The Dead by James Joyce - Assignment Example

Gabriel becomes to understand how much more than he originally thought he is shaped by the dead. He begins to see what a small impression he has had on his own wife compared to the influence the man Michael Furey who died for her love did. Gabriel most powerfully considers this idea when he thinks to himself, “One by one they were all becoming shades. Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age”. This is part of a question have worked hard to answer for themselves for many years.

Is it better to live a long, drawn-out, passionless life or is it better to die in some magnificent act of courage? Religions have tried hard to answer this question in the past. Gabriel is faced with this difficult question when he pictures his Aunt Julia and Michael Furey. Michael died with passion while Gabriel’s Aunt Julia will eventually just slowly wither away, her life empty of meaning. Due to these two people, Gabriel has to seriously reconsider his own life and how he wants to lead it.

The history of people who have passed before him has a big impact on how he will lead his own life—it just takes a while for him to realize it.