Category: The Dead

James Joyce is lauded for his distinct style of writing in free direct discourse. Though his style may seem chaotic and disjointed, Joyce adds a single fixture to his narratives that conveys a unity and connects the otherwise haphazard dialogue. In The Dead, the final story of Joyce’s masterpiece, Dubliners, the symbol of snow unites the characters and is cause for a drastic transformation in the dynamic character, Gabriel. Snow is the catalyst that unifies mankind through the flawed essence of human nature, and expands Gabriel’s narrow mind as he escapes from a superficial mindset and enters a world of imperfect humanity

Snowflakes are random, unique and fragile, and thus symbolic of human nature. Humanity overflows with faults and quirks, which constitute life. The versatility and volatility of snow mirrors the human disposition. For example, melting snow becomes weak and transparent water, exemplifying the pathetic, but common characteristics of humanity. Frozen snow becomes hard, strong, and unshakable ice; this represents the domineering characteristics of humanity. Joyce uses snow to illustrate both the weak and the strong traits of water and ice, thus snow represents the fissures and cracks, as well as the strength and beauty, that embody life.

Just as falling snow covers all of nature, Joyce’s snow unifies humanity with the imperfect uniqueness of human nature. The snow affects every guest arriving at Julia and Kate’s party, Freddie the watery drunk, D’Arcy the icy tenor and the many characters in between. Humanity is connected through the flawed traits of the human situation, personified in the ubiquitous blanket of snow

Gabriel is a man obsessed with a superficial perfection, which in the beginning of the party causes him to fear the harsh reality of human nature. The moment that Gabriel enters his elderly aunt’s party, his actions speak alone for his mightier-than-thou attitude. Upon his arrival, Gabriel’s curt remark towards his wife for causing their late arrival, perfectly sets his tone as he initially tries to escape from the snow. Gabriel, “stood on the mat scraping the snow from his galoshes…He continued scraping his feet vigorously… A light fringe of snow lay like a cape on the shoulders of his overcoat and like toecaps on the toes of his galoshes”. His pointed comment towards his spouse uncovers his self-conceived dominance in the relationship, and the force he uses to rid himself of any snow shows how hard Gabriel works to appear sophisticated and free of the troubles of humanity. This is the first instance that Gabriel comes into contact with the symbolic snow, and the most pertinent, for his hurry to shed the snow that unifies the party guests, directly detaches him from the rest of the group and from the flaw that befalls them all. Later again galoshes are the subject of conversation when Gretta, Gabriel’s wife, makes mention of her husband’s demand that she wear galoshes in the snow. She jokes, “Tonight even he wanted me to put them on, but I wouldn’t. The next thing you know he’ll be buying me a diving suit”. Not only does this exemplify the extremes he will go through to protect his wife and himself from the snow, but the mention of the diving suit relates to the snow in the form of water; Gabriel is petrified of snow in any form. Again, this discourse shows the distinct differences between him and his wife, which is furthered when Gabriel jokes that Gretta would walk home in the snow if he would let her. Gretta immerses herself in true humility, in this case the snow. This serves as ironic juxtaposition to the superficial and arrogant world of her husband. The entrance of the couple immediately sets Gabriel apart from the guests, due to his reaction towards the unifying snow.

Adding to his arrogant entrance, Gabriel’s superior feeling is further unfurled when he nervously rehearses the speech he will give at dinner, deciding that the subject matter is “above the heads” of the guests. He toys with speaking of something on their level and less intellectual by his standards. Again he feels no unity with, in his estimation, the lower class guests who possess an abundance of faults. Like Gabriel’s reaction towards the snow upon his arrival, his attitude towards the guests reveals he does not wish to share a unity with his fellow man, and he disguises any signs of a weak nature.

Furthering his detachment is a surprising confrontation with his dance partner, Miss Ivors, which separates Gabriel even more from the snowy blanket of commonness and imperfections that envelopes the other guests. Twice Miss Ivors confronts Gabriel: about writing for a paper that represents the opposition; as well as asking him to vacation near his wife’s hometown in Northern Ireland. His angry reply to both instances is curt, especially to the vacation offer, “O, to tell you the truth, retorted Gabriel suddenly, I’m sick of my own country, sick of it!”. This outburst, incited by Miss Ivors’ offer, breaks any remaining unity that Gabriel has with the party guests. During the dialogue, Miss Ivors is described in the following manner, “Miss Ivors promptly took his hand in a warm grasp” and “Miss Ivors said warmly”. What little human nature and unity with fellow men Gabriel had left, Miss Ivors’ warmth melted away, like it was snow. Miss Ivor’s ability to melt the unifying snow is made clear through her political obsession. This breaks her unity with the group and sets her up to further Gabriel’s fleeting ties to his peers. Miss Ivors’ character and Gabriel’s reactions towards her serve as tools that are used to completely isolate Gabriel from the snow and what it represents.

Midway through the party, Gabriel’s superficial outlook begins to thaw. Gabriel, as a human being, lacks the warmth that comes from the friction of ordinary humanity. He is a cold person who is perhaps afraid that being covered by snow will indeed freeze him. Yet a transformation begins when he finds himself reflecting upon life as he stares out the window and the pure omnipresent snow draws his attention, as is seen when, “Gabriel’s warm trembling fingers tapped the cold pane of the window. How cool it must be outside! How pleasant it would be to walk alone, first along by the river and through the park… how much more pleasant it would be than here at the dinner table”. Gabriel is drawn to the snow and his yearning to leave the table and walk through it is the first sign that he wishes to cast aside his condescending demeanor and find the meaning in his life, buried under the ice. Gabriel feels no emotional connection with anyone from the party, and here he seems ready to drop his haughty facade; the flaws of humanity seem more appealing.

When finally exposed to the snow again he is overcome with an awareness that is unmistakably human. For example, during their walk home from the party, Gabriel is overcome by the beauty in his wife and feels a love that he has not seen since their matrimony; it is a sentiment that is strange and new to him. Though physically brisk, walking in the snow melts the protective layers Gabriel has built up. Gabriel discovers that he must open his inner self and let out the friction of his true struggles. It is only now that Gabriel is vulnerable to human emotion. At the hotel, Gretta reveals a secret that prevents her from reciprocating her husband’s newfound love. To some, this scandalous information may seem to have a reverting affect on Gabriel’s selfrevelations, yet despite the news, his brand new consciousness permits him to feel more alive than he ever was when he was hidden amongst superficiality. Greta’s saddening story allows him to feel real human pain, and for the first time he puts up no guard against the agony of humanity and he feels sincere humility. The truth and reality behind Greta’s confession only helps to immerse him in the snowfall of compassion. He falls asleep at peace with the snow that has fallen over his universe, fully uniting him with humanity: “His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead”. Gabriel undergoes an epiphany that the idiosyncrasies of human nature are unavoidable, and by immersing himself in the snow, he shares a unity that makes him feel alive.

Joyce defines modest aspects of humanity through the vulnerable forms of snowfall, and unites mankind with the snow’s omnipotence. It is the snow that Gabriel initially shuns, and it is the snow that finally opens Gabriel to the idea of humanness. Joyce’s purposefully chaotic writing style truly mirrors the muddled emotions of Gabriel, before he is swallowed by the blizzard of humility and human imperfection.

In the short story, The Dead from the novel Dubliners by James Joyce, readers are led through a bustling, yet monotonous, dinner party by the protagonist Gabriel Conroy, an intelligent, impersonal, “cold-air” introvert who is constantly found present in his own thoughts, rather than mentally present in the majority of situations throughout the plot. In the critical essay, also titled The Dead, Eric Rapp explores the state of Gabriel’s “paralysis” stating “[t]hroughout most of the story it is clear the Gabriel is trapped in his own self-consciousness”. Through Gabriel’s many blunders—specifically in regards to his encounters with antagonists and his mental responses to such conflict—readers are able to understand and observe Gabriel “faintly-falling” as well as the innate need for his upcoming epiphany that is to come, made possible only through James Joyce’s ingenious usage of these two literary devices.

The purpose of antagonists is to incite or bring about conflict within a plot line in order for the story to gain momentum. In doing so, antagonists hold the ability to reveal certain characteristics of the protagonist through creating conflict and the protagonist’s methods in coping with this conflict, which readers may otherwise not be able to see. In the case of Gabriel Conroy, the main protagonist in the book Dubliners, Mrs. Molly Ivors, an antagonist, creates conflict in order to reveal Gabriel’s over-thinking nature. In Dubliners: The Dead, Gabriel encounters Mrs. Ivors, an Irish nationalist and close colleague of Gabriel, at his aunts’ Christmas party where she playfully addresses her discovery of Gabriel’s writing for a newspaper with political-leanings which promote the ideals and nuances of British thinking. She states she is ashamed of him—he states he isn’t. Finally, the teasing drives Gabriel to the point of loudly and publicly stating that he is tired of his homeland after she asks him why he would rather visit other countries than travel around Ireland:

“‘O, to tell you the truth,’ retorted Gabriel suddenly, ‘I’m sick of my own country, sick of it…’”Riddled with embarrassment and agitation, Gabriel is quiet when Molly asks for his reasons why, before playfully whispering in his ear, “West Briton!” Throughout the story afterward, he constantly ponders on what Molly had said: “Was she sincere? Had she really any life of her own behind all her propagandism? There had never been any ill-feeling between them until that night. It unnerved him to think that she would be at the supper-table, looking up at him while he spoke with her critical quizzing eyes. Perhaps she would not be sorry to see him fail in his speech”.

Going hand-in-hand with the role of the antagonist is the omniscient narrator— specifically, third-person limited. With the presence of this omniscient narrator, readers are given the ability to further delve into the inner thoughts, motives, and characteristics of the story’s protagonist. In the case of Gabriel Conroy, readers are able to observe his true thoughts and motives in order to properly understand his over-thinking, over-analyzing character. When faced with conflict, Gabriel often retreats into his mind: a coping mechanism in which he is able to hide, ponder situations, and analyze minute details in order to ascertain what outside characters may think of him, or rather, what outside characters are thinking altogether. In the scene following his Aunts’ dinner party, Gabriel looks upon his wife, Gretta, as she stands at the top of the staircase, looking onwardly in a mysterious, captivating manner toward the direction in which she hears music playing. Struck with sudden infatuation of this “distant-music” image of his wife, he aims to seduce her into the same state of infatuation that she has unintentionally cast him in. When his attempts fail, he “burning-redly” questions himself on what it is that she appears to be preoccupied with: “He was trembling now with annoyance. Why did she seem so abstracted? He did not know how he could begin. Was she annoyed, too, about something? If she would only turn to him or come to him of her own accord! To take her as she was would be brutal. No, he must see some ardour in her eyes first. He longed to be master of her strange mood”.

Rather than asking Gretta what it is that might be wrong, Gabriel retreats back into his mind in order to ask himself. Distraught, annoyed and upset that his message is not being received, he seeks answers only through analysis of details he observes: a prime example of Gabriel’s over-analytical tendencies. Through the voice of the omniscient narrator following his train-of-thought when faced with this dilemma, readers are able to understand his over-thinking nature in a way that would otherwise be impossible.

“The Dead” by James Joyce, from Dubliners, centers around the events that take place at an annual Christmas party in Dublin, Ireland. This short story follows the protagonist, Gabriel Conroy, who is thrust into these events, and is the only character that expresses his discontent with the state of Ireland. His unhappiness is a direct result of those around him unable to abandon their past lives and beliefs about Ireland. Joyce examines the notion that one must overcome the past in order to embrace the present through the use of exploring the lives of the characters and their inability to escape their memories and the familiarity of Ireland.

The characters in the story fear the unknown and desire to remain in the past and, as a result, remain unable to escape their daily routine and remain in a paralysis. In fearing the unknown, the characters in the story are repulsed by any sort of change that may occur, especially a change from their surroundings – Ireland. Gabriel Conroy expresses his desire to situate himself elsewhere for the Summer, and is immediately chastised for this by another guest at the party, Miss Ivors. The connotation used by Joyce creates the mood and reflects the beliefs of the guests at the dinner party. While being berated for his preference to visit another country, “Their neighbours had turned to listen to the cross-examination,”. The connotation behind “crossexamination” makes it apparent that Miss Ivors is berating Gabriel Conroy for making the conscious choice to explore rather than to stay in Ireland, and attempting to discredit him. His defence that he desires to have a change does not please Ivors, as she is opposed to any transformations made, even the proposition of one. Her failure to comprehend why Conroy would desire to leave Ireland is further exemplified when she demands a reason for this, “…I’m sick of my own country! – Why? Gabriel did not answer,”. Again, the reader may note the connotation used by Joyce. Gabriel makes the conscious effort to not reply to Ivors, not because he cannot provide an answer, but because he does not wish to. When demanded to provide reason for his disgust for Ireland, Gabriel chooses not to answer, as he knows Miss Ivors will not understand his desire to visit elsewhere and have a change in his life. Ivors is presented as the ardent Irish nationalist, representing a foil for Conroy. She enforces all that he does not believe in, especially her confidence in her Irish heritage. Miss Ivors refuses to possess the desire for change, as she, like many humans, has the innate fear that change will bring harm to her life. As a result, she remains in the routine of Ireland, and her life.

The characters’ fixation on the past is expressed by the music the characters choose to listen to and their contempt expressed when more recent singers are mentioned. The characters attempt to compete for their loyalty to old Ireland through mentioning past Irish singers. The obsession with remaining in the familiar and longing for Dublin’s past is expressed through their desire to listen to music from the past and their disdain for music made in the present. Each character attempts to trump the age of the singer mentioned before, proving their allegiance to old Dublin, “Mr. Browne could go back farther still…Those were the days, he said, when there was something like singing to be heard in Dublin,”. Again, the characters express their fear of change in Dublin. Mr. Browne expresses the desire for a time in the past that he knows, rather than listening to music that he is unfamiliar with. Unfamiliarity of the singers brings disgust to the characters in the story as they refuse to accept any sort of change. The characters believe that their allegiance to Dublin is proven by their refusal to accept this change. Their longing for past Dublin disallows the characters to accept change and forces them to remain in the familiarity of it, “…I presume there are as good singers to-day as there were then. – Where are they?… – In London, Paris, Milan… – I doubt it strongly,”. The character, Mr. Bartell D’arcy, attempts to provide an alternative to the singers from the past and suggests there is a possibility of such great singers in other countries, but is immediately chastised for suggesting there be something greater than what is associated with Ireland’s past. The characters’ expression of their desire to remain in the familiarity of the past and Ireland is evidently conveyed through their choice of singers. It is this inability to accept change and the refusal to believe in anything greater than Ireland’s past that traps the characters into a paralysis and their familiar routine.

Joyce uses the notion of reminiscing on love surpassing the desire to find new love and create new memories in order to express the characters’ desires for the familiar. Transfixed by the past, Gretta Conroy remains in love with her past lover throughout her marriage, which prevents her from having any true passion and true love. The desire to retain these memories of the past is revealed in her desire to revisit the place where her love formed, “Perhaps that was why you wanted to go to Galway with that Ivors girl?” (219). Gabriel Conroy accuses his wife of having the desire to remain in Ireland for the summer to revisit her old love. Gretta’s past love and her memories of him remain in Galway, Ireland. Her attempt to preserve these memories lies in her desire to revisit the location of where they were made, rather than desire to create new ones with her current husband. Her past love prevails the emotion for her current husband, and she has remained in a marriage lacking love and passion. Her desires have caused her to experience a spiritual and emotional death. Her fixation on the past is what ultimately brings misery to both her and her husband’s life, “While he had been full of memories of their secret life together, full of tenderness and joy and desire, she had been comparing him in her mind with another,” (219). Unbeknownst to her husband, Gretta had loved another throughout the entirety of their marriage, resulting in a loveless relationship. The realization that his wife has been in love with another man brings Gabriel Conroy to an epiphany. While he had been able to create new memories and live in the present, his wife was living in the past and unable to leave the familiar. He believes he has been deceived in their marriage and she has never truly loved him. Her preoccupation with her dead lover and the past is what ultimately brings misery to her and her husband’s life. The attempt to retain the past results in destroying the present.

The characters in the novel signify the human desire to remain with what they understand and are familiar with. The inability to desire change is expressed through their desire to remain in Ireland, and especially with their longing for Ireland’s past. The characters long for the familiar, refusing to venture from the familiarity of Ireland. Ireland, is understood to be great only when associated with the past, and as a result, the fixation on the past is present throughout the story. The desire for the familiar is what causes the characters to remain in their individual states of paralysis and unhappiness. A fixation on the past disallows humans to appreciate the present and consequently, results in misery.

The novel, The Dead by James Joyce begins with the character, Gabriel and his wife, Gretta arriving at an annual dinner party. At this party, Gabriel has different encounters with several different people. Throughout The Dead, themes begin to reveal themselves, jealousy and masculinity/male pride, as well as anti-nationalism, death, and women. The second novel I will be looking at is Things Fall Apart, which is a book by Chinua Achebe that is about a man named Okonkwo who is in an African clan. Inside this clan a certain chain of events leads to the downfall of Okonkwo and his position in the clan.

The themes in Things Fall Apart are fate, tradition, masculinity and repression. Although both of these stories are set in two drastically different places the themes can relate to each other in the same ways they also contrast from each other. A theme that both The Dead by Jame Joyce and Things Fall Apart by Chinua share is masculinity, although both of these books share this theme masculinity is shown in various different forms. One example of masculinity In The Dead is when Gabriel is speaking to the maid, when he sees he angers her with a question regarding her love life, in which he doesn’t know how to react so he gives her a large tip which he hopes will solve his problem.

Later when conversing with Miss Ivors it seems like she had angered Gabriel but Gabriel does not see how his pride consumed him which made Miss Ivors leave the party earlier than expected. This is an example of how Gabriel is so overruled by his inner masculinity that he is unable to recognize how this could bother Lily and instead of replying with something that can relieve the situation he uses money as a way to pardon himself. Gabriel has a thrive to be a “master” to his wife, towards the end, he finds out that his wife is thinking of another man which enrages him and makes him jealous instead of becoming sad and disappointed. He’s jealous and threatened of a dead man, He fears he’ll never experience a love like his wife as he is scared he doesn’t love his wife like Michael Furey did. He later realizes that he’s been so self involved with his masculinity that he knows he’ll never come close to what Michael Furey was to Gretta. When it comes to the novel, Things Fall Apart masculinity is seen as more of a physical attribute than it being how a man might act. Kwadwo Osei-Nyame stated in his essay “Masculine traditions operate as forms of consciousness that act foremostly to legitimize specific ideals and values and to distribute and restrict authority within Umuofia, one of the most powerful of Igbo communities.” Umuofia is not only ‘feared by all its neighbours,’ but is also’powerful in war and magic’ (8). Achebe relates the reasons behind individual and communal crises in a society in which war heroes, titled and’ wealthy subjects, and other celebrated figures are dominantly male.” Many of the choices he made were based on masculinity which was highly valued in the clan. Masculinity also serves as the reason of Okonkwo’s downfall as he fails to separate masculinity from power.

This masculinity leads to the death of Ikemefuna who viewed him as his own father. Although he thinks this is what he needs to do, many situations appear in front of him to which don’t follow the path of masculinity and aggression. This toxic trait also leads Okoknwo to kill himself in the end as he can not face the punishment he has been given because he has too much pride within. Even though Okonkwo, Nwoye’s father cares about this masculinity trait, Nwoye is unable to recognize that this trait was the reason his father went down the path that he did. Luckily this trait which Okokwo has is what makes Nwoye realize the wrongdoings of his father and the clan. Although, masculinity is shown in different ways in both these stories, they still share this common theme. As the story continues to unfold the title The Dead by James Joyce shows that the “dead” is also a theme this book has. Both Gabriel and Gretta, have connections with the dead. A good example of this is Michael Furey, Gretta’s ex lover who she thinks died in the cold trying to confess his love to her. To Gabriel it doesn’t matter how long ago it was, or how much they knew each other he is still threatened by it. Gretta’s connection with the deceased Michael is the purest love and only love she will ever receive. Gabriel wants to be a “master” to his wife but now knows it isn’t possible because of what Micheal has done for her.

This shows the grip a dead person can have onto the living, to Gretta the significances of someone dying for her is enough for her to never forget the person. Jim LeBlanc writes about this in his article “Although Joyce’s tale is strewn from beginning to end with refer- ences to death, dying, and the deceased, the most compelling and haunting element in “The Dead” is undoubtedly Gretta’s poignant memory of her teenage love, Michael Furey, and the effect that her tearful sharing of this recollection with her husband Gabriel has on the couple.” Just as the way the snow falls on Ireland covering it, so will death, the acceptance of it and how it’s inevitable. This is one of the realizations Gabriel comes across as his wife Gretta sleeps, as Loomis stated “Gabriel’s experience is intellectual only at that level on which intellect and emotional intuition blend, and the full power of the story can be apprehended by the reader only if he sympathetically shares the experience with Gabriel. As understanding of himself,then of his world, then of humanity floods Gabriel, so under? standing of Gabriel, his world, and humanity in terms of the story floods the reader.” During this part of the reading this is the only place where Gabriel is being empathetic and reflecting on the world, seeing what everyone shares, death. At some point through the story Gabriel has more connections to someone whose passed away, his mother. He thinks about how his mother did not agree with the marriage between him and Gretta, but is also why he is currently successful, idealizing the marriage. Soon after Gabriel comes to the realization that he thinks about his Aunt Julia and sees how death will come for everyone as he states “One by one they were all becoming shades,” “Shades” could suggest to fade away and die. Although, the theme of death doesn’t completely relate to Things Fall Apart in some ways it can be connected to the killing of Ikemefuna and how it had a grip on Okonkwo. Ikemefuna had a major influence on Okonkwo and his life. The passing of Ikemefuna could be tied into how Okonkwo’s leadership and roll in the clan fell apart and dissipated. Death was able to assist with the downfall and total collapse of Okonkwo it is interesting to see how one’s influence which has been gone for years can still react to someone living in the present. Throughout “The Dead” it seems like Gabriel does not show much attention toward his country, Ireland, which contributes to the theme of anti-nationalism. He also makes it really clear on how he wants leave and shows his interest in Europe in the conversation he shares with Mr. Browne and Mr. Bartell D’arcy on how every talented person goes to London, Milan and Paris.

Continuing in the story we find out more about gabriels anti-nationalism when during a conversation that Gabriel has with Miss Ivors, she states ““Well, I’m ashamed of you,” said Miss Ivors frankly. “To say you’d write for a paper like that. I didn’t think you were a West Briton.”” This response by Miss Ivors is directed towards how Gabriel wrote a column in a newspaper company that is known for being anit-nationalist. Even though Miss Ivors clearly sees the issue, Gabriel does not see anything wrong with what he did. The conversation continues and becomes more aggressive with Miss Ivors pokes fun of Gabriel by calling him “West Briton” which means that he chooses to side more with England. Although, it is clear to the reader that Gabriel is not happy with being in Ireland, he seems to not notice it but when he says to Miss ivors “I’m sick of it.” and she asked why, he was not able to give her an answer. Although, most of the attention is set on Gabriel, the women of this story play a big role. The aunt shows examples of how during this time women did not have a voice. Her experience with the pope and her stories about how women are not allowed to sing in the church quire provides evidence of how women were looked down upon. The result of this makes her angry, she states “I know all about the honour of God, Mary Jane, but I think it’s not at all honourable for the pope to turn out the women of the choirs that have slaved there all their lives and put little whipper-snappers of boys over their heads. I suppose it is for the good of the Church if the pope does it. But it’s not just Mary Jane, and it’s not right.”

During this time period that the book was set in , its not common to speak “fouly” about the church and pope, which later prompts her to take back all her statements and for her to later state how wrong it was of her to go against the pope. It isn’t certain if she had truly meant the words she said towards the pope as she may of been wary of what might happen to her, which shows an example of how women are looked down upon and the church is above all during this time. After this Mr. Browne goes on to talk about how women should and are to be expected to behave in Ireland. Gabriel is happy with how Gretta does not disobey him and acts like how a woman/wife are “suppose” to, which aids in the persona of portraying a “damsel in distress”. The way Gabriel feels about women connects with his masculinity as he feels controlling and demeaning women makes him stronger. Towards the end of the story, Gabriel came to the realization about how his wife does not love him because he was too concentrated on how controlling and becoming obsessed with becoming a “master” to his wife he was. Even though women aren’t a theme in Things Fall Apart, repression is, which what Okonkwo feels in his clan. Which is Similar to how women in The Dead are forced to repress their emotions for society. Repression is an important theme in Things Fall Apart, Okonkwo is proud of his masculinity because of how masculinity is admired in the clan, it also suppresses Okonkwo emotions leading to certain choices he’s made. As Kwadwo Osei-Nyame stated “Okonkwo’s masculinity becomes a defensive resource and his adherence to a masculine philosophy will thenceforth order his world. In articulating his identity and justifying his actions, he cultivates his masculinity as a defense of personal honor in the face of potentially overwhelming circumstances in an antagonistic universe.

The obsession with masculinity is an essential shield marked also by the excessive indulgences expressed in Okonkwo’s outrageous assertiveness and his intense repudiation of certain subjective values such as ‘gentleness’ and ‘idleness.’” We are able to see how he repressed his emotions in fear of not being seen as strong and powerful in his clan, which resulted in him making choices that he might not want to do, but feels like he does not have another choice. As said in the story “Okonkwo never showed any emotion openly, unless it be the emotion of anger. To show affection was a sign of weakness; the only thing worth demonstrating was strength.” This shows how repressing his emotions had taken a toll on him and how all the emotions that are bottled up within had turned into aggression. The symbolism of tradition and change are represented through Okonkwo and his son Nwoye. Okonkwo being a father figure represents tradition as he has certain ways of expressing certain values like masculinity and ranking within the clan. Okonkwo represents tradition as the clan turns away from him the tradition along with him begins to crumble. Then the story proceeds to present his fall as he murders Ikemefuna, a boy who saw Okonkwo as a father and a brother to Nwoye. Nwoye often did not feel the need to express masculinity like his father did but more like his grandfather, making his father wished he was different. Once Nwoye finds out about what his father had done, it pushes Nwoye even further away from him. This collection of events is where Nwoye is seen as change, he questions the ways of the clan such as the idea of sacrifice for example, the sacrifice of Ikemefuna who was innocent as well as the sacrifice of baby twins whose life was taken away from the. Events like this made him decide to cut his connection to the clan and their ways and join Christianity. Okonkwo got to his position in the clan by being aggressive and masculine. As the story unfolds he begins not taking responsibility for his actions but instead acussing fate for everything that went wrong,where he’s wrong is that he had a choice for the action he made before being confined to them. His neighbor Obierika tried to talk him out of killing Ikemefuna, expressing to him how Ikemefuna views Okonkwo as a father and how it is not right that he would be the one to kill him, the elder Ezeudu also expressed his concerns to Okonkwo about the killing. Actions like this show how the choice he made with free will lead him to this fate of exile after accidentally killing Ezeudu’s son. The Dead James Joyce and Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe might be very different but actually share similar themes. These two novels define many issues that have to do with stigma based around cultures as well as ideologies. It is interesting to see how a group of people can become almost brainwashed by those around them, The people who rebelled against these notions can be seen as heros of not only their time but ours. It is important not to follow every trend or ideology that is in society as they can be many times toxic.