The Story of the Dead - Literature review Example

Gabriel’s meditation that “He saw himself as a ludicrous figure, acting as a penny-boy for his aunts … orating to vulgarians, and idealizing his own clownish lusts,… (Joyce 20)” aptly convey the isolation inherent in that urban experience. The opening up of the characters in the snow-covered outdoors, as they leave to escape the festering and decayed warmth and luminosity of their place of mirth acts as a foil to the preceding mood in the story, thereby bringing out all the repressed alienation and isolation.

The bottle maker’s warm and roaring furnace presents a total contrast to the hitherto suppressed feelings and aspirations (Joyce 18). The image of lonesome Michael Furey standing in the rain, dying of love, unleashes the isolation and painful reserve residing in the recesses of Gabriel’s conscience (Joyce 22). The Hallmark of The Dead is the looming sense of isolation existing amongst a gay company that is accentuated by varied symbols.