The Dead By James Joyce Essay

In The Dead, I am going to analyze how Gabriel seems to let female characters just talk in the instance that they are background noise and nothing more. They lack the voice they need to become a realistic character. A character that people can know by the descriptions that the author portrays. In the novel, males get accurate speaking voices. There are two in the story and one of them gets an accurate description and speaking role. That ties into the masculinity and Femininity aspect and how there is this silencing of voices in characters throughout the story, like I mentioned before. And it is always the female characters that are being silenced. I am going to analyze the way James Joyce makes them minimal in comparison to Gabriel and other male characters—but, mostly Gabriel, in this case. How misogyny and the lack of femininity are instilled into the descriptions and words of the characters Joyce creates. The descriptions of the females alone and how they are left to minimal descriptions and simplistic wording. Johnson states in her first paragraph the question of where are these independent, successful, happy women and why don’t we see them? (196). Norris also states a similar view and with that she explains how The Dead provides a great use for observing the question of femininity and misogyny (191). Aunt Julia and Kate are left to being described as “old” and “gossipy,” the first time around. Gabriel’s masculinity is insulted on many occasions throughout the story…