1. “Eveline” and “The Dead” from James Joyce’s Dubliners
Presented By
Amanda Kang
Eliza Young
Rebecca Tsai
Tina Hsu

2. James Joyce ( )
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.

3. James Joyce’s work
Stephen Hero (written : 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)
Finnegans Wake (1939)

4. Dubliners 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

5. James Joyce 1904
Nora Barnacle

6. James Joyce Grave, Fluntern Cemetery←
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.

7. Structure -- A collection of 15 short stories
-- The process of a person’s growth
- children  the old
- individual  social life
- dream  disappointment, despair

8. “Eveline” Theme Struggle between one’s
happiness and one’s responsibility
Spiritual paralysis
Dream vs. Reality
Action vs. Inactivity

9. “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)

10. “Eveline” Characters - Her father -- violent - her fear
- Her mother -- conservative - her duty
Frank -- kind, open-hearted
-- her unknown future

11. 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)

12. 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)

13. 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.)

14. Symbols in “Eveline” 9. Sea/ 10. Frank/
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.

15. Study Questions
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.

16. 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)

17. B. Relationships between people--- Insincerity
Speaking words without genuineness (Pp. 2250, 2257, 2243)
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.

18. III. Gabriel’s epiphany (self-awareness)
Understanding of death
Physical death
Death of his egotism
Knowing his relationship with Gretta

19. 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.

20. 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)

21. 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.

22. 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.

23. 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

24. 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

25. Symbols of “The Dead”
The Snow
1. Gabriel’s fear of nature, his artificiality, and his un-Irish attitudes (P 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.)

26. Symbols of “The Dead” (special style)
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.

27. Works Cited
Commentary James Joyce’s "The Dead" 29 Oct <
Dubliners Summary and Analysis at Owleyes. 29 Oct 2005
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Dubliners by James Joyce. 29 Oct. 2005
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FJU English Department Literary Criticism Databank. 29 Oct 2005 <
Gray, Wallace. Notes for James Joyce's "The Dead”. 29 Oct <

28. Works Cited
Guide for "The Dead" (1914) by James Joyce ( ). 28 Oct <
James Joyce. The Modern Word Oct 2005
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Joyce, James. “The Dead.” Abrams, M. A. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 7th ed. Vol. 2. New York: Norton,
Lucking, David. Distant Music Symbolic Polarization in Joyce’s “The Dead” Oct <
Mello, Patrick. Death Symbolism in James Joyce's "The Dead“ Oct. 2005
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