The dead door James Joyce

Short story review
James Joyce – The Dead (1914)
 
The writer 
James Joyce is the writer of 'The Dead'. He was born on the 2nd of January 1882 in Dublin, Ireland. He had a large family and grew up in poverty. He went to Clongowes Wood College when he was six years old, and when James Joyce was older, he went to Belvedere College. Later he enrolled in the University College Dublin where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree. He was able to speak 17 different languages. James has written various other books like 'Ulysses' and 'Finnegans Woke'. He passed away at the age of 59 on the 13th of January, 1941.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Joyce/Ulysses and https://www.biography.com/writer/james-joyce

 The story

The title of the short story is "The Dead". The title fits the story well because there are various mentions of death in the story. The story is based around death and what it does to people who are left behind. If I could choose a different title for this story, I would call it "The Deceased". I would call it this way so it would be clear it was about deceased people and not a horror fiction story about dead people getting resurrected.   

 James Joyce wrote 'The Dead' in 1907 and published it in 1914 as part of his story collection "The Dublins". "The Dead" was the last story in the collection. 

The story is significant to the time it was written because they described many things that are suited to the early 1900s: the clothes, horse carriages, et cetra. The story was also formally written, well fit for that time.

 Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Joyce/Ulysses and https://www.biography.com/writer/james-joyce

 Genre

 The official genre is a short story, but the book has components of other genres. Romance and realistic fiction are the two genres that are part of the book. 

The genre is a short story because the story is very short. There is romance present in the story between the main character and Gabriel's wife, but also the romantic memories of his wife and her old lover. The story has a lot of realistic aspects, and that is why I also choose the realistic fiction genre for this story.

I did not use any sources for this part except for the book itself. 

 Summary

 The story is mainly about the Misses Morkan's annual dance where relatives and friends come to visit. Gabriel, the nephew, is the protagonist in the story. You see him struggling with the social encounters. He gets upset when he finds out he does not know his wife as well as he thought. A part of the past of his wife is new for him, and he realizes you cannot be sure you know someone entirely even when it is the love of your life.  

I think the message from the writer to the readers is that you might never know everything from your relatives and loved ones. They might hold things back even if it has an impact on them. I think this is a good lesson to remember because things are not always the same as they seem. It is good to remember that people might have been through a lot, have feelings for old lovers and might feel things they do not talk about. 

 The main theme of this story is death and how it impacts lives. There are various mentions of death throughout the book, and the most important one got saved for last. Michael Furey, Gretta's old boyfriend, died because of sickness. Although, a few weeks before he died, he visited Gretta in the rain just to see her. This probably has made him sicker and might have been the reason why he passed away. This still impacts Gretta, and she did not tell Gabriel about it until later. Because of this, I think death is the main theme of the book.

Another theme of this story is love. There is quite some romance between Gabriel and Gretta, and you can see how much they love each other. On the other hand, you also hear how Gretta loved her old boyfriend, Michael Furey and that he exposed his sick self to coldness and rain to see her in the act of love.  

I didn't use any sources for this part except for the book itself. 

Setting and Place

 The story takes place for the most part in the house of miss Kate and Miss Julia during their annual Misses Morkan's dance. At the end of the story, Gabriel and his wife Gretta went to a hotel. 
I know the story takes place in the house of Miss Kate and Miss Julia because of this sentence: "But Miss Kate and Miss Julia had thought of that and had converted the bathroom upstairs into a ladies' dressing-room." 
For the most part the story takes place during the annual Misses Morkan's dance as mentioned above. I know this because of this sentence: "It was always a great affair, the Misses Morkan's annual dance. Everybody who knew them came to it, members of the family, old friends of the family, the members of Julia's choir, any of Kate's pupils that were grown up enough, and even some of Mary Jane's pupils too."

I know Gabriel and his wife Gretta went to a hotel by this sentence:

"When the cab drew up before the hotel, Gabriel jumped out and, in spite of Mr. Bartell D'Arcy's protest, paid the driver." and "Under cover of her silence he pressed her arm closely to his side; and, as they stood at the hotel door."

Narrator