The Dead By James Joyce

Time is the most commonly used noun in the English language. So frequently used, in fact, that it has thirty-six definitions in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). Interestingly enough, it was not until the early twentieth century that the conception of time was challenged. As Albert Einstein, a German theoretical-physicist, introduced his theory of relativity, time became another phenomenon and mostly likely, acquired more definitions. In addition, Einstein’s suspicion not only changed the studies of science and physics but even art and literature. Pericles Lewis explains in his Cambridge Introduction to Modernism that Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity transformed the modernist conception of time’s linear progression into the notion …show more content…
James Joyce’s “The Dead” emulates this new interpretation as he extends the reaches of the theory in the last paragraph to place the past, the present, and the future in the same continuum. First, Joyce establishes the three stages of time through landmarks and directions; the past exists in the churchyard where Michael Furey, Gretta’s former lover, is buried; the present originates in Ireland’s landmarks that remain unchanged and in stasis: “the dark central plain,” “the treeless hills,” and the “Bog of Allen” (Joyce 152). Meanwhile, the future emerges in Gabriel’s “journey westward,” symbolizing progress and mobility (Joyce 152). Then, Joyce uses the repetition of falling snow as the universal factor that compresses the three periods of time into one; the narrator …show more content…
In Hughes’s poem, though the speaker intertwines the present and the future, progress is stunned as the speaker ultimately resides in the present where social inequality exists. Additionally, as Hughes applies the non-chronological order of time onto the temporal setting of his poem, he follows Einstein’s idea that time does not progress forward homogenously; therefore, although the speaker contemplates about a tomorrow that brings forth equality, that tomorrow and it’s arrival is still indefinite. Thus, progress cannot be claimed since the speaker continues to be a victim of inequality. Moreover, in Joyce’s story, the blending of the past, present, and future into one continuum reiterates the idea that progress becomes stunned during the period. Joyce illustrates this immobility as he makes snowfall the universal connection between the three stages; the snowfall, representing mundanity, can be seen on every part of Ireland, and through this continuity, Joyce communicates that monotony has been the single problem that exists within the movement of time. Therefore, progress cannot be actualized if the same problem haunts the past, the present, and possibly, the future. Both Hughes and Joyce use temporal disorganization to highlight the current social issues during their time period; thus, forcing