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!
I was going to write a rebuttal saying this was a negatively written story, but then I looked at wikipedia for supporting evidence on the Second Coming of Christ... Didn't work out the way i expected (fun fact: term epiphany refers to this). So I actually take everything back now... haha, This is definitely a more positively lit story as we have these people with their epiphanies who have been judged by Christ and can now change (I'm thinking if I got the correct interpretation of epiphany). What I'm wondering then is if The Second Coming of Christ is supposed to be viewed to the reader as an apocalypse or if it should be viewed as a rebirth and a rebuilding from scratch, like a second Noah's arc.
ReplyDeleteWe are suppose to comment on this post right? Well, regardless, here is the post.
ReplyDeleteTo me, the end of "The Dead" also does have a positive twist to it. However, this positive twist is not due to hope or even through a connection to the struggles of Gabriel, but instead to the idea of a new beginning. In the last paragraph, Joyce comments on the snow fall several times and this might just be me being a bit over optimistic but I view the snow as being a blank slate (as cliche as that sounds) for all of Ireland and even the universe. I know in previous sections of "The Dead" and even other short stories, the snow was supposed to represent the omnipresent theme of paralysis, but the fact that the snow is described as covering all the graveyards in Ireland and even covering the gravestone of Michael,a character who was filled with such emotion and life, leads me to believe that the snow how to be positive. It is blanketing the paralysis of a now dead Michael and a dead Ireland.
As for Cedric's post and in general for all of Cedric's intense biblical interpretations, I do not really see that much religion in the end. I know that there is a mention of a cross and graves, but not really a symbol or reference to Christ. However, this ignorance of biblical symbols or interpretations can be due to a personal lack of knowledge regarding the bible.