Briton!” (Joyce 162) to Gabriel is taken as seriously as it is, is because it is seen as concerned with the politics of nationalism which are, according to Norris, seen as more legitimate in the text than those of gender. She continues to say that having the back answers in “The Dead” evoked by women implies that Joyce used the politics of gender to portray his critique of art. Norris interprets that the story focuses on the shortcoming of Gabriel while deliberately

Norris says that Gabriel is trying to “control Gretta’s memory and attention” (487) when he shows coldness towards her desire to visit her home in Galway. However, this can be seen more as an act of coldness towards Ireland itself rather than Gretta specifically. Gabriel, in marrying Gretta, accepts what she represents of Ireland because he loves her, but he is not willing to go beyond that by accepting things he can avoid (although he is cold towards Gretta’s desire to go to Galway he would still agree for her to “go if [she] likes” (Joyce 163)). Another aspect in the text that supports Gabriel’s contempt for Ireland is the galoshes he and Gretta wear. When Gretta says that “Everyone wears them on the continent” (Joyce 154), Aunt Julia shows ambivalence, which angers Gabriel. It can also be said that Gabriel wishes to physically separate himself and Gretta from Irish soil. Gabriel is attracted to the cosmopolitan culture of the continent rather than the Irish nationalism, and his actions and decisions towards himself and Gretta reflect