James Joyce The Dead Essay

To be dead, is defined as one who has no heartbeat and is a permanent ending of ones life. “The Dead” by James Joyce gives an extensive new gist to the term death. The author focuses on how being alive does not clarify that one is ‘living’, one may be just ‘existing’. Living life in a state, where nothing improves or worsens, is a state of paralysis. In the short story “The Dead” Joyce illustrates such a controversial and inevitably complex story, that it could flood the readers mind with confusion, but that is what makes Mr. Joyce’s works a “stream of consciousness.” Joyce keeps the reader interested with his comic twists, keenness, and astonishing conclusion. In a philosophical view, Joyce presents the ritualism of the lifestyle in Dublin,

They are all living in the past and are incapable of moving forwards and numb to their surroundings. They attend the Morkan’s party every year with the same guests, same conversations, same music and same conflicts. The repetition of the story is continuous which emphasizes not only the characters lives but also the attitude of the author about Dublin. Joyce appears to criticize the Catholic Church, when Miss Kate is arguing with Mary Jane. Miss Kate criticizes the Pope for kicking the women out of the choir, that they had worked hard for. Then again when Mr. Brown hears about how the monks sleep in coffins. The coffins are used as another form of symbolism for paralysis. The story insinuates Michael Furey, and the fact that Gabriel cannot grasp the idea of Gretta loving someone else before she met him. While Gabriel is lying in bed he starts thinking about Michaels death, his Aunt Julia dying and then his own death. He is thrown off by the thought of dying, which is ironic because metaphorically he is already dead. He is consumed with this vivid apocalyptic thought that everyone, even the living, are dead. Everything around him is so stagnant that he can hear the snow fall which is ironically revealing his soul is “..falling through the