crux



1. a vital, basic, decisive, or pivotal
point: The crux of the trial was his
whereabouts at the time of the murder.
2. a cross.
3. something that torments by its
puzzling nature; a perplexing difficulty.
3/16/2016
1
OED

fig.
a. A difficulty which it torments or
troubles one greatly to interpret or explain, a
thing that puzzles the ingenuity; as ‘a textual
crux’. Cf. CRUCIFY v. 2c. (Used by Sheridan
and Swift with the sense ‘conundrum, riddle’.)
[Cf. G. kreuz, Grimm, 2178g, (quoted from
Herder 1778, and Niebuhr); according to
Hildebrand taken from the scholastic Latin
crux interpretum, etc.]
3/16/2016
2
Crux is the smallest of the 88 modern constellations,
but is one of the most distinctive. Its name is Latin for
cross, and it is dominated by a cross-shaped asterism
that is commonly known as the Southern Cross.
3/16/2016
3
James Joyce vs. Homer
Function of Allusion: as juxtaposition
for comparison and contrast



Though the most stable character in Dubliners, Gabriel sounds
somewhat suicidal to some readers when meditating on his
wife’s young lover’s early death:
“Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory
of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age”
(Dubliners 224). This is the crux of the whole text.
The allusion/reference to “that other world” as the realm of
spirits recalls the scene in Homer’s Odyssey, where the
ghost of Achilles addresses Odysseus: “Better, I say, to
break sod as a farm hand for some poor countryman, on
iron rations, than lord it over all the exhausted dead”
(Odyssey 201).
3/16/2016
4
Two Value Codes



Achilles chose to die
young but in glory
His mother warned him if
he went to war, he would
die young;
Achilles’mother hid the
youth in a girl’s dress;
3/16/2016

The allusion/reference to
“that other world” as the
realm of spirits recalls the
scene in Homer’s
Odyssey, where the ghost
of Achilles addresses
Odysseus: “Better, I say,
to break sod as a farm
hand for some poor
countryman, on iron
rations, than lord it over
all the exhausted dead”
(Odyssey 201).
5
Is Gabriel Suicidal?
Could You Write a Sequel to The Dead?



For the most part, their existence together
seems dull as revealed in the text;
Is the life of Gabriel and Gretta worse than
what Gretta would have had with Michael
then?
What does it take to recover from a
discovery like Gabriel makes? Could
Gabriel overcome his paralysis and go on?
3/16/2016
6
James Joyce’s Delicate Balance


Flip-flop Symbols, Tropes & Metaphors throughout:
Lily: Flowers used for funerals; but Easter symbolizes the
Resurrection of the dead;

Incongruity: between the title, “The Dead” and time of
the party, the high point of the Christmas / New Year
celebration & the time for the feast of epiphany.

West: an established trope for death in the Western
Literature: “The time had come for him to set out on his
journey westward” (Dubliners 225). But The West also
represents the true Ireland, and the home country of
Gabriel’s wife, Gretta—who wants to vacation there.
3/16/2016
7
Death Weighs Heavily Throughout
Framed by The Sisters & The Dead






List of deaths of family
members, relatives, &
friends in The Dead:
_______________;
_______________;
_______________;
_______________;
_______________;
3/16/2016






List of deaths in fiction,
plays, ballads, songs &
paintings:
_______________;
_______________;
_______________;
_______________;
_______________;
8
Ambiguity is not the same as Ambivalence


The most striking strength of “The Dead” lies in its
delicate balance, and more important, something shadowed,
unstated, & veiled. This has made the story a great
challenge in literary interpretation.
Wayne Booth puts the most shrewdly, “In short, the
author’s judgment is always present, always evident to
anyone who knows how to look for it.”[1] But this doesn’t
help much, it seems.
[1] Wayne Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. (Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1961), page 20.
3/16/2016
9
Putting Things in Perspectives


Structurally & Thematically, without The Dead, Dubliners
would have been quite different. Before this story, most
characters are in some way paralyzed or stuck in repeating
patterns (as in Counterparts, the most symmetrical story
that shows how terrible patterns in Irish life are repeated).
The Dead signals a turn towards what I would call Joyce’s
Counterpoint Narrative that weaves together multiple story
lines into a new story, therefore breaking the new ground
not only technically but also thematically.
3/16/2016
10
Joyce’s New Perspective on his Home Country
Irish Warmth, Generosity & Hospitality vs. Joyce’s
experience in Rome—In September of 1906, Joyce
wrote:
“Sometimes thinking of Ireland it seems to me that I
have been unnecessarily harsh. I have reproduced (in
Dubliners at least) none of the attraction of the city for
I have never felt at my ease in any city since I left it
except in Paris. I have not reproduced its ingenuous
insularity and its hospitality.[1]

[1] http://www.mendele.com/WWD/WWDdead.notes.html
3/16/2016
11
Recurrent Explorations




The Dead in Dubliners—Gabriel’s generous tears.
Gabriel has been surprised and wounded. He feels
his identity is under attack; but this makes a portal
of great discoveries about other people, about his
home country; & about himself.
However, in “A Painful Case,” a man who cannot
be generous causes the suicide of the only woman
who ever loved him.
Joyce treats this theme elsewhere, less
satisfactorily in Exiles but more fully in Ulysses.
3/16/2016
12
Generosity: A Consistent Theme


Gabriel weeps (as Jesus weeps), but no longer for himself;
“A shameful consciousness of his own person, assailed
him. He saw himself as a ludicrous figure, acting as a
pennyboy for his aunts, a nervous well-meaning
sentimentalist, orating vulgarians and idealizing his own
clownish lusts, the pitiable ‘fatuous fellow he had caught a
glimpse of in the mirror. Instinctively he turned his back
more to the light lest she might see the shame that burned
upon his forehead” (221).
3/16/2016
13
Truly Connected to the Living through the Dead


Generous tears filled Gabriel’s eyes. He had never felt like that
towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love.
A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had
begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark,
falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to
set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow
was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark
central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen
and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon
waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on
the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the
crooked crosses and headstones,on the spears of the little gate, on the
barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling
faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their
last end, upon all the living and the dead.
3/16/2016
14
If you were to write a Sequel to The Dead

A moment of Pro’lepsis--The representation or
taking of something future as already done or existing;
anticipation: Gabriel has imaginatively visited
Michael Fury’s grave at the end of the story.



Who will be there hand in hand by his side?
Is Gabriel going to commit suicide?
Is Gabriel going to leave Grette for good?
3/16/2016
15
Self vs. Other




The self and other: one-dimensionality blocks
the way to connecting with others;
Gabriel’s sense of superiority (educational
and cultural grade) and his identify is
narrowly defined just as Molly and Gretta;
Significance of the Snow: blanketing the dead
and the living, expanding one’s intellectual
horizon;
Topic 1 on Essay 3
3/16/2016
16
Gabriel’s Isolation
While debating whether he should quote
Browning, Shakespeare or Irish melodies in
his speech,
 He lives in his ivory tower, his cocoon the
shell of which is shield or sealed by his
superior education;
 Out of touch with his folks,
 Out of touch with his mother tongue;
 Out of touch with his Irish cultural roots;
 He even did not know his wife very well!
3/16/2016
17

On the self and Other

When you’ve lived as long as I you’ll see that
every human being has his shell and that you
must take the shell into account. By the shell
I mean the whole envelope of circumstances.
There’s no such thing as an isolated man or
woman; we’re each of us made up of some
cluster of appurtenances. What shall we call
our self? Where does it begin? Where does
it end? It overflows into everything that
belong to us—and then it flows back again”
3/16/2016
18
Gabriel and his counterparts
Joycean Method of Counterpoint




Michael, Gretta and Gabriel
Lily and Gabriel;
Molly and Gabriel;
These interactions, progressively
painful, function as portal of discoveries
about himself, his folks, and his
country;
3/16/2016
19
Part vs. Whole







Many characters take part for the whole,
unable to live their lives to the fullest;
Dr. P’s problem (review Oliver Sacks)
Narrow nationalism (Molly Ivors)
Idealized romanticism (Gretta)
Superior education (Gabriel)
Freddy’s drinking problem
Mary Jane, resting on her laurels
3/16/2016
20
Past, Present and Future




Intrusion of the past or the future upon
the present;
As a result, many people don’t live at
the moment for “now”
Nostalgia or sentimentality (Gretta)
Good old days (conversation on opera
178)
3/16/2016
21
Active vs. Passive


Goloshes: living one’s life actively
(taking precaution) or living one’s life
passively (accepting whatever 188);
Last party Gretta got a dreadful cold
(161/162); but this year Gabriel bought
her a pair of goloshes and booked a
fancy hotel for her so that she would
not get a dreadful cold;
3/16/2016
22
Gabriel Editing his Speech



43/161: Robert
Browning/Shakespeare/Irish Melodies—
he worries his quotations will be above
the heads of his audience;
55-56/172
The park: Phoenix Park, representing
rebirth
3/16/2016
23
a mythical bird

A phoenix is a mythical bird that is a fire spirit
with a colorful plumage and a tail of gold and
scarlet (or purple, blue, and green according
to some legends). It has a 500 to 1000 year
life-cycle, near the end of which it builds itself
a nest of twigs that then ignites; both nest
and bird burn fiercely and are reduced to
ashes, from which a new, young phoenix or
phoenix egg arises, reborn anew to live
again.
3/16/2016
24
Wellington Monument in Dublin

The Wellington
Testimonial was built to
commemorate the
victories of Arthur
Wellesley, 1st Duke of
Wellington. Wellington,
a member of the AngloIrish upper class, also
known as the 'Iron
Duke', was born in
Dublin.
3/16/2016
25
Features of the
Testimonial





There are four bronze plaques cast from cannons
captured at Waterloo - three of which have pictorial
representations of his career while the fourth has an
inscription. The plaques depict 'Civil and Religious
Liberty' by John Hogan, 'Waterloo' by Thomas Farrell
and the 'Indian Wars' by Joseph Kirk. The inscription
reads:
Asia and Europe, saved by thee,
proclaim Invincible in war thy deathless name,
Now round thy brow the civic oak we twine
That every earthly glory may be thine.
3/16/2016
26
The Liffey (An Life in Irish)
a river in Ireland,
which flows through the center of Dublin, 56
3/16/2016
27
Three Graces 56/172

the Three Graces (Agalaia, Euphrosyne, and
Thalia) are the daughters of Zeus and
Eurynome, and together they personify
grace, beauty, and the enjoyment of life.
They accompany the Muses, as well as
Aphrodite and Eros (love) and are responsible
for what is best in art and for the quality of
charm that is found in love and in life.
3/16/2016
28
Paris 56/172

This son of Priam, King of Troy, and his
wife Hecuba had been exposed on a
mountainside as an infant because his
mother had a dream that he would be
the cause of the destruction of Troy.
3/16/2016
29
The apple "For the fairest“
Prince Paris with apple by H.W. Bissen, Ny Carlsberg
Glyptotek, Copenhagen


In celebration of the marriage
of Peleus and Thetis, Lord Zeus,
father of the Greek pantheon,
hosted a banquet on Mount
Olympus.
Eris, the goddess of strife (no
one wanted a troublemaker at a
wedding) wasn’t invited. For
revenge, Eris threw the golden
Apple of Discord inscribed with
the word "Kallisti" — "For the
fairest" — into the party,
provoking a squabble among
the attendant goddesses over
for whom it had been meant.
3/16/2016
30
The Judgment of Paris
3/16/2016
31
The abduction of Helen
King Menelaus of Sparta
3/16/2016
32
Thought-tormented music
56/172

Foreshadows the song

The Lass of Aughrim

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1C
P5Lz2iHE
3/16/2016
33
Westward 65





Proleptic moment to predict what will
happen after the story proper ends
—85/198
Freddy’s mother will die (183)
Aunt Julia’s death (197)
Gabriel’s visit to Michael Furey’s grave
(198);
3/16/2016
34
The victims…of the hospitality 65/180



Victima is a beast for sacrifice
Oxymoron, something paradoxical
Princely failing 66/181
3/16/2016
35
Irish hospitality 66/




Consult Richard Ellmann’s essay online
Most important, “The Dead” signals a
change of attitude (Ellmann 373) in
James Joyce towards his home country;
It also signals a turning point in James
Joyce as a writer as well as a man;
It is a proleptic moment for his
masterpiece Ulysses (1922)
3/16/2016
36
Gabriel Conroy and Leopold Bloom


Gabriel has a
wife who hid
her secret in
the past;
Could Gabriel
stand the test?
3/16/2016


Pody’s wife Molly
is going to meet
Boylan at 4:00
pm in her house,
in the very bed!
Could Poddy
stand the test?
37
We were living in a less
spacious age 66/181



A metaphor that refers to a crowded age in
which people don’t tolerate each other too
well;
Gabriel’s brother Constantine (176), a priest
is absent from the party, a significant
absence (Constantine is the first to advocate
religious tolerance),
Lack those qualities of humanity, of
hospitality, of kindly humor;
3/16/2016
38
Absent faces 67/181




Pat is dead;
Gabriel’s mother is dead;
Gabriel’s brother Constantine (representing
religious toleration) is significantly absent
from the party;
Though Michael Furey does not belong to the
family, he will come back to haunt the
living—foreshadowing vs. prolepsis
3/16/2016
39
Past vs. Present 181

“But yet,” continued Gabriel, his voice falling into a
softer inflection, “there are always in gatherings such
as this sadder thoughts that will recur to our minds:
thoughts of the past, of youth, of changes, of absent
faces that we miss here tonight. Our path through
life is strewn with many such sad memories: and
were we to brood upon them always we could not
find the heart to go on bravely with our work among
the living. We have all of us living duties and living
affections which claim, and rightly claim, our
strenuous endeavours.
3/16/2016
40
The Judgment of Paris 182
one of the events that led up to the Trojan War/
to the foundation of Rome—
Destruction and construction/discontinuity vs. continuity.
3/16/2016
41
Bribes from three goddesses



Hera, wife and half sister of Zeus, offers
power
Athena, daughter of Zeus born out of
his head, offers wisdom;
Aphrodite, born from the sea foam
(aphros) , offers the most beautiful
woman to Paris;
3/16/2016
42
Death and Rebirth



Negative reading of Paris;
Positive reading of Paris;
The fall of Troy led to the establishment
of Rome;
3/16/2016
43
Ambiguity is not the same as Ambivalence


The most striking strength of “The Dead” lies in its
delicate balance, and more important, something shadowed,
unstated, & veiled. This has made the story a great
challenge in literary interpretation.
Wayne Booth puts the most shrewdly, “In short, the
author’s judgment is always present, always evident to
anyone who knows how to look for it.”[1] But this doesn’t
help much, it seems.
[1] Wayne Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. (Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press, 1961), page 20.
3/16/2016
44
Putting Things in Perspectives


Structurally & Thematically, without The Dead, Dubliners
would have been quite different. Before this story, most
characters are in some way paralyzed or stuck in repeating
patterns (as in Counterparts, the most symmetrical story
that shows how terrible patterns in Irish life are repeated).
The Dead signals a turn towards what I would call Joyce’s
Counterpoint Narrative that weaves together multiple story
lines into a new story, therefore breaking the new ground
not only technically but also thematically.
3/16/2016
45
Joyce’s New Perspective on his Home Country
Irish Warmth, Generosity & Hospitality vs. Joyce’s
experience in Rome—In September of 1906, Joyce
wrote:
“Sometimes thinking of Ireland it seems to me that I
have been unnecessarily harsh. I have reproduced (in
Dubliners at least) none of the attraction of the city for
I have never felt at my ease in any city since I left it
except in Paris. I have not reproduced its ingenuous
insularity and its hospitality.[1]

[1] http://www.mendele.com/WWD/WWDdead.notes.html
3/16/2016
46
Recurrent Explorations




The Dead in Dubliners—Gabriel’s generous tears.
Gabriel has been surprised and wounded. He feels
his identity is under attack; but this makes a portal
of great discoveries about other people, about his
home country; & about himself.
However, in “A Painful Case,” a man who cannot
be generous causes the suicide of the only woman
who ever loved him, a counterpoint/counterpart to
“The Dead”
Joyce treats this theme elsewhere, less
satisfactorily in Exiles but more fully in Ulysses.
3/16/2016
47
Generosity: A Consistent Theme 193


Gabriel weeps (as Jesus weeps), but no longer for himself;
“A shameful consciousness of his own person, assailed
him. He saw himself as a ludicrous figure, acting as a
pennyboy for his aunts, a nervous well-meaning
sentimentalist, orating vulgarians and idealizing his own
clownish lusts, the pitiable ‘fatuous fellow he had caught a
glimpse of in the mirror. Instinctively he turned his back
more to the light lest she might see the shame that burned
upon his forehead” (221/195).
3/16/2016
48
Truly Connected to the Living through the Dead


Generous tears filled Gabriel’s eyes. He had never felt like that
towards any woman but he knew that such a feeling must be love. 197
A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had
begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark,
falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to
set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow
was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark
central plain, on the treeless hills, falling softly upon the Bog of Allen
and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon
waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on
the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the
crooked crosses and headstones,on the spears of the little gate, on the
barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling
faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their
last end, upon all the living and the dead.
3/16/2016
49
If you were to write a Sequel to The Dead

A moment of Pro’lepsis--The representation or
taking of something future as already done or existing;
anticipation: Gabriel has imaginatively visited
Michael Fury’s grave at the end of the story.



Who will be there hand in hand by his side?
Is Gabriel going to commit suicide?
Is Gabriel going to leave Grette for good?
3/16/2016
50