Snow in "The Dead": James Joyce Campfire
If ye would like to moderate the James Joyce Campfire, please drop becket@jollyroger.com a
line. James Joyce & Snow in "The Dead"
Posted by Sh*thouse Poet on March 14, 192003 at 04:48:19:
After a quick reading of "The Dead" I'm trying to discover what other ppl think of the overwhelming presence of snow in the story. To me it seems to represent "Irishness" - it lay on Gabriel's coat as a "light fringe", denoting its overwhelming presence even on those unwilling to accept it. Gretta seems to want to escape into it, but is prevented from doing so by Gabriel, who seeks to hide her "country cute"-ness (i.e. Irishness) beneath a veneer of British civility. Miss Ivors, the only truly ardent nationalist at the party, disappears into the snow before the dinner even commenced. On more then one occasion Gabriel reflects on the snow and how much he would rather be outside immersed in it - possibly an innate desire to return to his roots and leave his pretentious British lifestyle behind as he "rediscovers life". Even the statue Daniel O'Connell (a predominant nationalist leader) is covered in snow... it seems that snow blankets everything about them, living or dead. It is immutable and undeniable - very much like their heritage - regardless of how "West Britons" like Gabriel try to hide it or explain it as something else. Or mebbe it represents the interconnectedness of everything. It connects both the living and the dead by covering both of them, and connects the past (brought up numerous times in the story) with the present. During the party Gabriel had tapped the window as he watched the snow falling... at the end when he finally comes to an epiphany the snow starts to tap back at him - maybe reflecting a need for Gabriel to become reintegrated into the world which he has hitherto almost ignored while lost in his own self-absorption... I dunno, any thoughts??