James Joyce The Dead

James Joyce, The Dead

In James Joyce's novella The Dead, we see the author completely change his writing form in the last paragraph. By changing the tone, and switching the diction to portray a darker and detached story it further emphasizes the isolation the character Gabriel feels from the other characters, especially his wife.

Throughout the story Joyce is constantly busying the reader with many different conversations and events that are interlinked. During the party the reader feels as though they are caught in some commotion and are in the middle of the action. Joyce does this by using a focalized narrative throughout the story, making sure to adjust the focus of the story and constantly keep it moving along. The story has a very close and chaotic feel; you can here the buzz of the people in the background while reading. This was extremely prominent in the taxi scene where Joyce overwhelms the reader with the chaos created by many voices;

The confusion grew greater and the cabman was directed differently by Freddy Malins and Mr. Browne, each of whom had his head out through a window of the cab. The difficulty was to know where to drop Mr. Browne along the route, and Aunt Kate, Aunt Julia and Mary Jane helped the discussion from the doorstep with cross-directions and contradictions and abundance of laughter. ("The Dead" 2526).

Within the last paragraph we see that Joyce uses a completely different structure. The ending of the story is detached from all the characters. Though it is still spoken as though it is the point of view of Gabriel, the reader feels a detachment from the character; they are no longer in the action of the story but rather an onlooker, watching Gabriel's life fall away from him. This is portrayed by Joyce's choice of words, "His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe"("The Dead" 2534). With this we see that the change of writing style in the last paragraph emphasizes the isolation that Gabriel feels. Throughout the story everything is very enclosed within the party and by opening it up discussing all of Ireland and the universe Gabriel is portrayed as being very small in a huge world, where before he was the main component of the party.

In the last portion of the story the tone and attitude towards Gabriel's wife drastically changes. In the beginning it seems as though the relationship is very impersonal, Gabriel