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The Dead By James Joyce Essay

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In James Joyce’s short story “The Dead” there are three key components that are revealed: time, imagery, and point of view. Time predicting what could happen and reflecting back on what has already happened. Imagery to support the dramatic event in the story. Lastly, point of view to allow the reader to put themselves in the character’s shoes and be able to relate to the events they experienced. Time. time is the element in which sways the attitude of this story. When Gabriel speaks of how “He thought of what she must have been then” it is easy to comprehend Gabriel speaks of how she was and isn’t anymore. For instance Gabriel is talking about how time has passed and changed everything in life even the beauty of his beloved. Another example would be when Gabriel speaks of his beloved “soon be[coming] a shade” refers to his belief that she will soon be a spectre or apparition in her life after death. …show more content…

As Gabriel watches his wife sleep he remembers her “first girlish beauty”. This quote gives us a sign or an image of an old woman that is aging and she is at her peak and then later the author uses “her face was no longer beautiful.” Besides being old, the author uses this quote to tell us that she is all wrinkly and her face hangs rather than it being bouncy like in her younger years. As people age they become wrinkly and the older we get, the closer we are to death, later the author uses “dressed in black” which means that the death of that person will come very soon. These quotes represent how people start out really young and beautiful, but as they age the people’s beauty begins to wither away and decay and get ugly, and eventually

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