James Joyce The Dead Analysis

1.) One of the themes James Joyce explores in his novella “The Dead” is the way routine contributes to the paralysis of characters. Identify and discuss two examples of this theme from the text. Routine contributes to paralysis because nothing changes it causes you to be predictable. Two examples of paralysis of character are Gabriel and Gretta. Gabriel is paralyzed, he is obsessed with the impression he has on others. He is paralyzed by his self-consciousness. Here’s an example, “The he took from his waistcoat pocket a little paper and glanced at the heading he had made for his speech. He was undecided about the lines from Robert Browning for he feared they would be above the heads of his hearers” (Joyce, 607). At the end of the story Gabriel has his epiphany. He realized his marriage was not based on true actual love. Gabriel then starts looking at his life in a new light. All his beliefs and attitudes about life are changing. Gretta is paralyzed as well. She is paralyzed because of her past. She keeps the memory of Michael Furey as a buried. She has not moved …show more content…
Gretta has been paralyzed since Michael Fury’s death. She still remembers him as the boy that loved her. An example in the text, “I can see him so plainly, she said after a moment. Such eyes as he had: big dark eyes! And such an expression in them –an expression” (Joyce, 633)! The boy who would sing “The Lass of Aughrim” to her. The boy that died when he was 17 and died because she left. Gretta said, “He is dead. He died when he was only seventeen. Isn’t it a terrible thing to die so young as that?” (Joyce, 633). Gretta has just been moving on day to day living with the same routine without truly living. Michael Furey was her life, and in a way she died with him. Gretta’s recollections about Michael Furey helped pushed Gabriel out of his paralysis. It caused him have his epiphany and made him decide to