Essay about Literary Analysis: Clay and The Dead

    In the early twentieth century, Ireland, and more specifically Dublin, was a place defined by class distinctions. There were the wealthy, worldly upper-class who owned large, stately townhouses in the luxurious neighborhoods and the less fortunate, uneducated poor who lived in any shack they could afford in the middle of the city. For the most part, the affluent class was Protestant, while the struggling workers were overwhelmingly Catholic. These distinctions were the result of nearly a century of disparity in income, education, language, and occupation, and in turn were the fundamental bases for the internal struggle that many of Joyce's characters feel.

James Joyce emerged as a radical new narrative writer in modern times. Joyce conveyed this new writing style through his stylistic devices such as the stream of consciousness, and a complex set of mythic parallels and literary parodies. This mythic parallel is called an epiphany. “The Dead” by Joyce was written as a part of Joyce’s collection called “The Dubliners”. Joyce’s influence behind writing the short story was all around him. The growing nationalist Irish movement around Dublin, Ireland greatly influences Joyce’s inspiration for writing “The Dubliners”. Joyce attempted to create an original portrayal of Irish middle class life in and around Dublin at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century. The historical

The setting of the story, Dublin, has been written in such a way that only

James Joyce wrote Dubliners to portray Dublin at the turn of the early 20th century. In Dubliners, faith and reason are represented using dark images and symbols. James Joyce uses these symbols to show the negative side of Dublin. In “The Sisters,” “The Boarding House,” and “The Dead” dark is expressed in many ways. James Joyce uses the light and dark form of symbolism in his imagination to make his stories come to life.

Lily challenges Gabriel when she produces a defensive statement when he asks her about her love life. Gabriel is unable to handle this “bump in the road”, awkwardly changes the subject, and quickly exits the scene. According to Joyce, Gabriel “was…discomposed by the girl’s bitter and sudden retort [as] it cast a gloom over him…” (179). Similarly Miss Ivors sends him a barrage of questions about his sympathies with Irish culture. Gabriel is unable to respond to these questions appropriately and so he flees the situation by blurting out that he is “sick of [his] own country” (189). Once again, Gabriel becomes disconcerted with a loss of control just like the Morkans are disconcerted when Freddy comes late to the party. Overall, Gabriel and the party mirror each other in that they function off of routine and what is expected and become anxious when things exist outside of their comfort zones.

Power and control plays a big role in the lives many. When power is used as a form of control, it leads to depression and misery in the relationship. This is proven through the themes and symbolism used in the stories Lesson before Dying, The fun they had, The strangers that came to town, and Dolls house through the median of three major unsuccessful relationship: racial tension between the African Americans and the caucasians in the novel Lesson before Dying, Doll’s House demonstrates a controlling relationship can be detrimental for both individuals and The Stranger That Came To Town along with The Fun They Had show that when an individual is suppressed by majority they become despondent.

The story opens with Gabriel and wife's arrival at Misses Morkan's Annual Dance," held by his two aunts, Kate and Julian Morkan.There is a great party environment,Gabriel sees lily the maid,and he sees that she is growing up,he asked if she was still going to school,when she replied she was done with school Gabriel asked when her marriage would be”I suppose well be going to your weeding real soon”page 2637.Her quick bitter response “The men that is now is only a palaver”page 2637.This is the first example of Gabriel disconnection with the younger generation.

Dubliners (1914), by James Joyce (1882-1941) is a collection of short stories representing his home city at the start of the 20th century. Joyce 's work ‘was written between 1904 and 1907 ' (Haslam and Hooper, 2012, p. 13). The novel consists of fifteen stories; each one unfolds lives of the different lower middle-strata. Joyce wanted to convey something definite about Dublin and Irish society.

When Joyce applies personification to the setting, he creates the mood of the story, and directs the reader to the double meanings found in the personified setting. As an example of mood, winter brings with it the connotation of impending gloom, as the narrator claims, "...the houses had grown sombre...the lamps of the street lifted their feeble lanterns" (379). This idea of Winter casts itself as the mood, where the feeling of awkward introspection is predominant. The lamps like the people of Dublin, have grown weary of there own, during Ireland's own battle with identity. In the broader scope of Joyce's imagery for the short story, it may be said Ireland itself is like the adolescent struggling to find its way. Joyce's messages of "complacency" during the tremendous social and political upheaval are encapsulated in the stories like "Araby," that collectively represent the book "Dubliners."

James Joyce’s Dubliners is a compilation of many short stories put together to convey the problems in Ireland during that time. Many of his characters are searching for some kind of escape from Dublin, and this is a reoccurring theme throughout the stories. In the story “Little Cloud,” the main character, Little Chandler, feels the need for both an escape from Dublin and also from his normal everyday life. Gabriel, the main character in Joyce’s final story of the book, “The Dead,” desires a different form of escape than Little Chandler. He desires to escape his aunts’ party, and also at times, Dublin society. Although the stories

Human beings yearn for better lives, often through escape. The main characters in James Joyce's Dubliners are no exception. Characters such as Eveline in "Eveline" and Little Chandler in "A Little Cloud" have a longing to break free of Dublin's entrapment and pursue their dreams. Nevertheless, these characters never seem to achieve a better state; rather, they are paralyzed and unable to embark on their journey of self-fulfillment. Joyce employs this motif of the empty promise of escape and its subsequent frustration through one's own responsibilities and purely physical acts. Through this, Joyce interconnects the different Dubliners stories to show that escaping life in a place as paralyzing as Dublin is no easy task on the individual.

The novella "The Dead" by James Joyce tells the tale of early twentieth century upper class society in the Irish city of Dublin. The story tells of the characters' entrapment, and the tragic lives they lead, hiding behind the conventions of their society. Joyce uses the symbolism to draw a parallel between the natural way in which the snow covers the land and the way in which the characters use their culture unnatural to cover reality. This story comes together, not only to tell of the individual tragedy of these peoples lives, but to tell the tragic story of all of Ireland, as it's true problems become obscured in so many ways.

In The Dead, James Joyce lets symbolism flow freely throughout his short story. James Joyce utilizes his main characters and objects in The Dead to impress upon his readers his view of Dublin’s crippled condition. Not only does this apply to just The Dead, Joyce’s symbolic themes also exude from his fourteen other short stories that make up the rest of Joyce’s book, Dubliners, to describe his hometown’s other issues of corruption and death that fuel Dublin’s paralysis. After painting this grim picture of Dublin, James Joyce uses it to express his frustration and to explain his realistic view that the only solution to the issues with Dublin depends on a move to the West and towards a new life, rather than

    In his work "The Dead," James Joyce utilizes his character Michael Furey, Gretta Conroy's deceased love from her youth, as an apparent symbol of how the dead have a steadfast and continuous power over the living.  The dominant power which Michael maintains over the protagonist, Gabriel Conroy, is that Gabriel is faced with the intense question of whether his wife, Gretta Conroy, loves him and whether he honestly loves her.  Joyce provides substantial information to persuade one to believe that Gabriel does truly love his wife.  Even though it is made evident to the reader that Gabriel possesses such devotion and adoration for Gretta, Michael diverts Gabriel's confidence in his love, causing Gabriel

Dubliners by James Joyce is a collection of stories centered around Joyce’s intentions to write the moral history of Dublin’s paralysis. Although paralysis seems to be the main theme in Dubliners, another motif comes across in the pages of the stories. As if all of the mental, physical, and emotional problems weren’t enough, many of the characters in Dubliners are alcoholics. Joyce utilizes the character of the drunk in many of the stories in Dubliners; hardly a story skips a mention of a drink. The negative effects of alcohol occur again and again through the collection of stories. For the most part, men are brought down by their addiction to alcohol and their inability to control themselves when they are drunk. In Dubliners, the characters seek their own desires, face obstacles that frustrate them, and ultimately give in to their need to consume alcohol. With Dubliners, James Joyce brings attention to the different issues that consuming alcohol caused in early 20th century Ireland using three particular stories; “Counterparts”, “Grace” and “Ivy Day in the Committee Room”.