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Music
Music fills almost every page of “The Dead,” whether it is a description of the Morkans’ musical abilities, the references to Mary Jane’s music students, discussions of church choirs and opera singers, or the three musical performances that occur during the party—the most significant of which is D’Arcy’s rendition of “The Lass of Aughrim” that mesmerizes Gretta.
The repeated references to music has two key functions in the text. First and foremost, Dubliners is a collection of short stories that offers a realistic depiction of what life was like for the Irish middle class in the early 20th century. The repeated references to music is a part of this depiction because it provides a glimpse into Ireland’s rich musical tradition and immerses the reader in Irish culture. Music also plays a more figurative role in the short story. “The Dead” is largely a rumination on the cycle of life. Joyce uses music as a motif in his story about mortality because a song, like a human life, has a beginning, middle, and end. Songs are also often repeated and passed down through memory just like a person’s memory is kept alive after they are gone. Joyce’s decision to link music and death culminates at the end of the story when “The Lass of Aughrim” blurs the lines between the living and the dead as the memory of Micheal Furey imposes on Gretta and Gabriel.
The Color Gray
The color gray is mentioned four times throughout “The Dead.” The first three references to the color gray center around the elderly Julia Morkan. Gabriel mentions that his Aunt Julia’s hair is gray twice. He also says that her “large flaccid face” is gray with “darker shadows.” Finally, in the story’s last paragraphs, Gabriel watches the snow outside his hotel window and reflects that his sense of self is “fading out into a grey impalpable world.”
Joyce’s repeated references to the color gray are meant to represent the looming presence of death. Gabriel’s Aunt Kate is one of the oldest people in the text. Gabriel frequently points out her aged appearance, her frailty, and her often confused mental state. In most of these examples, the color gray accompanies Gabriel’s assessment of his Aunt Julia. Joyce uses the color gray to describe this elderly woman and convey that she is not long for this world. The association of the color gray and death makes its final return at the very end of the text. Gabriel, who has just spent the past few moments thinking about the long-dead Micheal Furey and imagining Julia’s hypothetical funeral, reflects on his own mortality and feels both his identity and the material world melting away into the gray and intangible land of the dead.
