The End of the Dead

The Ending of the Dead:

It feels, perhaps, like we have been talking about this forever-, which is at once frustrating and fascinating. A large part of Joyce’s beauty, true beauty is in the universality of that message and in the way in which he renders it. It is so universal, say, that at alternate times in ones’ life, the language, the ending, the story, holds a different meaning. A choose your own adventure for the heavy-duty literary types, or as Foucault said, "Headed toward death, language turns back upon itself; it encounters something like a mirror; and to stop this death which would stop it, it possesses but a single power: that of giving birth to its own image in a play of mirrors that has no limits, "Language to Infinity But as we Millburnites are a group wholly uncomfortable with ambiguity and lack of control, I can only offer these two interpretations as in reference to the commonly asked What does it mean?
It could stand as a negative reading- meaning that in this moment of self-actualization, Gabriel chooses to sacrifice his sense of self- to be more like Michael Furey, leading to his ultimate paralysis. Some readers are skeptical of the sincerity of the moment, wondering exactly how “generous” his tears actually are, critiquing his bitterness at Gretta’s appearance. They further this reading by stating that “swoon” here relates to the unconsciousness of death, and mark the ending as depressing.
But then there are readers like me, who read The Dead and get tears in their eyes, who staunchly defend the final paragraphs as some of the most beautiful in all of literature, who feel the ending with every last fiber of their beings. Because, to us, the end of The Dead is transcendent. Because in that moment of realization and self-actualization, of heightened awareness and simply being, Gabriel puts the world into perfectly placed perspective. We are all part of this human condition. We will all experience love and loss and failure. We will all know disappointment and joy. We will all be uncertain and sometimes frightened, or even plainly scared. And in knowing this, in channeling this feeling of connection, there is, even in the bleakest of hours, hope.
And hope inspires. It inspires actions and ideas, gestures and feelings. Life is a remarkable reckless wonder. And that’s enough to make this reader swoon.

So let’s say goodbye to James Joyce and hello to Holiday break. I’ll miss you but I hope you each have a wonderful time! Relax and enjoy!
And get excited for axe murderers and Siberian prisons, prostitutes with hearts of gold and gritty hot St. Petersburg! Crime and Punishment is next!

Role of Gender Examined in Dubliners

The excerpts we have read in Dubliners thus far have provided ample evidence to the importance of gender in Joyce's work. The juxtaposition of Eveline and Araby provide insight into the different worlds of women and men at this time. The male narrator in Araby is desperate to escape his confinements and oppression by adults to go to Araby and buy a gift for his love. Conversely, in Eveline, the female character is attempting to run away with the soldier she loves but is being confined to her world by her abusive father. Both passages are similar in the sense that they represent oppression and limitation of youth in the name of love. However, they are different in that the male narrator goes to all lengths to achieve his goal while the female, when given the opportunity to follow her love, backs out.

- Olivia Greenberg, Rebecca Finkel, & Haley Fitzpatrick

I agree with Judy that I think that the boy's perspective is intended to signify the childhood aspect of this anecdote, but I still do not understand the purpose of beginning with a death scene. I was contemplating the possibility of new beginning and growth afterwards. Like the boy being able to mature on his own and this loss being part of his maturation process. But it still seems like Joyce could of had another intention with this.

To the question posed in class of why this story was called "The Sisters" I feel their role is more than just talking throughout this story. Although the focus was not on them, they served as the main active characters and spoke the most. Perhaps they did not approve of the relationship between the boy and Father Flynn and Joyce hinted in some underlying way that they sped his death along.

Questions/Reactions to "The Sisters"

We can extrapolate that the perspective of the young boy is used to construct the "childhood" stage of Dubliners, following Joyce's theme of progression from childhood to maturity. The narrator is evidently young because he talks about how the priest taught him Catechism, Latin, and history, and Old Cotter tries to tell the boy's mother that the "young lad" should play with children his own age rather than always spending time with the priest. I think Joyce creates a funeral within the childhood section of the novel to show the young narrator's first experience with loss. Also, death is a hard concept to understand and accept, and the narrator's response to the death of a close friend shows his youthful curiosity. For example, the boy is not sure if he wants to see Father Flynn's body, he sees the priest's face in his dreams, and he seems intrigued by the adult conversations of the priest's "beautiful corpse." The boy does not feel intense remorse for the loss of his friend, showing his youthfulness at trying to grasp the concept of death.

To the question presented in class, "What's wrong with Father Flynn?," I think that there was more to his death than the stroke. The sisters say that Flynn started going mad when he broke the religious chalice, and he was seen by others laughing at the confessional (thus showing his decline in mental stability). The boy's mother also questions if Father Flynn received Extreme Unction, and the boy's dream depicts Flynn moving his lips as if confessing. All of these indicators make it sound like the priest must have committed some sort of sin that perhaps further led him to death. However, because we discussed that there was no sort-of closeted transgression between the boy and the priest, I'm not exactly sure what type of sin led to his demise.

In terms of the title, "The Sisters," the two sisters of Father Flynn merely try to take care of the priest before his death. They seem like good-hearted woman when they talk to the boy's mother, and describe that Flynn passed away peacefully and looked beautiful in his death. I think the title may be related to the sisters because of the overarching themes of religion and its correlation to the state of Ireland. The sisters care for the priest (who probably sinned himself - showing the decline of Christianity/Ireland) but are unable to heal him, possibly showing that the state of Ireland or the institutions in Ireland are in disrepair.