The conception of the ancient struggle of man versus nature has been heavily warped in the modern world. From a contemporary standpoint it is difficult to think passively of the environment. In the light of the impending crisis of global warming and the changes associated with it, it is easy to think of the environment as both a victim and an agent of retribution: the continuously more common occurrences of dramatic weather and toxic surroundings serving as a condemning consequence of humanity’s…
“Eveline’s Visitant” by Mary Elizabeth Braddon and “The Dead” by James Joyce are both short stories that show strong examples of a “haunting”. A haunting is something or someone from a past time that reoccurs in appearance or in thought, usually bad or regrettable. Although both stories represent a haunting throughout the story, each author efficiently portrays two separate types of a haunting: one being a ghost, and one being a past. Braddon’s short story “Eveline’s Visitant” tells a tale of…
Gabriel Conroy, the protagonist of sorts within “The Dead,” is noted as the “favourite” nephew by his aunts (Joyce 152). Gabriel therefore served as the patriarch of the family after many of his elder relatives have passed away. His mother, Ellen, is noted by his aunts to have been “the brains carrier of…
Throughout his short story “A Little Cloud,” James Joyce considers the ramifications of remaining sedentary in Dublin through his characters Little Chandler and Ignatius Gallaher. That Little Chandler and Gallaher seem so antithetical, despite their proximity and similar upbringings, invites the reader to question whether Joyce intends to insinuate that success is only possible outside of Dublin, and that ambition and Celtic nationalism are incongruous. Having left Ireland at twenty years old,…
James Joyce’s Dubliners, a collection of short stories, examines Irish life in the late nineteeth century and early twentieth century through the use of complex characters and multifacteted plots. Three of these stories, “Ivy Day in the Committee Room,” “A Mother,” and “Grace,” focuse exclusively on public life. In Joyce’s eyes, public life in Dublin was run by politics, art, and religion. While each of these stories takes on a different subtopic of public life, they share an overarching theme.…
To best understand this, one must examine the text and Gabriel’s actions within it. Throughout “The Dead,” Gabriel works to live an admirable and generous life for those around him, striving to be personable, respected, and refined. However, occasionally, light shines through the cracks in his character. In his first interaction with Lily, when he asks her about possible wedding plans, she replies “with great bitterness.” Gabriel is caught off guard; his first response is to “reaffirm the…
paralysis, as well as the symbols of yellow and brown, and the motif of death. His last story The Dead is the be-all end-all of the collection. It is regarded as perhaps Joyce’s greatest story, and it encompasses all his previous…
Based on the reading The Dead by James Joyce, men are being categorized as the ultimate authority that has to deal with certain precautions and always be aware and is responsible for society’s behavior. Gabriel Conroy, the main character, is having a nicely dinner with his aunts Kate and Julia while having as company other neighbors and friends. This event, made possible by the two aunts, causes certain discomfort around the main character and a few of their guests as they start discussing…
sitting in the same drawing-room dressed in black”, foreshadowing that soon in time death will come for one of them and he would be at their funeral. Additionally, when the speaker says “listening to her deep-drawn breath” explaining that she is not dead yet. Gabriel , the husband, is curious as to why the wife was mad and he tried to decipher it by looking at the clues in the messy room. The imagery of the room helps explain the amount of tension during the fight Gabriel and her had earlier.…
In James Joyce’s “The Dead” he utilizes symbolism, motifs, and themes to examine if man is selfish about morality while exhibiting that death coexists with life. The condition of a man is meaningful in the journey he takes to find the purpose of his own being but also to acknowledge that spirit and body can be unlinked. The story amplifies a dialogue between Gabriel Conroy's awareness and what he genuinely is blind to, such as his profound connections with himself and others around him, but his…