1. Death and Irish Revivalism in “The Dead”
Drew Chandler / 20 March 2015

2. THE ARGUMENT THE STORY ENDS WITH GABRIEL DECIDING TO KILL HIMSELF
GABRIEL IS THE VICTIM OF IRISH REVIVALIST THINKING ALL AROUND HIM (WITH ITS DISTINCTIVE NOSTALGIA FOR THE PAST)

3. THE LANGUAGE OF DEATH Falling snow “set out on his journey westward”
“better pass boldly into that other world”

4. WHY KILL HIMSELF? To imitate Michael Furey
Gretta would never love him as much as she loved Michael unless he too died for her

5. IRISH REVIVALISM Nationalism and Revivalism are not the same thing
nostalgic view of the past
desire to restore and preserve a pristine pre-colonial Celtic culture

6. JOYCE ON REVIVALISM Joyce referred to Revivalism as:
An anemic sham
A political delusion
A convenient fiction
Said the Irish must redefine themselves as a nation and not stay stuck in the past

7. EXAMPLES IN THE TEXT Miss Ivors
“Had she really any life of her own behind all her propagandism?”
Guests’ nostalgia for the great singers of the past
Gretta and “The Lass of Aughrim”

8. WHO ARE “THE DEAD”? “snow was general all over Ireland”
Those who are “perished alive”
Gabriel ultimately joins “the vast hosts of the dead”