The Dead James Joyce Analysis

Symbolism in “The Dead”, by James Joyce
Symbolism is a very useful tool for writers. It helps the writer get across multiple meaning and different interpretations for the reader. Symbolism can be defined as the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities by giving them symbolic meaning that are different from their literal sense (Mays, 336). The symbols Joyce use Gabriel’s grandfather’s horse circling, the monks and their coffins, and the ice and snow.
A circle can be both a positive and negative connotations. One positive symbolization of a circle is a wedding ring. A wedding ring represents love, affection, and being together forever. Joyce used a circle with a negative connotation. Hence, “Well, glue or starch, said Gabriel, the
Joyce seemed to be criticizing the Catholic Church. Joyce wrote, “He was astonished to hear that the monks never spoke, got up at two in the mornings and slept in their coffins. He asked what they did it for. That’s the rule of the order, said Aunt Kate firmly. Yes, but why? Asked Mr. Browne. Aunt Kate repeated that it was the rule, that was all. Mr. Browne still seemed not to understand. Freddy Malins explained to him, as best he could, that the monks were trying to make up for the sins committed by all the sinners in the outside world” (Joyce, 621). Joyce was explaining that the monks kept living by repetition, and did move forward for the better. Regardless of how spiritual the order the monks belong to, they were paralyzed. It is also possible that Joyce suggested that the Catholic Church had failed the Irish people, which again would pull in the theme or idea of failure. He also wrote, “The explanation was not very clear for Mr. Browne grinned and said: I like that idea very much but wouldn’t a comfortable spring bed do them as well as a coffin? The coffin, said Mary Jane, is to remind them of their last end. As the subject had grown lugubrious it was buried in a silence of the table during which Mrs. Malins could be heard saying to her neighbour in an indistinct undertone: They are very good men, the monks, very pious men” (Joyce, 621-622). Joyce seems to hold the Catholic Church
He again demonstrated paralysis using snow and ice. If something is frozen, it is motionless and therefore paralyzed. The snow represents both the living and the dead. The snow is burying the ground just as Michael Furey is buried in the ground, dead. It also symbolizes the paralysis demonstrated by Gabriel Conroy throughout the story. He is constantly troubled by what others think about him, which in turn stops him from really living. Gabriel realizes his has not really lived in his epiphany. There are people who are actually living, like Gabriel, that are paralysis, have never actually lived. Then there are others like Michael Furey a dead person who has lived far more than Gabriel ever has, even though he died young. At the end of the story, Gabriel realizes how pointless his attempts are to love Gretta. Gabriel's marriage was clearly suffering from paralysis. When Gabriel enters his aunts' party, "A light fringe of snow lay like a cape on the shoulders of his overcoat and like toecaps on the toes of his galoshes; and, as the buttons of his overcoat slipped with a squeaking noise through the snow-stiffened frieze, a cold fragrant air from out-of-doors escaped from crevices and folds" (Joyce, 606). The snow also symbolized Gabriel’s own emotional isolation and coldness.
Gabriel’s grandfather’s horse, the monks and their coffins, and snow all helped Joyce create his story. All three of these symbols assisted Joyce in showing