Essay on James Joyces quot;The Deadquot; - 964 Words

James Joyces short story The Dead deals with the meaning of life. This title is significant and enhances several aspects of the story. First of all, it reveals that the characters are unable to be emotional. They are physically living but emotionally dead. Second of all, it contributes to the main subject of the story, Gabriels epiphany. The title contributes to these aspects of the story by adding meaning and acting as a reminder of the overall theme of the story. The title, The Dead, reveals the difference between how the people appear to be and who they really are. All the people at the party appear lively, but inside, these people are dead. Dead in this context implies that they are emotionally dead, but also that they†¦show more content†¦Another example where the characters are dead occurs where they talk about an order of monks who sleep in their coffins. These monks actually act as a metaphor for the characters. While discussing why the monks do this, the reason is given that it was the rule; that was all (Joyce 871). This statement shows the ability to accept something because it is a rule without even understanding the real purpose and parallels the acceptance of social rituals by the characters. They each act the way they do because it is the rule. The characters also call the monks very good men (Joyce 871). This represents that the characters see the blind acceptance of these social rituals as a good thing. This metap hor illustrates the characters as empty and meaningless. It is also noted that the monks do not speak to each other. This is also true about the characters. They do not really interact with each other out of this ritual. The only difference between the characters and the monks is that the monks have a greater purpose for their actions. This emphasizes how self-involved the characters are. It is also relevant that each of the characters in the story seem to feel they are superior and able to control their lives. The title The Dead is a reminder to the reader that these characters are wrong.Show MoreRelated James Joyce Essay1100 Words   |  5 Pages In selecting James Joyces Ulysses as the best novel of the twentieth century, Time magazine affirmed Joyces lasting legacy in the realm of English literature. James Joyce (1882-1941), the twentieth century Irish novelist, short story writer and poet is a major literary figure of the twentieth-century. Regarded as quot;the most international of writers in English ¡K[with] a global reputation (Attridge, pix), Joyces stature in literature stems from his experimentation with English prose. InfluencedRead MoreEssay on James Joyce1722 Words   |  7 Pages James Joyce nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;James Joyce, an Irish novelist and poet, grew up near Dublin. James Joyce is one of the most influential novelists of the 20th century. In each of his prose works he used symbols to experience what he called an quot;epiphanyquot;, the revelation of certain revealing qualities about himself. His early writings reveal individual moods and characters and the plight of Ireland and the Irish artist in the 1900s. Later works, reveal a man in all hisRead MoreEssay on Guilt, Duty, And Unrequited Love2223 Words   |  9 Pages Guilt, Duty, and Unrequited Love: Deconstructing the Love Triangles in James Joyce’s The Dead and Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure amp;quot;It’s no problem of mine but it’s a problem I fight, living a life that I can’t leave behind. But there’s no sense in telling me, the wisdom of the cruel words that you speak. But that’s the way that it goes and nobody knows, while everyday my confusion grows.amp;quot; --New Order, Bizarre Love Triangle, from Substance, 1987 Most people who have watched