104620510 is Joyce s the Dead a Postcolonial Work

7/29/2019 104620510 is Joyce s the Dead a Postcolonial Work

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Is Joyces The Deada postcolonial work?

Due to the way in which Joyce revised modernist writing, the scope for

postcolonial criticism was narrowed by the heavier emphasis on other aspects of his

work. However, in general postcolonial critics share a common conviction that

The full measure of Joyces achievements cannot be understood without

relating it to the Irish struggle for independence with a history still alive in

Irish political memory, a constantly changing course in Joyces lifetime, and

an unforeseeable future1

Therefore, when reading the text in a postcolonial context, many of the personal

situations described within it can be seen to be applicable to the bigger political

picture. All of the short stories withinDubliners appear to be very deeply rooted there

they describe certain streets in Dublin and place all of the characters on top of each

other, living all together in the crowded city. It is as if the city is a character it is not

merely that these stories happen to take place in Dublin. It is possible to read the

stories without knowledge of Dublin, but they appear to make much more sense when

read with a clear idea of where everyone is travelling and living, thus preference isalready placed upon the Irish reader. In the earlier stories, Joyce was much more

critical in his treatment of Dublin and the inhabitants, but by the time he writes The

Dead, the last of the stories inDubliners, he has taken on a much more sympathetic

tone of voice. In the same way Gabriel Conroy appears to soften his attitude towards

the country, so Joyces distance from his homeland makes him reflect again on his

previous notions.

The character Gabriel Conroy seems to be loosely based upon Joyce; they

have the same profession, both wrote for the same newspaper etc. However, Gabriel

appears to be very hostile towards Ireland. As far as he possibly can, he distances

himself from anything that appears too primative, and backwards, which is essentially

how he appears to view the west of Ireland. He is ashamed of the fact that his wife is

from Connacht, and when asked about this by Miss Ivors he replies her people are,

as if by extension trying to distance Gretta from Galway too. One of the ways in

which Miss Ivors challenges Gabriel is to draw attention to the fact that he writes for

1 Attridge & Howe, Semicolonial Joyce, p16

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theDaily Express, a pro-British newspaper, and thus calls him a West Briton. He

also takes his holidays abroad, rather than visiting the Irish-speaking Aran Islands, for

which he retorts its not my language. Gabriel appears to be associating more closely

with the culture imposed upon him i.e. English then his own, and becomes agitated

when Miss Ivors challenges him upon this. His use of pretentious language and his

assumed superiority very much characterise the colonial rulers, as he thinks what he

has to say and what he believes is more important and more valid than those around

him, who are more Irish than he is.

Both Miss Ivors and Gretta appear to be symbols of Ireland, although in less

obvious ways. Gretta just happens to be from Galway she expresses an interest in

going back, and later in the story it transpires that her heart has always stayed there,

but she is not nearly as vocal as Miss Ivors. Miss Ivors is incredibly nationalistic, she

did not wear a low-cut bodice2, as deplored by the Gaelic League, and she wears a

badge in the middle of her chest. It is almost as if the badge were over her larynx, and

thus all that she said is spoken through the slogans and ideals of the nationalists. She

talks to Gabriel of the Aran Islands, long believed to be the Irish ideal, and the

university question, which concerned whether or not there was Irish representation

in the syllabus. Later on in the story, Gabriel cannot hear the same music that Gretta

can in fact, he observes his wife as she listens to the music. Gabriel seems to have

successfully divorced himself from his heritage, and it is only when he is

contemplating his own mortality that he begins to accept it once more.

There seems to be an ideal that Miss Ivors harks back to, represented by the

Aran Islands and the west of Ireland in general. However, throughoutDubliners Joyce

appears to challenge this romantic notion. Even within The Dead, his most

sympathetically voiced, there is no real Ireland behind the faade. The closest we

get to that is embodied in Furey, and dreamed about by Gabriel as a snow covered

land, inhabited by shades.

To be Irish in these stories is to be a contemporary product of colonial

history. Frustration, materialism, obsession with legitimacy and respectability

make up precisely the territory which is the legacy of colonialism3

2 Jackson, Wyse,James Joyces Dubliners: An Annotated Edition, p1683 Platt, Len,Joyce and the Anglo-Irish: A Study of Joyce and the Literary Revival, p36

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Even Miss Ivors falls prey to this the obsession with the Gaelic League, which is in

effect a false notion to try and counteract the English influence. Even though it is the

original culture, it is as forced and at odds with modern society that the English

culture was. The very fact that she has to try and persuade people like Gabriel to go

visit his own country, and the badge placed so prominently on her chest betrays that

she is in effect playing a part.

Irish history is pervasive throughout the text, most notably with the concept of

the dead who are in the story. With Gabriel Conroy as the protagonist, a name taken

from the Bret Harte novel, allusions can be drawn between the two characters. Gabriel

Conroy in the Harte novel is leading a group of emigrants when they get trapped in a

snowstorm, and thus must resort to cannibalism. This actually draws upon a true story

of the Donner party travelling in the winter of 1847-48, which was the worst period

during the Famine.4 Thus, a great deal of importance is placed on food during the

story. This was a period when the colonised country was completely ignored by its

colonisers, echoed later in the song The Lass of Aughrim, which tells of the story of

a peasant woman, seduced and abandoned by Lord Gregory, with her child in her

arms begging to be allowed into his house.5 The peasant woman, long considered an

emblem of Ireland, and the seducer with his aristocratic claims as England, shows the

complete allusion; the country was abused and then betrayed by its colonisers during

the Famine. Joyces employment of the song within The Dead emphasises the

rejected Ireland nation, and the dead within the text are the many Irish peasants who

died during the Famine. Gabriel is haunted by their presence, the fact that he has

rejected the nation that he owes so much to. His guilt seems apparent when he wishes

to brush over the subject,

Our path through life is strewn with many such sad memories: and were we

to brood upon them always we could not find the heart to go on bravely with

our work among the living6

The re-occurrence of death imagery throughout the story show the haunting of

the dead of Ireland, and precursor the more personal haunting of Gabriel by Michael

Furey. Three mortal hours, perished alive, and of course Mr Browne, who is

4

Thompson, Spurgeon,Recovering Dubliners for Postcolonial Theory, p1955 Ellman, Richard, The Background of The Dead, p1786 Jackson, Wyse,James Joyces Dubliners: An Annotated Edition, p181

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constantly there and could be read as an allegory of death itself. As Gabriel ponders

upon his own mortality, his mind goes westwards. The reason for this is twofold; on

one hand, he could be accepting his own nationality and embracing Miss Ivors

suggestion of visiting the west. Also, in a Christian context, souls were believed to

travel westwards to ascend to heaven, and in an Irish context, to the Isles of the Blest.

Gabriel appears to finally believe that there may be something of some worth in his

homeland.

The two men within Grettas life are polar opposites of each other, and

considering Michael Furey appears to embody the Irish romanticism and heroism, this

would appear a pro-nationalist standpoint for Joyce to have written in. Gabriel and

Michael are opposites in every manner; Gabriel has a well filled shirt, Michael is

thin and lithe, Gabriel thinks he knows what love is, whereas Michael has died for

love of Gretta. Gabriel has literary pretensions, and Michael laboured in the gasworks.

Michaels eyes are also wide and dark, compared to Gabriels delicate ones, which

require glasses. This would appear to symbolise that Michael can see clearly and

Gabriel cannot; Michael is single minded in his ambition and appears to evoke one of

the great heroic figures of Ireland of a bygone era. The western Irish counteracts the

West Briton, as Gabriel begins to betray possessive, colonial tendencies towards his

western Irish wife, and is haunted by Furey. One reading of this could possibly be that

Furey represents the Irish spirit, sickly and young though it is, rising up once more to

haunt its colonial oppressors.7Grettas words would seem to enforce this, as she says

I think he died for me, which clearly echoes Yeatss drama Cathleen Ni Houlihan, in

which men die for Ireland, portrayed by a woman.

The use of language within the text is a method induced to show the difference

between the pretentious Gabriel to the western Gretta. Early on, Gabriel smiled at the

three syllables she had given his surname, which mocks her country accent. 8 Lots of

other idioms are employed by the characters two steps up the quay, youre the

comical girl etc. Some phrases in Irish are used as well, such as when Miss Ivors bids

them goodbye Beannacht libh. Also, other phrases are translated oddly into English

due to the Irish roots, so get his death is due to the translation of bs dfhaghil. 9

7 Valente, Joseph,James Joyce and the Cosmopolitan Sublime, p698

Jackson, Wyse,James Joyces Dubliners: An Annotated Edition, p1599 Wall, Richard,An Anglo-Irish Dialect Glossary for Joyces Works. Beannacht libh is to bestow ablessing upon someone, and someone does not die in Irish but get death - bs dfhaghil.

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It is a postcolonial tradition is to leave phrases and words within the text in the

original language, i.e. not the language of the colonisers. Joyce did not translate the

phrases used above it was only subsequent editors. Gibbons, a postcolonial critic,

notes that one of the features of literature of this type is the refusal to fix reference

points, and the refusal to name is allegorical to the silence induced by traumatic loss.

Though Gretta is captivated by the ballad sung, she cannot remember its name. 10 This

can also be read as a general allegory to the British conquering the Irish this

experience caused the Irish to lose their language and essentially be silenced. The

refusal to have a transparency to writing, by using words from their original language,

can be read as a form of rebellion against the ruling majority. This inability to name

divides Gretta and Gabriel she just listens to the song, whilst Gabriel watches her,

and at the end Gretta falls into a deep sleep whilst Gabriel muses upon mortality and

has a stream of consciousness.11

Essentially, The Dead can be very much read as a postcolonial product. The

usage of Irish phrases and words rather than just English, the portrayal of Furey as the

passionate, western Ireland spirit and Gabriels realisation that actually, his homeland

is not as backward as he once thought would all attest to this. The nationalism

portrayed by Miss Ivors may be too strong, and if Gabriel is supposed to be

representative of Joyce, perhaps this is his way in which he portrays his own feelings

in the face of such strong patriotism. However, the fact that he comes around to her

way of thinking by the end of the story, and is haunted by not only Grettas past, but

Irelands past in general as represented by the shades shows that the Irish history is

deeply engrained within him. He wishes to be more like Furey, to know true love as

he did, and as he gives into the dead all around him, and the history they represent, he

appears to be gaining a new appreciation of his country, over the culture imposed

upon him, which he pandered to with his literary pretension.

Word Count: 1,998

BIBLIOGRAPHY

10 Thompson, Spurgeon,Recovering Dubliners for Postcolonial Theory, p18811 Thompson, Spurgeon,Recovering Dubliners for Postcolonial Theory, p189

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Attridge, Derek and Marjorie Howe (eds), Semicolonial Joyce, Cambridge University

Press, UK, (2000)

Ellman, Richard, The Backgrounds of The Dead, essay within anthologyJames

Joyce: Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, ed. Morris Beja,

general editor A. E. Dyson, Macmillan Education Ltd, London (1990)

Jackson, Wyse,James Joyces Dubliners: An Annotated Edition, Sinclair Stevenson,

Great Britain (1993)

Platt, Len,Joyce and the Anglo-Irish: A Study of Joyce and the Literary Revival

(Rodopi, Netherlands, 1998)

Thompson, Spurgeon,Recovering Dubliners for Postcolonial Theory, essay within

anthology,A New & Complex Sensation: Essays on Joyces Dubliners, ed. Oona

Frawley (The Lilliput Press, Ireland, 2004)

Valente, Joseph,James Joyce and the Cosmopolitan Sublime, essay in anthology,

Joyce and the Subject of History, ed. Mark A. Wollaeger, Victor Luftig and Robert

Spoo (University of Michigan Press 1996)

Wall, Richard,An Anglo-Irish Dialect Glossary for Joyces Works (Colin Smythe,

Great Britain, 1986)

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104620510 is Joyce s the Dead a Postcolonial Work