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"He's really an awful bother, what with green shades for Tom's eyes at night and making him do the dumb-bells, and forcing Eva to eat the stirabout. The poor child! And she simply hates the sight of it!... O, but you'll never guess what he makes me wear now!... Goloshes!”
Gretta delivers this line to Julia and Kate when she and Gabriel arrive at the party. It is delivered in jest with a light and teasing air but the line is exceptionally revealing. This is one of the first times that the reader is afforded a glimpse into Gabriel’s controlling nature. Gretta is gently poking fun at her husband but she also highlights the imbalanced nature of the Conroy household for the first time.
“And what did he die of so young, Gretta? Consumption, was it?"
“I think he died for me.”
This exchange between Gabriel and Gretta occurs at the very end of the short story when Gretta finally tells Gabriel about Micheal Furey. Gretta’s comment, “I think he died for me,’ is incredibly short but it is her most important line in the text. In just a mere six words, Joyce informs the reader that Gretta is haunted by the memory of her former love and has blamed herself all of these years for his untimely death.
