The Dead

In literature, perspective is the term used to describe the way in which readers see and experience the characters, events, and emotions of the story. The narrative is portrayed from a certain perspective and this point of view affects the development of the plot and characters. “The Dead” is portrayed from a third-person perspective, but with a focus on Gabriel. The story begins when Gabriel arrives at the party, the story follows Gabriel through the party, and the story ends with Gabriel in the hotel room. “The Dead” is told from Gabriel’s perspective, though occasionally branches out to other characters as well.

The use of perspective in “The Dead” describes Gabriel’s insular view of the world. The story, like Gabriel, focuses broadly on one person. Just as Gabriel struggles to relate to the world around him, the narrative of the story struggles to shift its focus from Gabriel. Everything in the story revolves around him, providing a literary echo of Gabriel’s personality. Gabriel places himself at the center of the universe and struggles to relate to others, in the same way that the perspective of the story focuses on him but occasionally acknowledges the existence of other people and other stories. By the end of the story, Gabriel’s perspective and the narrative perspective of the story widen. Gabriel understands Gretta’s past and begins to think about himself as more than just a single person: He’s now one person in a society. The perspective of the story reflects this and widens in scope to cover all of Ireland, from Dublin to Galway and beyond.

As a literary device, repetition is used to reinforce or emphasize certain ideas or phrases. In “The Dead,” the repetition of select motifs illustrates how the characters have become locked in an unsatisfying, reflexive cycle. In a narrative sense, the characters are repeating themselves. The party is an annual event, Freddy always arrives drunk, and Gabriel always cuts the goose. The guests are used to existing in these comfortable, familiar cycles of repetition rather than breaking free and trying something new. At the dinner table, they share the same old conversations about opera singers from the past, dwelling on their nostalgia rather than embracing the present. The repetition in their lives suggests that they are trapped in their present, forced to look to their pasts because they are unsatisfied by their current existence.

The image of Gabriel looking through a window is also repeated throughout “The Dead.” In this instance, the repeated image changes over the course of the story. When Gabriel first sees the snowfall outside, he is happy to be inside and warm. He is content in himself and has no knowledge of his own insular tendencies. After Gretta’s revelations, Gabriel is made aware of the world beyond himself. When he looks through the window in the final scene, this repeated motif shows how much Gabriel has changed. This time, he looks beyond himself, thinking about Gretta, Michael Furey, and the rest of Ireland. By repeating the image, the story illustrates how much Gabriel has changed in such a short amount of time.