3.2.1 The maid’ s name “Lily” 3

3.1.2The hero’ s name “Gabriel” 4

3.1.3The famous singer’ s name “Parkinson” 4

3.2 The symbolic meaning of events 5

3.2.1 Christmas dinner in Mrs. Morkan’ s 5

3.2.2 The speech that Gabriel makes during the dinner 5

3.2.3 The hotel conversation 6

3.3The symbolic meaning of circumstances 6

3.3.1 The lights 6

3.3.2 The snow 6

4. The Functions of Symbolism in the Story-telling 7

5. Conclusion 8

References 10

1. Introduction

1.1 James Joyce the author

James Joyce was born in Dublin, Ireland. After he graduated from college, he stayed in Paris for a long period during which he became interested in writing. Later, he came back to Dublin and began his writing. He wrote what he saw and heard in life in Dublin. However, he could not put up with the overwhelming standards imposed by Irish society; as a result, Joyce finally moved out from Dublin. Joyce is a Dubliner from birth to death because he stayed with Dublin for his whole life in terms of his sentimental alliance with Dublin. Joyce said: “Each of my books is a book about Dublin. Dublin is a city of scarcely three hundred thousand population, but it has become the universal city of my work. .” (Portrait of the Artist in Exile. P .131) 

1.2 Dubliners, a collection of short stories

Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories first published in 1914. It mainly describes the Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20th century. The stories were written when Irish nationalism was at its peak, and a search for a national identity and purpose was raging; at a crossroads of history and culture, there were various converging ideas and influences in Ireland. The first three stories in the collection are narrated in the view of child, and story four to story seven are written in the vision of teens, and as the stories continue, they deal with the lives and concerns of older people. The collection as a whole displays an overall plan, beginning with stories of childhood and progressing in youth and ending in The Dead. 

1.3 “The Dead”, the short story

“The Dead” is the final story in his collection Dubliners which makes a perfect ending for the collection. The story centered on the night of Mrs. Morkan’ s annual dance party. When Gabriel arrives at the party, he makes a joke of the maid’ s marriage prospect and fidgets and gives Lily money as a present for Christmas, but Lily’ s reaction upsets him. Later, he feels worse because he was teased about his work for a Protestant newspaper by Miss Ivors when he is dancing with her . After that, Gabriel gives his dinner address in which he praises Kate, Julia, and Mary Jane for their hospitality. When he is preparing to leave the party, he sees a woman sober in the dark and it turns out that it is his wife Gretta. Her distracted and wistful mood arouses sexual interest in him. He tries indirectly to confront her about it after the party, in the hotel room he has reserved for them; but he finds her unresponsive. Gretta then told him the love story between a boy and her. The boy even died for his wife. The remainder of the text delves further into Gabriel’ s thoughts after he hears this story, exploring his shifting views on himself, his wife, the past, the living and the dead.