James Joyce’s “The Dead”: A Manifestation of Paralysis and Epiphanies in the Character of Gabriel Conroy

Abstract

on 2 Modernism is a socially progressive trend of thought that affirms the power of human beings to create, improve and reshape their environment. It has always encouraged the re-examination of every aspect of existence (Berman 16). Modernist literary men were free to choose their own content, they were no longer writing for the aristocracy or guided by the church; they wrote about society and felt bounded to their own people (Barret 20). The great literary tradition of Ireland presented the Irish people by shedding light on what differentiates them from Europeans in general and the British in particular. Writers merely criticized the general atmosphere in modern Ireland with all the social problems reigning such as emigration, poverty, and social paralysis (Kilroy 07). Writers such as James Joyce revealed unanticipated dimensions on the lyrical, humane and visionary level. Joyce provided further confirmation to this change; he related his artistic development to the cosmopolitan life of Dublin and contributed to the dissection of both, the social life and its psychological effects on the people (Cowley 42).....