Throughout the story of “The Dead” the importance of home and family is brought out. In the book we begin by understanding the setting of a Christmas party that is hosted by our protagonist Gabriel’s Aunts which are Kate and Julia Morkin. There he speaks with a lady known as Miss Ivors, someone who you could say who pushed his buttons. While they talk she calls him a “West Briton” because he has been writing for a conservative newspaper The Daily Express. She mentioned how she was ashamed of him and started “‘to write for a rag like that. I didn’t think you were a West Briton.’” (Joyce 169) A West Briton according to Wiktionary is “An Irish person whose cultural identity is very British, or who wants to be part of British society.” Or another page which states “an Irish person who is perceived as being too anglophilic in matters of culture or politics.” She then proceeds to invite him to Aran Isles during the summer (located in Ireland) where he declines mentioning that he already has plans to visit France, Belgium or Germany. But Miss Ivors was persistent, that she has questions why he wouldn’t visit his own land rather than go abroad. As it continues on Gabriel mentions how he is “‘sick of his own country, sick of it!’” (171) .