“Eveline” and “The Dead”
from James Joyce’s
Dubliners
Presented By
Amanda Kang
Eliza Young
Rebecca Tsai
Tina Hsu
James Joyce (1882-1941)

James Joyce was born in Dublin,
on February 2, 1882.

Early age, Joyce regarded himself
as a rebel.

Joyce’s early inspirations from
the works of Henrik Ibsen,
St.Thomas Aquinas and W.B.
Yeats.

In 1904, he fell in love with Nora
Barnacle.

Joyce died in Zurich on January
13, 1941.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Joyce
James Joyce’s work
• Stephen Hero (written 1904-6:
precursor to the Portrait,
published 1944)
• Chamber Music (1907 poems)
• Dubliners (1914)
• Exiles (1915 play)
• A Portrait of the Artist as a
Young Man (1916)
• Ulysses (1922)
• Pomes Penyeach (1927
poems)
http://www.onlineliterature.com/james_joyce/
• Finnegans Wake (1939)
Dubliners
http://www.jamesjoyc
e.ie/templates/text_c
ontents.aspx?page_i
d=347
Joyce’s intention: the moral history of
his country.

Dublin: center of paralysis

Themes: death, disease and paralysis.

James Joyce tried to describe paralysis
of indifferent public in the four aspects:
1. childhood: The Sisters, An Encounter
and Araby.
2. adolescence: Eveline, After the Race,

Two Gallants and The Boarding House.
3. maturity: A Little Cloud, Counterparts,
Clay and A Painful Case.
4. public life: Ivy Day in the Committee
Room, A Mother and Grace
5. The Dead
James Joyce 1904
http://www.jamesjoyce.ie/home/
Nora Barnacle
http://www.meganobeirne.com/james-joycepictures.htm
←
James Joyce
Grave,
Fluntern
Cemetery
A bust of James
Joyce in St.
Stephen's Green
in Dublin ↓
A new statue of James Joyce, an
honorary citizen of Trieste, was
unveiled on Oct 19, 2004.
Structure
-- A collection of 15 short
stories
-- The process of a
person’s growth
- children  the old
- individual  social life
- dream  disappointment,
despair
“Eveline”
Theme
Struggle between one’s
happiness and one’s responsibility
 Spiritual paralysis
 Dream vs. Reality
 Action vs. Inactivity

“Eveline”
Character: Eveline
- sense of duty/ obedient/ paralysis
 “Everything changes. Now she was going
to go away like the others, to leave her
home.” (32)
 “Her eyes gave him no sign of love or
farewell or recognition.” (37)
“Eveline”
Characters
- Her father -- violent - her fear
- Her mother -- conservative - her duty
-
Frank -- kind, open-hearted
-- her unknown future
Symbols in “Eveline”
1. The window
The Prison of a poor family enclosing
Eveline. (par. 1)
2. The fading streetlights
The Hopelessness of her life (par. 1)
Symbols in “Eveline”
3. The Dust, old house,
/ the old or lightless life .
(par. 3)
4. The mother’s words
/the Past she cannot get rid
)
of; she cannot forget her mother’s poor fate. (P.35 par.2
5. drunk father, /
the daily pain from her father annoys
her. (P.33 par.2)
6. brothers and sisters and keeping the
house / the responsibility she has to bear. (P.33 from
the bottom, line 3)
Symbols in “Eveline”
7. The death
of her beloved people: the
deaths of her mother and her brother Ernest,
and of a girlhood friend named Tizzie Dunn.
The Fear-- she is afraid to accept the truth
because it makes her feel isolated, lonely
without their accompany. (par. 2)
8. The Death of herself
“he would drown her,” She's too scared to
leave Ireland, and thus sees her lover as a
possible source of danger. (p. 34, the 1st
new par.)
Symbols in “Eveline”
9. Sea/
water as the practical method of escape and
rejuvenation, for Eveline; also means the
possibilities of a new life (P.35, the last
line). But she is afraid to face her unknown
fate.
10. Frank/
The adult world of desire, longing, fulfillment,
and heartbreak makes her afraid.
Study Questions
1.
2.
3.
What keeps Eveline from going with
Frank? Why is she like "a helpless animal" at
the end?
Why is Eveline attracted to Frank? What does
she think he will save her from? (Pay attention
to the images of dust and darkness.) Can he
really save her?
Try to analyze the father-mother-daughter
relationships in the story in Freudian terms.
Themes of “The Dead”
I. The dead living vs. The living dead
A. Gabriel Conroy VS. Michael Furey(p.2267)
B. The traditional customs VS. The guests’ negligence
(p.2247)
II. Irish (Dubliners’) attitude toward:
A. Recognition of identity--- Detachment
Most of Irish people did not recognize themselves as
Irish but admire the culture of European. In “The
Dead”, Gabriel represents the typical of Irish
people.(P.2243 and 2248)
B. Relationships between people--- Insincerity
a. Speaking words without genuineness (Pp. 2250,
2257, 2243)
b. Being careless on others’ talking (Pp. 2244,
2249)
＊ Those evidences show that even though the
guests participate the party, they usually only
care about their own affairs. People often don’t
listen to other’s talking carefully. Sometimes,
they will interrupt other’s talking or turn to
precede other activity when people haven’t
finished their words yet.
III. Gabriel’s epiphany (self-awareness)
A. Understanding of death
a. Physical death
b. Death of his egotism
B. Knowing his relationship with Gretta
Characters of “The Dead”
- Lily- a careful housemaid
- Aunt Kate/ Aunt Julia- mistresses of
the party and Gabriel’s aunts.
- Mary Jane- also a mistress of the family
and lives with her aunts.
Characters of “The Dead”
- Gretta- Gabriel’s wife/ loved countryside.
- Miss Ivors- “was a frank-mannered talkative
young lady, …” (P. 2247)
- Bartell D’Arcy- a tenor/ a key person of the
story.
- Mr. Browne- a guest/ show off/ doesn’t want
to be ignored. (P. 2245)
- Michael Furey- Gretta’s first lover and died
when he was only seventeen. (P. 2266)
Characters of “The Dead”
- Gabriel Conroy was an egotist at the
beginning of the story.
- After some serious assaults, Gabriel has
an illumination about himself, his life and
the relations with others. An epiphany is
then achieved.
Examples
1. Lily’s bitter manner. (P2241)
2. Miss Ivors thought he was a “ West Briton!”
(P2249)
3. Gretta was thinking of her dead first lover. He
just realized that she didn’t put him at the
center of her universe and he felt hurt.
 After these unexpected assaults, he finally has a
“realization” and knows that he has no power to
expect others’ actions or thoughts.
Symbols of “The Dead”
 Lily
 1) The funereal flower:
Dead heart ←→ Living body

2) The Purity, White:
(Archangel Gabriel)
pure as an angel ←→ Morally impure, evil idea

3) During Easter lily blooms:
Rebirth of soul ←→Corruption of soul
Symbols of “The Dead”
 The
imagery of “The Dead” are the
operations of a series of symbolic
antitheses as follows:
living ←→ dead
east ←→ west
inside ←→ outside
light ←→ darkness
warmth ←→ cold
present ←→ past
speech ←→ music
Symbols of “The Dead”
The Snow
1. Gabriel’s fear of nature, his artificiality, and
his un-Irish attitudes (P. 2243 in the middle)
2. The snow / an upcoming change in
Gabriel, a desire to get away from being dead in
life. (P.2250 par. 1)
3. The falling snow / heaven or death
people will achieve in the end of life. “… the snow falling
faintly through the universe and faintly falling like the
descent of their last end, upon all the living and the
dead." (P.2268 the last par.)
Symbols of “The Dead”

Correlation between the nature motifs &
death symbolism
(special style)

Snow, wind, or cold air play a significant role
as a symbolic device relating to death.
Works Cited


Commentary James Joyce’s "The Dead" 29 Oct. 2005
<http://www.msu.edu/~weissjo1/310dComm2.html>
Dubliners Summary and Analysis at Owleyes. 29 Oct 2005
<http://owleyes.org/dubliners.htm?outline=yes>.
Dubliners by James Joyce. 29 Oct. 2005
<http://education.yahoo.com/homework_help/cliffsnotes/dubliners/47.
html>



FJU English Department Literary Criticism Databank. 29 Oct 2005
<http://www.eng.fju.edu.tw/Literary_Criticism/psychoanalysis/eg_3.
htm>.
Gray, Wallace. Notes for James Joyce's "The Dead”. 29 Oct. 2005
<http://www.mendele.com/WWD/WWDdead.notes.html>
Works Cited

Guide for "The Dead" (1914) by James Joyce (1882-1941). 28 Oct.
2005 <http://www.lingo.ntnu.no/englitt/GDe.htm>

James Joyce. The Modern Word. 29 Oct 2005
<http://www.themodernword.com/joyce/joyce_biography.html>.

Joyce, James. “The Dead.” Abrams, M. A. The Norton Anthology of
English Literature. 7th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton, 2000. 224068.
Lucking, David. Distant Music Symbolic Polarization in Joyce’s “The
Dead”. 2001. 29 Oct. 2005
<http://www.lucking.net/docs/lucking_music.htm>

Mello, Patrick. Death Symbolism in James Joyce's "The
Dead“ 2004. 29Oct. 2005
<http://www.hausarbeiten.de/faecher/vorschau/36481.html>
