« The Dead » is the last story to appear in Dubliners, James Joyce’s collection of stories about Dublin. You can find the text, annotations and comments in these two websites:
http://www.enotes.com/dubliners-text/the-dead
http://www.mendele.com/WWD/WWDdead.html
After you read the text, answer the following questions:
-This is a story of contrasts. Think and write about the contrast between the following:
- Gabriel and Michael
- Interior/Exterior (House/countryside, Thoughts/Spoken words)
- Ireland/England (at the time the story takes place Ireland was not an independent country)
- The living/The Dead (Why did Joyce choose this title?)
- Think about the style in which the story is written.
- What‘s the point of view in the story? Does it change? And the narrative voice? The style Joyce uses in this story has been called “Free Indirect Speech”, you can find a definition here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_indirect_speech Can you find examples in the text?
- Joyce is famous for his use of “epiphanies”: situations where his protagonists come to sudden recognitions that change their view of themselves or their social condition and often create a reversal or change of heart. Can you find any examples in the text?
