The Dead Group

Question:

singlerose
singlerose
Student
College - Freshman

On what basis does Gabriel develop his vision of the living and the dead at the very end of "The Dead"?

Focus on how Gretta relives her experience and on how Gabriel builds on that.

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Posted by singlerose on Monday March 30, 2009 at 1:27 PM and tagged with gabriel, gretta, the dead, vision.

Answers:


  1. kc4u Teacher
    College - Senior

    eNotes Editor

    The basis behind Gabriel's vision of the living and the dead at the end of Joyce's story is his encounter with his wife Gretta which dissolves his sense of a stable identity as he does not get the self-enabling authentication from the Other, Gretta, in this case. Michael Furey is like a dead third, who is ironically enough, even more powerful than the two living.

    When the Other is dead, as an image, autonomous, he becomes more powerful than ever. Michael Furey is that kind of an Other to the sexual rapport of the Conroys that leads to Gabriel's veritable castration (emasculation) at the end. His vision, however, is a tender image of unification with the snow as the unifier of the living and the dead. There is, however, an underlying irony that the dead seem to win over the living on the basis of sheer power.

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    Posted by kc4u on Sunday November 1, 2009 at 3:38 AM