Study Questions for "The Dead"       Back to Assignments

1. List as many examples of "the dead," or the past, coming back to haunt or dominate the lives of the living as you can.
2. What is the attitude of the living toward the dead and the past? Is there anything the living can do about this? Who is most affected by this veneration of what was but is no more?
3. Look carefully at the imagery of snow throughout the story. What do you think it all refers to? When Gabriel looks out the window several times and meditates on the snow covering the monument of Wellington, what is he doing?
4. Gabriel is the most important character in the story, and so his gradual movement toward his epiphany is critical. What is his opinion of himself and of his aunts at the beginning of the story? What incidents happen throughout the story to gradually change this opinion of himself? Think of the caretaker's daughter, of his colleague during the dance, of the speech he gives, of the song the tenor sings, and of his final "confrontation" with his wife.
5. Several "leitmotifs" are present in this story. Some are the idea of getting away from Ireland, Protestantism vs. Catholicism, music, and literature. Look for references to these things and try to see how they support the overall message of the story.
6. What is the point of the story about the horse that went round and round the statue? Which characters is that story really about?
7. OK, this is just me, but of course I'm right. I find the final passages of "The Dead" to be the most achingly, heartbreakingly beautiful prose I have ever read in English. Read the final passages over again several times. How do the imagery and the rhythms of the prose carry the reader toward the feeling that Joyce wishes to convey. What is that feeling? Also, HONESTLY AND TRULY, do you agree with my assessment of the beauty of the prose? Why or why not?