Self-Consciousness And Suffering In The Dead By James Joyce

Dubliner, written by the Irish novelist James Joyce, is a collection of fifteen short stories published in 1914. It deals with childhood, maturity and public life in Dublin, Ireland. The final story of the compilation is The Dead; which tells about Kate and Julia Morkan’s annual party on the Epiphany day. Although the two elderly sisters receive in their house relatives and friends, they eagerly wait for the arrival of their favorite nephew: Gabriel Conroy and his wife Gretta. The professor and intellectual, and his wife are the main characters of this short story. Thus, it is through them that the writer depicts the process of self-Knowledge as the product of suffering.

The two elderly sisters and their niece Mary Jane, who lives with them in Usher’s Island, are waiting for the arrival of Gabriel and Gretta. At the little pantry is Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, who helps the guest with their overcoats. It was long after ten o’clock when the hall-door
Throughout most of the story it is clear that Gabriel is trapped in his own self-consciousness and suffering from a delusion of his owns self. At the beginning he is characterized by his arrogance and superior manners. However, all along the story, he is involved in different incidents that make him understand himself. The very first incident with Lily and the assault of Mrs. Ivors during the dance, contribute to Gabriel’s process of self-knowledge. Finally, he believes he is the one true love in Gretta's life and the realization of her first lover brings truth about him. He is shocked, disappointed and through this suffering, he is able to know who he is. The external factors and characters led him to his self-realization; he looks in the mirror and he sees: “a ludicrous figure, acting as a penny-boy for his aunts, a nervous, well-meaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealizing his own clownish