Beginning of Essay
James Joyce’s The Dead opens with an annual get together of family and friends. Some readers question the necessity of this opening sequence. Most of the characters have little or no significance to the final result of the story. However, through their inter ....

Middle of Essay
.... person that he is. He asks Lily if she’ll be married soon, to which she replies "The men that is now is only a palayer and what they can get out of you" (Joyce, 178). Gabriel blushes immediately. He feels bad for bringing it up, and tosses her a coin in thanks, and as an indirect apology. He then rushes away to avoid further discussion, and perhaps his guilt as well. The reader also discovers very quickly that Gabriel is very well educated. He is to give a speech at the dinner table, and he struggles with whether or not he should include certain poetic and academic references. He feels that he will appear superior to the guests, and that his s ....