James Joyce / "The Dead" Research Paper

Total Length: 1774 words ( 6 double-spaced pages)

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While this is most definitely a bottom for Gabriel, a true moment of crisis, it is also a very real chance for enlightenment and change.

The empathy reflected in those lines shows a break in Gabriel's solipsism. Whether this is a momentary or lasting change remains unclear, for the reader sees Gabriel at the instant of recognition with no indication in the narrative as to its effect on him. The reader is left to consider Gabriel's possible moral future, and, by extension that of the Irish society that is the real subject of the entire work (Fargnoli & Gillespie 54).

What we have seen in Gabriel's journey in "The Dead" is that he is a man, a narcissist, whose preoccupation with the world around him has led his astray.
He wasn't a man living in the world anymore, but rather, he was a dead man because he was not truly living to his fullest potential. He was dead inside emotionally -- not truly caring about others because he was so worried about what they would think of him. He was a man who lived by shame yet longed for a more meaningful existence -- whether or not he got it is up to the reader, but Joyce probably would have given him a second chance at life.

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