Dan Mayer

James Joyce

The Dead

Beyond the love of the past

This story effects me perhaps because of my youth or my situation in life. This story talks about a young love lost. A life that has continued on and would be considered happy and healthy. At a party with her husband Gretta hears a song that reminds her of her first love. This makes her quite upset and has her thinking about him all through out the rest of the night. Her husband has never heard the story of her first love before this night and is obviously a little jealous of her passion for him.

The meanings of this story i may perhaps be extracting more from my own life and things that i have notice in the people around me. The story seems illustrate a point that i have come to believe more in the past few years. The point of the story is that a first love never dies. There is some connection and bond formed by the first time a couple falls in love that never is repeated. The people may split and find love with others and never have anything more to do to each other but there is always some bond between them.

I think the reason first loves have such have such a strong and different bond, is due to a complete trust and no fear. Having never been hurt there is a comfort that the people find in each other that can never again be fully attained. In this story Gretta had this kind of memories of her first love, Michael Furey. She remembered only good things and never had any resolution with him. Her feelings grew and then just disappeared as he died. Since she never experienced a break or falling out with him he has remained special and important in her head, even if not thought about frequently.

The book doesn't make the point that there is no love after a first love. James Joyce doesn't seem to be of the opinion that their can only be one love in anyone's life. Perhaps he doesn't even intend to place a special emphasis on a first love. Only to point out that their can be love after one relationship has ended. The Dead isn't a story of sadness or pain. It shows a happily married wife just having some upsetting memories that brought her down for the day. Her life has been special and full of life she has been remarried. She obviously has a large group of close friends. It is just a reminder that our histories are still a part of us. A single song, The Lass of Aughrim, brings a past and pain mostly forgotten into her mind. Her past obviously still is a part of her.

The story gives hope to someone like me. After a first love falling apart and memories of that person seeming to be everywhere, I see hope that I can find love again. This may seem simple and easy, but i think many people forget things like this when a relationship comes to an end. The Dead is a reflection on those that were a part of your life in the past. Even if a person is not with you now they are still a part of your life and had an effect on you. This is true whether a loved one like in the story or just a close friend. It is a message that effects everyone at some point or another in their life.

Gretta in the stories acknowledges the need to move on in the story. She is asked by her husband if she loved Michael, but she doesn't give a straight answer of yes. Instead she just talks about how they were close friends. Realizing that there is no reason to make her new love jealous of a long gone past. “I suppose you were in love with this Michael Furey, Gretta? I was Great with him at that time.” So a simple statement can sum up the story as love never disappears and isn't only once in a life.