The short story The Dead by James Joyce redefines what it means to be alive and dead through the comparison of Gabriel and Michael. In Gabriel’s speech, he mentions that the past often consumed his head with “sadder thoughts” causing him to “not linger on the past” anymore (Joyce, 177). Gabriel refuses to acknowledge his past because he believes it doesn’t bring any value or impact on his current life. However, this approach of mindset towards life is unrealistic and inhumane–like the dead– to think the past doesn’t affect the present. Gabriel soon realizes he’s mistaken from the points he made from his speech when Gretta confessed her love for Michael even though Michael was dead. Even though Michael is physically dead, he has more of an impact on the living now than Gabriel. Gabriel is also seen “dead” because he is unable to sympathize with others throughout the play due to his high class status and he often naively insulted those around him. In short, Gabriel believed his actions had no weight to them, but we see that the past indeed does affect on the present, just like how Gretta’s love for Michael still resonated with her. Therefore, Joyce redefines being “dead” as to someone like Gabriel who believes their past actions do not hold weight to those of the present who are living.
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I think it was a really interesting point that you brought up about Michael having more of an impact on the people living now than Gabriel does even though he is dead. Gabriel is seen as “dead” because his way of living is so different from those around him. In addition, like you said, Gabriel believes that the past does not effect his life which clearly changes when he finds out about Gretta and Michael’s relationship.