Week 12 Analysis: Close Reading of "The Dead"

I've chosen to do my close reading on the paragraph that begins after the sentence "she was fast asleep" (206). In this paragraph, we can see how the memory of someone who has long since passed away can have a tremendous impact on the lives of the living even has time goes on. Gabriel is described as "leaning on his elbow" as Gretta sleeps (206). If I'm picturing it correctly, this would mean that he's leaning on something with his elbow as if to make standing more comfortable since he suspects he'll be by Gretta for a long amount of time before he leaves. He "looked for a few moments unresentfully on her tangled hair and half-open mouth, listening to her deep-drawn breath" (206). By looking at her without resentment, I can safely assume that he's somewhat calmed down since she had upset him by mentioning Michael Furey. Her hair is most likely tangled because of how she carelessly threw herself onto the bed when crying. Her mouth is probably half-open due to her crying. She might have been sobbing and sniffing too much when crying and fallen asleep while mainly breathing through her mouth as opposed to her nose. The deep-drawn breath seems to be a sign that she might be calming down in her rest and not so heartbroken as she was a moment before. Gabriel restates the idea that "a man had died for her sake" as if to let this new idea sink in for a moment since he had trouble accepting it at first (206). He believes he's played a poor part in her life as her husband and he looks at her "as though he and she had never lived together as man and wife" (206). Gabriel seems to be questioning every moment of time he's ever spent with her because of how he's never known about this until now. Now he feels like he hardly knows her at all. It's as if she's become a stranger to him. This also might be due to the fact that her crying over another man, even if dead, implies that she has lingering feelings for someone other than her husband which might make him feel distant to Gretta. He pictures what she might have looked like all those years ago and it makes him feel a "strange friendly pity" (206). By picturing her as younger, it's almost like he's seeing her as an entirely different person. And by looking at her as someone else instead of his wife, it might be easier for him to disconnect from the idea that his wife is thinking of another young man. This disconnect would allow him to feel sympathy for her as opposed to jealous and resentment. He didn't want to say she wasn't beautiful anymore, but he felt that she no longer had the "face for which Michael Furey had braved death" (206). By considering the events of Michael's death, Gabriel might be having a hard time thinking that he could do the same for Gretta. To say she doesn't have the same face someone once died for makes it sounds like he wouldn't die for her if he had to because either his feelings for her had diminished or he's truly become distant from her. This paragraph also explains why he feels as though Michael Furey, though dead, at least lived a life filled with love. Michael Furey loved Gretta enough to die for her, whereas one simple story had caused Gabriel to question his entire relationship with her and doubt the integrity of their relationship.

Joyce, James. "The Dead." The Norton Anthology World Literature, edited by Martin Puchner, Third Edition, vol. D, W. W. Norton 2012, pp. 206