Each had moved away from the other towards a deadening of the spirit" (Billigheimer). Suddenly his wife had a passionate past that she still carried with her. She is more alive than Gabriel is and the sad thing is that Michael is too. This revelation forces Gabriel to look at himself and he becomes a "ludicrous figure... A nervous, well-meaning sentimentalist, orating to vulgarians and idealising his own clownish lusts" (737). Gabriel is alone in the room with his distant wife and her ghost lover.

The Dead" illustrates how the living can sometimes walk the earth as zombies. Gabriel's epiphany forces him to face the truth of his life rather than living in the lie he concocted many years ago. In doing so, he loses the false security of deception.

Works Cited

Rachel V. Billigheimer. CLA Journal. 1988. GALE Resource Database. Site Accessed December 08, 2008. http://www.infotrac.galegroup.com

Joyce, James. The...
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