The Dead by James Joyce

Summary
At the annual dance and dinner party held by Kate and Julia Morkan and their
young niece, Mary Jane Morkan, the housemaid Lily frantically greets guests.
Set at or just before the feast of the Epiphany on January 6, which celebrates the
manifestation of Christ’s divinity to the Magi, the party draws together a variety of
relatives and friends. Kate and Julia particularly await the arrival of their favorite
nephew, Gabriel Conroy, and his wife, Gretta. When they arrive, Gabriel
attempts to chat with Lily as she takes his coat, but she snaps in reply to his
question about her love life. Gabriel ends the uncomfortable exchange by giving
Lily a generous tip, but the experience makes him anxious. He relaxes when he
joins his aunts and Gretta, though Gretta’s good-natured teasing about his
dedication to galoshes irritates him. They discuss their decision to stay at a hotel
that evening rather than make the long trip home. The arrival of another guest, the
always-drunk Freddy Malins, disrupts the conversation. Gabriel makes sure that
Freddy is fit to join the party while the guests chat over drinks in between taking
breaks from the dancing. An older gentleman, Mr. Browne, flirts with some young
girls, who dodge his advances. Gabriel steers a drunken Freddy toward the drawing
room to get help from Mr. Browne, who attempts to sober Freddy up.

The party continues with a piano performance by Mary Jane. More dancing
follows, which finds Gabriel paired up with Miss Ivors, a fellow university
instructor. A fervent supporter of Irish culture, Miss Ivors embarrasses Gabriel by
labeling him a “West Briton” for writing literary reviews for a conservative
newspaper. Gabriel dismisses the accusation, but Miss Ivors pushes the point by
inviting Gabriel to visit the Aran Isles, where Irish is spoken, during the summer.
When Gabriel declines, explaining that he has arranged a cycling trip on the
continent, Miss Ivors corners him about his lack of interest in his own country.
Gabriel exclaims that he is sick of Ireland. After the dance, he flees to a corner and
engages in a few more conversations, but he cannot forget the interlude with Miss
Ivors.
Just before dinner, Julia sings a song for the guests. Miss Ivors makes her exit to
the surprise of Mary Jane and Gretta, and to the relief of Gabriel. Finally, dinner is
ready, and Gabriel assumes his place at the head of the table to carve the goose.
After much fussing, everyone eats, and finally Gabriel delivers his speech, in
which he praises Kate, Julia, and Mary Jane for their hospitality. Framing this
quality as an Irish strength, Gabriel laments the present age in which such
hospitality is undervalued. Nevertheless, he insists, people must not linger on the
past and the dead, but live and rejoice in the present with the living. The table
breaks into loud applause for Gabriel’s speech, and the entire party toasts their
three hostesses.
Later, guests begin to leave, and Gabriel recounts a story about his grandfather and
his horse, which forever walked in circles even when taken out of the mill where it
worked. After finishing the anecdote, Gabriel realizes that Gretta stands transfixed
by the song that Mr. Bartell D’Arcy sings in the drawing room. When the music
stops and the rest of the party guests assemble before the door to leave, Gretta
remains detached and thoughtful. Gabriel is enamored with and preoccupied by his
wife’s mysterious mood and recalls their courtship as they walk from the house
and catch a cab into Dublin.
At the hotel, Gabriel grows irritated by Gretta’s behavior. She does not seem to
share his romantic inclinations, and in fact, she bursts into tears. Gretta confesses
that she has been thinking of the song from the party because a former lover had
sung it to her in her youth in Galway. Gretta recounts the sad story of this boy,
Michael Furey, who died after waiting outside of her window in the cold. Gretta
later falls asleep, but Gabriel remains awake, disturbed by Gretta’s new
information. He curls up on the bed, contemplating his own mortality. Seeing the
snow at the window, he envisions it blanketing the graveyard where Michael Furey
rests, as well as all of Ireland.

Failure:
In The Dead by James Joyce, have the theme of mortality, connection, failure,
politics, religion and paralysis. Taken from his Dubliners collection the story is
narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and very early on in the story
Joyce delves into one of the main themes of the story, the theme of failure. This is
first noticeable when Gabriel is talking to Lily and he asks her about when she
might be getting married. It is only through Lily’s reaction that Gabriel senses that
he may have said something wrong. There is a sense of failure of communication
between Lily and Gabriel with the reader suspecting that Gabriel may have failed
to present himself in a positive light to Lily. Another instance that soon follows,
which also suggests failure, is when Gabriel is thinking about his speech. He feels
that the ‘whole speech was a mistake from first to last, an utter failure’. Also when
Miss Ivors is talking to Gabriel, he fails to understand what she could mean. Joyce
further explores the theme of failure at the end of the story, the reader discovering
that Gabriel finds it hard to accept that Gretta could have loved someone before
she loved him.
Politics:
The incident with Miss Ivors is also important for another reason, as it is through
this incident that Joyce is also highlighting to the reader, another theme in the
story, the theme of politics. Miss Ivors would be of a nationalist disposition, while
Gabriel it would appear has a different outlook. Gabriel also writes a weekly
column for the Daily Express, which at the time Dubliners was written would have
been considered a conservative newspaper with leanings towards Unionism. The
differences, politically between Miss Ivors and Gabriel can also be seen by the fact
that she calls him a ‘West Briton’. Also when she suggests that Gabriel should
travel to the Aran Islands (Isles) with her, he declines, telling her that he has plans
to travel to the continent. Also he dismisses Miss Ivor’s remark regards the Irish
language, telling her that ‘Irish is not my language.’
Joyce also appears to attack the Catholic Church in the story. This is noticeable
when Miss Kate is arguing with Mary Jane. She criticizes the Pope for turning ‘out
the women out of the choirs that have slaved there all their lives and put little
whippersnappers of boys over their heads.’ It is also important that despite Miss
Kate’s opinion on the matter, she still remains loyal to the Church, considering the
Pope to be infallible, though she does feel his stance is wrong. Joyce also attacks
the Catholic Church later in the story when Mr Browne hears about the monks
sleeping in their coffins. Joyce uses the symbolism of the coffins to suggest the
idea of paralysis. That regardless of how pious an order the monks belong to, they
are paralyzed. Joyce suggests that the Catholic Church has failed the Irish people,
which again would pull in the theme or idea of failure.
Theme of connection:
The idea or theme of connection is also evident in the story. There is the fact that
Gabriel makes reference to his Aunts during his speech, which touches them. Also
Miss Ivors, connects herself to the Irish Movement and the reader suspects she
does so sufficiently enough that she allows it to define her. Also Gabriel at the end
of the story would appear to be connected to other Irishmen for the first time in his
life. As he is lying in bed the reader is aware that the snow fell all over Ireland.
The snow is also important for another reason as it suggests a paralysis, as if
everything and everybody is under ice. Probably the most obvious sign of
connection in the story however is Gretta’s remembering of Michael Furey. It
appears to be obvious to Gabriel that when Gretta was younger she was very much
in love with Michael, something that disappoints Gabriel, that Gretta was able to
connect with another person before she married him.
Regard to mortality:
With regard to mortality as a theme is the most obvious reference to the title of the
story. Other notable occurrences whereby Joyce refers the idea of mortality, occur
when Gabriel is lying in bed. He starts to think about Michael Furey, then he thinks
about Aunt Julia dying and finally he starts to think about his own death. There are
also several deaths in the story. Gabriel’s parents are mentioned as too is the
Morkan’s grandfather. The story that Gabriel relays regarding the Morkan’s
grandfather is also important as it is through the telling of the story that Joyce is
again symbolizing the idea of paralysis. The reader finds that the grandfather’s
horse, Johnny, went around the statue of King William in circles. This repetitive
motion would suggest a sense of paralysis. It is also important that Joyce mentions
King William, as it was King William who defeated the Irish at the Battle of the
Boyne.
The Morkan’s party is a yearly occurrence with the same people invited every
year. Also Malins, is expected to arrive drunk every year. Those at the party also
dance to the same waltz every year, again the idea of repetition. The same music is
played and Gabriel is expected to make a speech, every year and every year it is his
responsibility to carve the goose and Miss Daly’s responsibility to carve the ham
while Gretta’s job is to serve the pudding. It is through all this repetition that the
reader suspects Joyce’s suggestion towards Ireland too, remains paralyzed and
dying as the title of the story may suggest.

Theme
Jealousy and Male Pride

Throughout “The Dead” the protagonist Gabriel is strongly influenced by his

interactions with women, which often spur jealousy and injure his pride. He places
a great deal of emphasis on how women react to him, regardless of whether they
are a romantic interest or not. His pride is also nurtured by his strong adherence to
his role as a man and his desire to “master” his wife.
Gabriel seems to take a lot of pride in his masculinity, but when he seeks
validation from female characters, he is often let down. What he does not realize is
that these interactions often leave the female characters just as wounded. In the
opening scene, Gabriel seeks female validation in his interaction with Lily, the
caretaker’s daughter whom he has known since she was a girl. On this night, he
suddenly notices her physique and complexion, realizing she is no longer the child
he knew. Gabriel makes a comment about her being of the age to marry, and is
immediately hurt when she responds with a bitter remark about men. Gabriel is
hurt by “the girl’s bitter and sudden retort” and continues to linger in the “gloom”
it has cast over him. Instead of leaving her alone, Gabriel tries to tip her to make
himself feel better. Lily wants to reject his tip as she rejected what he intended as a
compliment, but this time Gabriel insists that she take it. After he forces his tip on
her, she has no choice but to thank him, suddenly changing the dynamic: Lily can
no longer be offended, but feels obligated to express gratitude instead. Soon after,
Gabriel’s brief conversation with his colleague, Miss Ivors, leaves him with an
unpleasant feeling and a desire for revenge. He seems to believe she was
maliciously trying to “make him look ridiculous before people, heckling him and
staring at him with her rabbit’s eyes.” In reality, it seems that Gabriel is the one
who has upset Miss Ivors, as she leaves the party before dinner and refuses to let
anyone walk her home. Gabriel is blinded by his pride and is unable to see how
these interactions affect the women involved. His comment about marriage clearly
conjured up some negative experiences for Lily, spurring her bitter remark about
men, and his interaction with Miss Ivors causes her to leave the party in a rush.
Gabriel’s pride is also affected by his ability to fulfill his masculine role.
Throughout the evening it appears that Gabriel feels most comfortable when he is
finally seated at the head of the table, serving meat to the guests, as he “liked
nothing better than to find himself at the head of a well-laden table.” This
highlights Gabriel’s need to fulfill a typical male role, and resulting insecurity
when this doesn’t happen. Part of Gabriel’s desire for female approval stems from
his relationships with his aunts, who flatter him endlessly and reinforce his role as
the man of the family. His aunts are the ones who put him at the head of the table
to serve the meat. In return, Gabriel seems to cater to his aunts, helping when they
ask him to. Later in the text, after Gabriel realizes his wife was thinking of another
man, he becomes ashamed, and begins to see himself as a “ludicrous figure, acting
as a penny boy for his aunts.” Suddenly Gabriel sees running simple errands for his
aunts as an assault to his masculinity, and he finds shame in even this
commonplace action.
Gabriel’s almost irrepressible lust for Gretta marks their interactions in the second
half of the text, and also spurs his jealousy and anger at her feelings for her first
love. While he is thinking about how much he wants to overpower her, she is
overcome with sadness, lamenting the loss of her former lover, Michael Furey.
Gabriel’s jealousy is driven completely by his lust for his wife, and his desire to
“master” her. Initially, when Gabriel finds out she is thinking of her former lover,
he gets angry and jealous rather than sad or disappointed. Gabriel’s feelings toward
his wife is complicated, and he feels genuine tenderness towards her. However, the
text implies that he does not truly “love” her, or at least not in the way that Michael
Furey loved her. Gabriel “had never felt like that towards any woman but he knew
that such a feeling must be love.” If Gabriel loved his wife or if he didn’t let his
feelings of pride, lust, and anger get in the way of his feelings for her, his jealousy
could perhaps be justified as a byproduct of unrequited love. Instead, Gabriel’s
jealousy is a result of his selfish desire to control Gretta, his own insecurity, and
his fear of competition. Gabriel has to finally get past his jealousy and lust in order
to have the realization that he has not experienced love in the same way his wife
has with her previous lover. Gabriel’s reaction when his wife says the she thinks
Michael Furey died for her is “terror,” which only serves to highlight his
insecurity. He feels threatened by this dead man, as though “some impalpable and
vindictive being was coming against him, gathering forces against him in its vague
world.” Once Gabriel allows his initial terror and jealousy to fade, he reaches his
epiphany and is no longer filled with anger and lust, but sadness. He looks at his
wife “unresentfully” while she sleeps and realizes “how poor a part he, her
husband, had played in her life.”
Gabriel’s epiphany is similar to that of the narrator in “Araby,” as they both come
to the realization that they are experiencing feelings that are more commonplace
and shallow than what they had first imagined. Gabriel’s strong desire for his wife
was lust, a common occurrence, but the real pain in his epiphany comes from the
fact that his wife has already experienced a deeper connection to a man other than
Gabriel himself. Once Gabriel is able to get past his male pride and jealousy, he is
able to see that he was too distracted by his pride and desire for female approval
and submission that he never experienced real love.
Nostalgia and the Past vs. the Present
Both Gabriel and Gretta often find themselves paralyzed and unable to take
control over their lives. In this case, much of their resulting inaction is due to
distraction from the present by their overpowering nostalgic feelings about the
past. Gretta allows her past feelings for Michael Furey to distract her from her
current relationship with Gabriel on the night of the party. Meanwhile, Gabriel is
looking back nostalgically on his relationship with Gretta, Gretta is thinking of
someone else from an even more distant past. Instead of living in the moment and
trying to nurture her current relationship, she is still caught up in her idealistic
memories of her former lover. Gabriel’s views of the past become clear in his
speech when he talks about the value of “cherishing the memory of” these good
old days during gatherings like the dinner. He focuses on the past, basically
highlighting the importance of remembering the good and forgetting the bad. At
the end, Gabriel vows not to dwell on the past, but he is really only talking about
the “gloomy” part of the past. This means that he wants to focus on only the good
things from the past, which is what propels these feelings of nostalgia and Gabriel
and Gretta’s idealization of the past, and in effect of the dead.
Gabriel, Gretta, and many of the other characters in “Dubliners” allow their
preoccupations with the past to distract them from the present. Joyce thus
exemplifies the dangers of idealizing the past, but the same time makes a more
subtle point, highlighting the fact that nostalgia is a very individual feeling, and the
past often includes events that other people will never fully understand. In this
case, Gabriel is feeling nostalgic for the beginning of his relationship with Gretta,
meanwhile she is pining for a past love that was even more powerful. Nostalgia is
a very personal feeling, and each individual has their own relationship to the past
that others may never fully understand.

Death
“The Dead” deals with both literal and metaphorical death. Additionally, these
perceptions of those who have died are often tainted by nostalgia, making it hard
for the characters to forget about their glorified memories of the past and begin
living in the present. Much of “The Dead” quite fittingly revolves around dead
people and the legacies they leave behind. For both Gabriel and Gretta, the dead
have a power greater than those living. The most obvious example is Gretta’s ex-
lover, Michael Furey, whom she believes died as a martyr for her love. Regardless
of how briefly they knew each other, and how long ago it was, she seems to
believe that this was the purest form of love she has ever received. Gabriel, in turn,
is terrified of Michael since he is already dead, his reputation cannot be changed.
Gabriel seems to see Michael Furey as having some sort of otherworldly power
over his wife that he could not possibly compete with. When Gabriel’s wife
confesses that she thinks Michael died for her, Gabriel is struck with terror and the
feeling that “some impalpable and vindictive being was coming against him,
gathering forces against him in its vague world.” Of course Michael Furey does not
physically pose a threat, but instead he holds a power over Gretta’s emotions and
that is what Gabriel fears. Gabriel also thinks of his dead mother, who seems to
have contributed greatly to her sons’ successes, including Gabriel’s degree from
Royal University. However, Gabriel is also able to think of some sour memories of
her, namely her disapproval of his marriage to Gretta. In the end Gabriel lets this
go, however, choosing to focus on his more positive memories, and again
succumbing to nostalgia and idealization of the dead.
A crucial part of Gabriel’s final “epiphany” concerns death as well as the
acceptance that death is universal and constantly approaching. Just as
the snow falls everywhere in Ireland, death will too. It does not see class or
religion or race. Gabriel starts to experience these feelings after Gretta is asleep,
and he begins to think of his Aunt Julia, and how she will “soon be a shade with
the shade of Patrick Morkan and his horse.” Gabriel realizes that they are all equal
in a way, and that death will come for Julia, just as it came for their mother.
Gabriel then imagines her funeral. Gabriel realizes that death is universal: “One by
one they were all becoming shades,” coincides with his realization that his life
has been passionless and empty of meaning. Gabriel realizes that he envies
Michael Furey not because of his power over Gretta’s emotions, but instead
because he experienced passion and love that he was willing to die for. Gabriel
sums it up by saying “Better to pass boldly into that other world, in the full
glory of some passion than fade and wither dismally with age.” His grand
realization is that he is currently on the latter path, living a meaningless life until
he will die a meaningless death.

Women and Society

While this story is written from a male perspective, women play a large role in
highlighting the injustices of Dublin society as well as Gabriel’s reliance on the
gender roles imposed by society. The most obvious way that Joyce critiques the
role of women in 19th-century Dublin is in his critique of the Catholic
Church. Aunt Kate expresses her anger towards the Church and pope for banning
women from participating in church choirs. She calls it “not at all honorable,”
which seems to be an understatement for how she actually feels. Aunt Kate is
unable to reconcile her outrage at the pope’s decision with her belief that both the
pope and the Church are infallible, and in the end she ends up dismissing her
previous anger by saying she’s only a “stupid old woman” and of course she
would never question the pope. Because she is a woman in Dublin society, Aunt
Kate must refrain from making too strong of a statement, especially when she is
accused of offending a man, in this case Mr. Browne. Joyce uses this interaction to
expose the hypocrisy of Catholics who must accept every decision the Church
makes since it is supposedly infallible, even if they really disagree with it. He also
draws attention to women’s role in society by showing that Aunt Kate is unable to
fully express herself or make a strong statement since women are expected to
behave mildly and keep the peace, especially in social settings.
Most of Joyce’s statements about women’s roles in society are made through how
the male characters, namely Gabriel, see and interact with the female characters.
Gabriel feels proud of Gretta’s “grace and wifely carriage.” He likes that she
sticks to her role as a wife and does not try to challenge his authority like the other
women he interacts with. He seems to be attracted to her frailty and he longs “to
defend her against something.” These observations indicate that women were
expected to act frail and helpless and that these were attractive qualities towards
men. To Gabriel, gender roles seem to be centered completely on power. He
desires his wife primarily because he desires to “master” her. “To take her as she
was would be brutal. … he longed to be the master of her strange mood.”
Gabriel also uses Gretta’s sudden display of affection to boost his confidence,
wondering why he had been so “diffident” in the first place. Joyce includes
Gabriel’s internal dialogue to show that he, much like society, only sees women as
something to dominate and that he can use to gage his own prowess and boost his
confidence.
While at first glance “The Dead” does not seem to be centered on women, the
female characters play a large role and Gabriel’s attitudes toward them reflect
society’s attitudes. Gabriel’s epiphany at the end of the story comes when he
realizes that his marriage has been based on superficial feelings and vague
attraction. He has only sought affirmation from women, he has never sought true
love like Gretta once had. He also begins to realize that Gretta had a past of her
own, and that he will never truly understand it. She has her own individual
experiences independent of her experiences with him. This realization, that Gretta
is an individual, highlights the fact that women are often seen as objects more than
subjects, people who might be idealized and beloved, but who are mostly there to
be used by men. It’s implied that many men, as Gabriel, never think about the fact
that his wife is an individual person who has her own identity.

Analysis
In “The Dead,” Gabriel Conroy’s restrained behavior and his reputation with his
aunts as the nephew who takes care of everything mark him as a man of authority
and caution, but two encounters with women at the party challenge his confidence.
First, Gabriel clumsily provokes a defensive statement from the overworked Lily
when he asks her about her love life. Instead of apologizing or explaining what he
meant, Gabriel quickly ends the conversation by giving Lily a holiday tip. He
blames his prestigious education for his inability to relate to servants like Lily, but
his willingness to let money speak for him suggests that he relies on the comforts
of his class to maintain distance. The encounter with Lily shows that Gabriel, like
his aunts, cannot tolerate a “back answer,” but he is unable to avoid such
challenges as the party continues. During his dance with Miss Ivors, he faces a
barrage of questions about his nonexistent nationalist sympathies, which he doesn’t
know how to answer appropriately. Unable to compose a full response, Gabriel
blurts out that he is sick of his own country, surprising Miss Ivors and himself with
his unmeasured response and his loss of control.

Gabriel’s unease culminates in his tense night with Gretta, and his final encounter
with her ultimately forces him to confront his stony view of the world. When he
sees Gretta transfixed by the music at the end of the party, Gabriel yearns intensely
to have control of her strange feelings. Though Gabriel remembers their romantic
courtship and is overcome with attraction for Gretta, this attraction is rooted not in
love but in his desire to control her. At the hotel, when Gretta confesses to Gabriel
that she was thinking of her first love, he becomes furious at her and himself,
realizing that he has no claim on her and will never be “master.” After Gretta falls
asleep, Gabriel softens. Now that he knows that another man preceded him in
Gretta’s life, he feels not jealousy, but sadness that Michael Furey once felt an
aching love that he himself has never known. Reflecting on his own controlled,
passionless life, he realizes that life is short, and those who leave the world like
Michael Furey, with great passion, in fact live more fully than people like himself.

The holiday setting of Epiphany emphasizes the profoundness of Gabriel’s difficult

awakening that concludes the story and the collection. Gabriel experiences an
inward change that makes him examine his own life and human life in general.
While many characters in Dubliners suddenly stop pursuing what they desire
without explanation, this story offers more specific articulation for Gabriel’s
actions. Gabriel sees himself as a shadow of a person, flickering in a world in
which the living and the dead meet. Though in his speech at the dinner he insisted
on the division between the past of the dead and the present of the living, Gabriel
now recognizes, after hearing that Michael Furey’s memory lives on, that such
division is false. As he looks out of his hotel window, he sees the falling snow, and
he imagines it covering Michael Furey’s grave just as it covers those people still
living, as well as the entire country of Ireland. The story leaves open the possibility
that Gabriel might change his attitude and embrace life, even though his somber
dwelling on the darkness of Ireland closes Dubliners with morose acceptance. He
will eventually join the dead and will not be remembered.
The Morkans’ party consists of the kind of deadening routines that make existence
so lifeless in Dubliners. The events of the party repeat each year: Gabriel gives a
speech, Freddy Malins arrives drunk, everyone dances the same memorized steps,
everyone eats. Like the horse that circles around and around the mill in Gabriel’s
anecdote, these Dubliners settle into an expected routine at this party. Such tedium
fixes the characters in a state of paralysis. They are unable to break from the
activities that they know, so they live life without new experiences, numb to the
world. Even the food on the table evokes death. The life-giving substance appears
at “rival ends” of the table that is lined with parallel rows of various dishes,
divided in the middle by “sentries” of fruit and watched from afar by “three squads
of bottles.” The military language transforms a table set for a communal feast into
a battlefield, reeking with danger and death.
“The Dead” encapsulates the themes developed in the entire collection and serves
as a balance to the first story, “The Sisters.” Both stories piercingly explore the
intersection of life and death and cast a shadow over the other stories. More than
any other story, however, “The Dead” squarely addresses the state of Ireland in this
respect. In his speech, Gabriel claims to lament the present age in which hospitality
like that of the Morkan family is undervalued, but at the same time he insists that
people must not linger on the past, but embrace the present. Gabriel’s words betray
him, and he ultimately encourages a tribute to the past, the past of hospitality, that
lives on in the present party. His later thoughts reveal this attachment to the past
when he envisions snow as “general all over Ireland.” In every corner of the
country, snow touches both the dead and the living, uniting them in frozen
paralysis. However, Gabriel’s thoughts in the final lines of Dubliners suggest that
the living might in fact be able to free themselves and live unfettered by deadening
routines and the past. Even in January, snow is unusual in Ireland and cannot last
forever.

Character List

Gabriel Conroy:
The story’s protagonist, a middle-aged Dublin teacher and writer. Gabriel’s name,
which means “man of God” in Hebrew, carries Biblical significance, as it is the
name of the angel who announces the coming of the Messiah to the Virgin Mary.
He is Kate and Julia’s favorite nephew, and the son of their sister, Ellen, who has
died. Gabriel seeks validation from the women in his life. His aunts continually
praise him and he runs small errands for them in return. However, he allows his
male pride and desire for female validation to distract him from having meaningful
interactions with women, and he often fails to see how his words and actions affect
the female characters. Additionally Gabriel is distracted by nostalgia, and fails to
find passion in the present. He is very interested in England and the continent, and
generally detests Dublin life. At the end of the story Gabriel comes to the
realization that he has failed to find true love or passion in his life, and that he is on
track to live a meaningless life and die a meaningless death.
Gretta Conroy:
a good-natured and kind woman. She does not hate Dublin as Gabriel does, and
finds his interest in things like galoshes to be ridiculous. She reveals the story of
her first love, Michael Furey, to Gabriel on the night of the party. Gretta believes
that Michael died for her sake, and for this reason, she is also distracted by the past
and unable to focus on finding love and passion in the present.

Lily
The caretaker’s daughter who helps attend to the party guests. She seems to have
known the family since she was a child, since Gabriel remembers when she was
little and “used to sit on the lowest step nursing a rag doll.” Lily has a good
relationship with Kate, Julia, and Mary Jane as she rarely makes mistakes. She
becomes bitter when Gabriel makes a comment about her being of the age to
marry.
Optional
Gabriel Conroy

Before we even meet Gabriel Conroy, there's a lot of anticipation surrounding his
arrival at the Morkans' annual party. That's in part because Gabriel's part of the
family (Aunt Kate and Aunt Julia are his aunts), and also because they can trust
him to keep an eye on things. Without him, who knows what would happen?
In fact, Gabriel's role in all of Dubliners is a little bit like this. All of the other
stories' intricate investigations of the feelings of love, shame, anxiety, and
disappointment anticipate Gabriel's "arrival" in "The Dead." So put on your
thinking caps, because you're about to tackle one of the most important characters
in the entire collection.

Party Pooper
Sure, he's just arrived at what should be a big bash, but Gabriel's first feeling is one
of shame for how his talk with Lily works out. All he does is ask her if she's going
to be married soon, and she bites his head off. Then, when he gives her a tip, it's
pretty awkward. Their brief chat bothers him so much that he thinks about it later
in the story, showing us that this poor guy is more than a little neurotic.

Anxiety makes its way into "The Dead" again when Gabriel frets about the speech
he'll give over dinner. He's worried about condescending to his audience, about
whether he sounds like a jerk for using very intellectual allusions, and even about
whether Miss Ivors will hear him and object to his words. As it turns out, Gabriel's
speech goes over quite nicely. Even though he claims that he's most comfortable
carving a turkey, his words move his aunts to tears. So we think the dude should
take a chill pill.
But of course he doesn't. Things take a turn for the even more emotional and
serious in the last few pages of the story, when he discovers that his relationship to
Gretta turns out to consist of equal parts love and disappointment.

Bummer Ending to a Bummer Evening

Just as they leave the party, without understanding why Bartell D'Arcy's singing
has Gretta acting all weird, Gabriel feels so strongly toward his wife that he, like
Farrington, has to hold himself back to keep from doing something inappropriate:
"He longed to be alone with her" (The Dead.355). And even more, he not only sees
her face in the present, he cycles through a whole list of memories of the past that
are, for him, some of the most important of their relationship. The dude's
practically swooning.

But at the same time, Gabriel knows his marriage hasn't been what he might have
wished: "For the years, he felt, had not quenched his soul or hers" (The Dead.354).
There might be still be hope, and some fire, he thinks, but tonight, as he finds out,
isn't going to be the night for it.

Instead of a rare romantic evening away from the children, he'll spend most of the
night listening to Gretta's story of another lover. Not only is he bummed that their
perfect night didn't go quite as planned, he also feels disappointment and shame
that "he had never felt like" Michael Furey, feeling so intensely that he'd risk his
life to show his love (The Dead.458).

Let It Snow
Despite all the people who anticipated his arrival at the party, and whom he
entertained with speeches, turkey carving, and a funny after-party story, Gabriel
gets some very important me-time at the end of "The Dead." The epiphany that this
time provides marks one of the most famous passages in all of Dubliners, and
maybe in all of the last century's stories and novels. The fact that a lowly book
reviewer in a slightly unhappy marriage gets to close off the collection by blurring
the line between "all the living and the dead," well, that's powerful stuff.

After all, Gabriel is the name of an archangel, and as much as other people want
him to arrive and do what they want at the party, he has a message to bring to all of
us. A lot of the early stories in the collection end on a note of very painful or
negative emotion (think of "An Encounter," "Araby," and "A Painful Case.")
While Gabriel didn't expect to be alone at a hotel window tonight, what he
accomplishes there in terms of thinking must surely change his life forever. Joyce
has better words for it, but sometimes when life gives you lemons, you have to
make lemonade.

Gretta Conroy
Gabriel's wife took care of Gabriel's mother in her final illness, but she still said, to
Gabriel's horror, that Gretta was just "country cute" (The Dead.100). Now, we
think Gretta deserves a better than that.

But before the final pages, we don't know a whole lot about Gretta. We see that her
relationship with Gabriel is close: they joke with each other about Gabriel's making
her wear galoshes, and after she notices the tense conversation he has with Miss
Ivors, she comes over to check on him. Even when he responds rudely to her desire
to go to the West for a vacation, she can laugh at his moodiness.

Good Gretta
This makes us like Gretta a lot, just like we like Gabriel, and that's going to make
the last few pages of the story really tough on us. Because we're going to learn
some painful things, and we're going to have to see them through both Gretta and
Gabriel's eyes.

Though she doesn't do much at the party, Gretta does one major thing in the story:
she kills the mood. And how does she do that? By bringing the dead to the land of
the living.
When they're back at their hotel, and Gabriel's feeling, shall we say, affectionate,
Gretta tells him why she paused so long on the stairs to listen to Mr D'Arcy singing
"The Lass of Aughrim." It turns out Gretta had been in love once, when she was
younger. But it couldn't last, because the boy had died.

And that story changes everything.

Mysterious Gretta
First, it shows Gabriel that there's a lot about his wife he doesn't know. This throws
quite the wrench into their relationship, because, as our narrator tells us, "While he
had been full of memories of their secret life together, full of tenderness and joy
and desire, she had been comparing him in her mind with another." Poor Gabe's
clearly worried that he doesn't stack up.

Gabriel's Gretta
And secondly, it puts death front and center for our main man Gabriel. After Gretta
shares her past, he thinks of Julia's impending death—she is an old lady after all.
And then he thinks to himself, "One by one, they were all becoming shades. Better
pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and
wither dismally with age. […] His soul had approached that region where dwell the
vast hosts of the dead. He was conscious of, but could not apprehend their
wayward and flickering existence."
Yikes. That's some serious stuff that Gretta's story has brought about in her
husband's mind. Suddenly the world of the dead is right there in the room with
him, and all over Ireland, for that matter, just like the snow. Maybe the difference
between the world of the living and the world of the dead isn't much of a difference
after all. After all, the snow covers graves and homes all the same.
Minor Characters

Aunt Kate Morkan

Along with her sister and niece, she's a host of the annual party. Gabriel describes
her in contrast to Aunt Julia, and says that "Aunt Kate was more vivacious. Her
face, healthier than her sister's, was all puckers and creases, like a shrivelled red
apple, and her hair, braided in the same old-fashioned way, had not lost its ripe nut
color" (The Dead.30).

Aunt Kate claims to be more with it, but she's just pretending a lot of the time.
When Gretta talks about "galoshes," Aunt Kate makes fun of her sister for not
knowing what they are, but then she has to admit that she doesn't really have any
idea either. Still, Aunt Kate's manner is totally likable. She wants to make sure that
Gabriel and Gretta will be safe getting to their hotel after the party, and she can't
say enough times how much better she feels with Gabriel around. When he gives
his speech and recognizes her, she tears up because it means so much to her.

Aunt Julia Morkan

With her sister, she hosts the annual party at their house on Usher's Island. She had
been a singer in a church until the pope banned women from singing in choirs (and
this topic causes some heated discussion around the dinner table). Gabriel
describes her as "an inch or so…taller" than her sister, and adds that she hasn't
aged as well. The word that he repeats when describing both her hair and her face
is "grey."

She's also a little more confused, and had "the appearance of a woman who did not
know where she was or where she was going" (The Dead.30). It's a little ironic that
Gabriel says this, because later, as his epiphany approaches, he tells us that he
knows exactly where Aunt Julia is going: "Poor Aunt Julia! She, too, would soon
be a shade […]" and he imagines returning to the house for her funeral (The
Dead.456).

During the party, Aunt Julia sings "Arrayed for the Bridal," and it's surprisingly
good. Unlike her niece Mary Jane's piece, with its runs that no one can follow,
Gabriel notes that "though she sang very rapidly she did not miss even the smallest
of the grace notes. To follow the voice, without looking at the singer's face, was to
feel and share the excitement of swift and secure flight" (The Dead.157). It's her
biggest achievement of the night, and it really is quite a surprise because almost
every other description of Aunt Julia highlights her confusion or her age.
Mary Jane Morkan
The youngest of the hostesses of the party, Mary Jane is a cousin of Gabriel and a
niece of Aunts Kate and Julia. She came to live with them when her father (and
their older brother) Pat, died. She earns money by playing the organ for a Dublin
church and by teaching music lessons to children.

In the story, Mary Jane has a small but significant role. She's present in a small
way in some of the most important scenes of the story, and interacts with or
comments on the drunkenness of Freddy Malins, the nationalism of Miss Ivors,
and the singing of Bartell D'Arcy, in turn.

Early on in the party, and unlike the other accompanists, she shows off her talent
by playing a complicated song that causes most of the guests to leave the room or
to get bored. "The only persons who seemed to follow the music were Mary Jane
herself, her hands racing along the keyboard […] and Aunt Kate standing at her
elbows to turn the page" (The Dead.99). Now Gabriel in particular thinks that it
"had no melody for him," so it sounds like he and Mary Jane are at odds a little bit.
We can compare and contrast Mary Jane's role as an aging single woman on Usher
Island to Gabriel's isolation as a married family man. Their "performances"—her
song and his speech—are very different, just as their ways of perceiving the world
are. When Mary Jane hears Bartell D'Arcy, she rushes up to him to make him sing
more, and ends up offending him. Gabriel waits at the bottom of the stairs and pays
more attention to his wife, thinking about a painting he would make of her called
"Distant Music."

Even if Mary Jane is, in some ways, a convenient contrast to Gabriel, she does
contribute two lines that return in Gabriel's epiphany, and they are two of the most
recognized lines of "The Dead."

First, speaking about the weather, she has a strange way of phrasing the
observation that it's snowing everywhere: "They say, said Mary Jane, we haven't
had snow like it for thirty years; and I read this morning in the newspapers that the
snow is general all over Ireland" (The Dead.329). In the final paragraph, Gabriel
notes, "Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland" (The
Dead.459).
Secondly, her description of the Mount Melleray monks also ends up in the
climactic final sentence of "The Dead." After several vague explanations of why
these monks sleep in their coffins, Mary Jane, with a startling directness, says to
the dinner table, 'The coffin […] is to remind them of their last end" (The
Dead.237). These little insights just go to show that Mary Jane is more than just a
partygoer. She's got a little wisdom in her, too.

Freddy Malins
A funny drunk whose exaggerated gestures and loud words provide comic relief in
"The Dead." Even though the Morkan sisters worry that he will show up "screwed"
(that is, drunk), when he does he's pretty tame. Sure, he repeats his stories and rubs
his hand in his eyes, and his compliments on Julia's singing are a little bit over the
top. And to top it off he silences the dinner conversation by accusing Mr Browne
of not respecting a black opera singer. But all in all he doesn't cause any major
gaffes. Especially if we compare him with Farrington from "Counterparts." Near
the end of "The Dead," Freddy's hijinks about giving directions to the cab driver
provide an intense contrast with Gretta Conroy's simultaneous listening to Bartell
D'Arcy's singing of "The Lass of Aughrim."

Bartell D'Arcy
This poor singer unfortunately has a cold on the night of the party. He speaks
briefly about famous tenors during the dinner conversation, but his main
contribution to the story is his singing a few bars of "The Lass of Aughrim," the
song that Gretta Conroy's old flame, Michael Furey, used to sing. Even though he
only sings for a minute, it's enough to change the course of the whole story, since
after this Gretta's story of Michael Furey and Gabriel's pondering of these events
makes up the last pages of "The Dead."

Mr Browne
A Protestant guest at the Morkan's party, he's a little bit of a creepy old man, but
for the most part he's pretty tame. During the course of the party, he helps take care
of Freddy Malins, flirts with dancing girls while drinking, and questions the
strange habits of the monks of Mount Melleray. He takes a cab home with Freddy
Malins and his mother, and is part of the final scene of laughter in the story before
things turn significantly more somber.

Miss Ivors
A vivacious and aggressive young Irish nationalist, she challenges Gabriel during a
dance. Her remarks to him make a big impression. Not only does she accuse him of
being a "West Briton," or a supporter of English rule, she accuses him of not
paying enough attention to his own country, his own language, and his own
customs. She says all this because Gabriel writes a book review for a conservative
(English-leaning) newspaper and because he vacations in Europe rather than in
Ireland.
Gabriel remembers her words later in the story, and even worries about how his
dinner speech will affect her. Miss Ivors, however, has to leave the party before
eating dinner, so she's not even present to hear his words on the great "hospitality"
of the Irish. Crisis averted.

Lily
A young woman who does the housework for the Morkans, Lily seems to be acting
differently recently, maybe because of a problem with a boyfriend or lover. When
Gabriel asks her, almost jokingly, if she'll be getting married soon, she sends back
one of the harshest lines of the story (and definitely the least grammatically
correct): "The men that is today is only all palaver and what they can get out of
you" (The Dead.19). Lily's lines are mostly important because they have an effect
on our main character's mood, and he's embarrassed that he said anything in the
first place.