The Dead is an intriguing masterpiece written by James Joyce and bases his storyline in Ireland during Christmas. Joyce invites the reader into his plot by his artistic description of things and scenery in his book. The writer points out the snow on the ground as symbolic of a blanket that covers the bad and the good on the earth. Joyce writes that the snow covers both the dead and the living and unites them into a frozen paralysis (Joyce, 184). The story of the dead encapsulates Gabriel Conroy as viewing himself superior to others due to his intellectual capabilities as he attended Victorian School of thought. Gabriel is deemed incapable of being social as he elevates himself to a higher class than the people he interacts with thereby, causing a form of disparity between him and the people. This paper will look at how Gabriel feel betrayed by his lover, his sense of jealousy as he is saddened that he cannot have his wife’s love, and how he initiates conflict.
Gretta dislikes Gabriel, her husband, because he they have an emotional disconnection where her husband is not passionate and loving compared to Michael. Michael is Gretta’s former lover but he was emotionally alive as she experienced his love and tender care. Michael loved Gretta selflessly (Joyce, 2011, 245). This shows Michael Furey is a complete opposite of Gabriel who appears not to have any emotional attachments to his hometown as he perceives himself as a better person than the local people, including his wife (Joyce, 2011, 246). Gretta ideally misses Michael who loved her passionately unlike her current husband. Regardless of Michael’s death, Joyce describes how Michael is a living spirit and the snow symbolizes love and beauty that Michael gave Bretta (Magalaner, 1962, p.122). Michael had undying love for Gretta but destiny was not on their side. Gretta misses these special moments with her lover and to have a husband who does not reflect self-sacrificing love, it kills Gretta’s soul each minute. Gretta is not content with her husband as Gabriel despises her as she does not have the same level of education as he has (Magalaner, 1962, p.125). As a result, this makes it uncomfortable for Gretta to truly love his husband because Michael is still alive in her heart and emotions. This illustrates conflict between Gretta and herself as her heart is with Michael despite being married to Gabriel. Thus, Gabriel feels a form of betrayal from his wife as she has undying love for her former lover, Michael.
Gabriel is also jealous that his wife has feelings of his former lover thereby, cannot make his wife submissive to him. Gabriel wants to have control in his marriage but he cannot due to the fact his wife is in love with another person, and not him. Gabriel is angry and furious that Gretta is thinking about his ex-lover while married to him (Joyce, 2011, p.253). This points out that he has lost power over his woman in that he cannot claim her or her love. Due to Gabriel’s egoistic nature, he is disappointed that he cannot take control of his wife as she is not entirely committed as she was during the romantic days. Gabriel is not only jealous that Michael preceded him in terms of taking Greta’s love but is also sad that he will never experience the undying and selfless love that both Gretta and Michael shared (Baker, 1969, p.102). This means that both of these two partners are alive but emotionally and spiritually dead.
Given the emotional death between and Gretta and Michael, their marriage is at the verge of falling apart if Michael does not change his aptitude behavior. Michael gets an awakening that his intellectual prides and social snobbery has driven a wedge in his relationship with Gretta (Joyce, 2011, p. 254). He realizes that gaining intellectual knowledge and acting with sophistication is pushing people away from him. This realization is important as he finally see how he acted as a jerk to his own family and friends. He had abandoned his own culture and tradition by embracing the English culture (Magalaner, 1962, p.134). Gabriel had forgotten his roots and people he once loved thereby, despising them for their social status. He had socialized himself into believing that due to his knowledge capabilities, he could not mingle with his own people. This bubble of pride and dislike of his people busted such that he realized he had been wrong. Reality had dawned on him in that he became aware of the level of nonattachment he had with his wife. Joyce writes that Gabriel looked into the mirror and saw a "a ludicrous figure, acting as a penny boy for his aunts, a nervous well-meaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealizing his own clownish lusts, the pitiable fatuous fellow he had caught a glimpse of in the mirror" (Joyce, 2011, p.266). This self-realization is alarming to him as he discovered he had failed his family and most of his entire loving wife, Gretta. Gabriel had become obsessed with attaining and portraying an important figure in the community who wanted respect from other individuals because of his intellectual enlightenment Joyce, 2011, p.268). It is interesting that Gabriel discovers his horrible nature and comes to a realization that he was lost. This indicates a form of conflict between Gabriel and his inner self as he struggles to come to an understanding that he is not who he deemed to be.
Gabriel is characterized as the man that views himself better than other people due to his attained intellectuality. When Gabriel is invited to the party, he has a difficult time socializing or holding conversations with others because he looks down upon them (Joyce, 2011, 243). He believes that the people of his hometown in Ireland are backward and unintelligent. As a result, he fears that people may not understand his lingua as he deems himself as a genius and smarter than all the people in the party attendance. Ironically, Gabriel is married to one of the folks he perceives as non-intelligent and cannot understand his sophisticated ways. This indicates that he is unattached to both his family and friends such that he denies his Irish identity. Gabriel thinks that his two aunts are “ignorant old women” and this perception illustrates his dislike of the family at large (Joyce, 2011, 242). So as to distinguish himself as a learned and knowledgeable man, he refrains from using his town’s slang words while communication. Gabriel makes sure that he is waving his intellectual flag above his head while talking to the people in the party. This shows that Gabriel dislikes his hometown and his cultural roots as his family in Ireland were mainly farmers and peasants (Baker, 1969, p.98). Through his attained knowledge from the school of thought, he distinctively chooses to communicate in academic language in place of the common phrases used by the local people (Joyce, 2011, 236). One could make an assumption that Gabriel wants to inspire the country folks to take up high level of education so as to improve their knowledge and make an impression on the people at the party. Gretta is definitely not impressed by Gabriel as he looks down upon his own people (Joyce, 2011, 242). It is crucial to note that Gabriel had left his hometown to study and enjoy the English culture, which he grew fond of. It seems that the English culture overrode his love for the Ireland people as he disdained their way of life. Gabriel snobbery builds a wall between his family and also Gretta. This indicates a sense of conflict between Gabriel and the Ireland people because of his attitude nature that ends up building a gap between him and his wife Gretta.
Gabriel and Miss Ivor are longtime friends who happen to fall out because of Gabriel’s egoistic nature. Both of these individuals get into a heated discussion of Ireland where Gabriel deprives Ireland and its people, which in the long run pisses Miss Ivor off (Baker, 1969, 215). It is vital to note that these two individuals share similarities in different ideals but at the same time they have different perceptions on Ireland as a nation. These two have similar intellectual capabilities in that Joyce connotes that they both went to the university and became professors as a profession of their choice (Baker, 1969, 214). This shows the lengthy relationship between Miss Ivor and Gabriel. During their dance, they both take a different stunt in their argument on Ireland whereby, Gabriel does not show a sense of patriotism perspective in his discussion leading to Miss Ivor change in attitude (Baker, 1969, 215). The write indicates that both of these two strong individuals took their stunts strongly such that it the discussion became bitter. This scene depicts conflicts between two friends who have attained a high level of education but do not share the same opinions.
It is crucial to note how the narrator characterized Miss Ivor and Gabriel who were dancing at the party while discussing a certain topic. Joyce notices the change in their character and eyes as they danced on the dance floor. For example, Joyce carefully describes Gabriel’s eyes as “Rabbit eyes” regardless of the fact that he wore glasses (Joyce, 2011, 272). Joyce also notes that Gabriel blinked numerous times when he became uncomfortable in his discussion and often time he looked at the floor to avoid Miss Ivor’s eyes (Magalaner, 1962, p.112). His eyes were critical as he continued to have a discussion with Miss Ivor who challenged his ideas unlike any other person in the scenario. This means that Miss Ivor was challenging Gabriel’s ego in that he believed to be an intellect champion. Due to this, Joyce writes that his eyes were ‘weak and sensitive whereas Miss Ivor’s eyes remained critical and sharp (Joyce, 2011, p.265). As a result, Gabriel chose to avoid an eye contact with Miss Ivor who was grilling him on his ideas (Magalaner, 1962, p.115). Though these two individuals have similar background, it seems that Miss Ivor does not seem to care about challenging his longtime friend. It is lucrative in the society that eyes are the window to one’s soul (Magalaner, 1962, p.123). Hence through seeing Gabriel’s eyes as weak, it indicates that despite his intellectual wall that he tries to build up, he still has a soft spot deep inside him. The narrator shows a form of conflict between two longtime friends, Miss Ivor and Gabriel, who seem not to share same opinions on different aspects despite attending similar universities and becoming professors.
In conclusion, Gabriel egoism is broken when he realizes that his wife has Michael’s feelings that he could not control his wife heart and emotions. Secondly, Gabriel is overpowered by anger and sadness after he finds out that his wife does not entirely love him. Thirdly, Gabriel experiences conflict between himself, family and his longtime friend.
References
Baker, J. R., & Staley, T. F. (1969). James Joyce's Dubliners; a critical handbook.. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Pub. Co..
Joyce, J., & Schwarz, D. R. (2011). The dead. Boston (Mass.): Bedford/St. Martin's press ;.
Magalaner, M., & York, N. (1962). A James Joyce miscellany. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
