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Monday, September 10, 2007

Discussion 1 Bonus - The Dead

Read Joyce's The Dead. Isolate and discuss the theme of this short story.
A copy of this story can be found on the course website.

Note this bonus is indicative of most of the blog bonuses- not for the faint of heart.

1 comment:

Remy G said...

Finding Love

In the short story “The Dead” by James Joyce, the characters seem intent on finding love. The hosts of the party show this by partnering people for dances. The main character’s wife tells of her loss of love and her hope to find love in him. Throughout the story the characters look for love in there dull lives.

The hosts of the party show this by partnering people for dances. They partner people up hoping that the partners will see something in each other that will spark love, “Mr Kerrigan, will you take Miss Power? Miss Furlong, may I get you a partner, Mr Bergin. O, that'll just do now.” (7). This shows the earlier versions of matchmaking. The process of matchmaking is to put two people who are similar together to see if they will get along. The majority of the people who attend the party are single and are there to have a good time.

The main character’s wife tells of her loss of love and her hope to find love in him. She remembers her first love and tells her husband that, “I am thinking about a person long ago who used to sing that song.” (35). She tells her husband how she felt about her first love and how he treated her. She also lets him know that she is looking for love in him, so he can replace the love she lost when she was young. This shows the inherent human quality to search for love in our lives.

“The Dead” by James Joyce, is a short story about the journey to find love and how hard it is to find the right person in our lives. Also love has to be worked at everyday it is not something that happens on its own.