James Joyce Interaction

In one of the most iconic and famous books written by James Joyce known as Dubliners, there is a short story that also like the other short stories in the book ends with an epiphany. This short story is called The Dead and in the book there is a part where two characters have an interaction and through seeing this interaction there can be many observations made about the protagonist and the other character. The two characters that are in the discussion or interaction are Gabriel and Miss Ivor. Both of these characters impact the story heavily from meeting each other and having a discussion. The observations from seeing the discussion taking place shows a lot about the character “Gabriel” on how he dislikes Ireland, cares a lot about how people …show more content…
The whole discussion did end off on some bad terms even though it might not seem like it. The first piece of evidence is when in the story Miss Ivor questioned Gabriel on why he is sick of his country and then she concluded that of course he does not have a reason why he is. At the end of the discussion she also called him a “West Briton” once again but this time she did not say that she was simply joking (Joyce, Page 165). This is a clear sign that she was also annoyed with Gabriel as much as Gabriel was annoyed with her. She even insults him at the end of their discussion which shows how irritated she was by his remarks and she did not apologize for it or dismiss it as a joke. Even during his speech she was showing more signs of being aggressive towards him. Gabriel expresses this by saying “It unnerved him to think that she would be at the supper table, looking up at him while he spoke with her critical quizzing eyes” (Joyce, Page 167). This is another sign that Miss Ivor was still annoyed by his behaviour before. The last piece of evidence showing that she left because of Gabriel was when Gabriel offered to take her home she said she did not need it and also Mary Jane finding it strange that she left early. (Joyce, Page 170). This shows that it was strange for her to leave early because “Mary Jane gazed after her, a moody expression on her face” (Joyce, Page 170). With all the evidence it clearly shows that she left because of her and Gabriel’s altercation because she was looking at him strangely, denied to be taken home by him and did something out of character which was leaving the party