Identity In The Dead

Though the narrator’s primary focus in James Joyce’s “The Dead” is Gabriel Conroy and his thoughts and feelings, there is no doubt that there is a strong feminine presence throughout. Gabriel’s self-identity in “The Dead” depends on the presence of three women and without these women, Gabriel would experience no conflict and thus the storyline would be extremely different. His characterization is first revealed when he speaks to Lily, the caretaker’s daughter. She responds to the literal meaning of his words to her, which identify Gabriel’s need to say the correct things in the situations he finds himself in. Ms. Molly Ivors, a seeming equal to Gabriel’s assumption of his level of intelligence, challenges him and reader begin to see Gabriel’s …show more content…
When Lily adds an extra syllable to the pronunciation of Gabriel’s last name, Conroy, he smiles patronizingly at her, almost in a sense of pity. Gabriel uses this as an opportunity to solidify himself as belonging to a different, upper, class than Lily. His subsequent short-lived conversation with her portrays the thought of Gabriel acting as though he is reading from a script that he does not understand. He asks if she’ll be getting married soon to which Lily replies, “The men that is now is only all palaver and what they can get out of you.” (178) This makes Gabriel thoroughly uncomfortable, as he was not genuinely asking only attempting to convey the appropriate friendliness for the occasion. This feeling of making a mistake prompts Gabriel to do the only thing he can think of to redeem himself- pay Lily. It is important to notice here that Gabriel is only able to recover from his so-called mistake because he believes Lily to be of a lower class than he himself belongs to. This is the first feminine presence that specifically plays in Gabriel’s …show more content…
Gabriel’s eased demeanor begins to fade again with this topic. Miss Ivors has become a central point of his tension once again. When asked if he considers Irish his own language, Gabriel retorts, “O, to tell you the truth, I’m sick of my own country, sick of it!” (189) As Gabriel is unable to answer Miss Ivors’ inquiry of why he is sick of his own country, she warmly says, “Of course, you’ve no answer.” (190) Clearly agitated beyond what would be normal for such an occasion, Gabriel begins to belittle Miss Ivors in his mind. Her eyes, which were once described as prominent, have turned to rabbit’s eyes. At first impression described as being his intellectual equal, Gabriel now sees her as “the girl or woman, or whatever she was…” (190) This is a dramatic change in opinion after only one sour