The Beginning is(n't) the End

       It seems as though "The Dead" recalls the opening story by reintroducing themes and images that Joyce used in “The Sisters.”

       "The Dead" and "The Sisters" share a number of images and ideas relating to death.  In Mr. Talbot's class last year, he explained that lilies are funeral flowers.  When the boy in The Sisters goes to see Father Flynn's body, he is overcome by, "a heavy odour in the room--the flowers" (6).  Presumably, these are lilies, whose strong scent is being used to cover up the smell of the body's decay.  This image of death is recalled in “The Dead” when the caretaker’s daughter is named Lily.

       Furthermore, the discussion of the monks in "The Dead" recalls the image of Father Flynn who has already been coffined when the boy sees his body.  The monks sleep in their coffins.  Father Flynn at the end of his life is, "solemn" in his coffin (5).  Furthermore, similar to "The Sisters" where the boy's aunt and the sisters make idle, superfluous chat, the guests at the party are similarly trite.  Ironically the only insightful comment comes from the drunk, Freddy Malins, who suggests that, "the monks were trying to make up for the sins committed by all the sinners in the outside world" (172).  Is Joyce trying to show the finality of the paralysis by creating circularity in the collection?  Or does the ending change things?

       The final scene of “The Dead” almost directly contrasts the opening scene of collection.  In “The Sisters,” the boy, looked at the priest’s house and, “studied the lighted square of window” which tells of the death of the priest (1).  In “The Dead,” Gabriel looks out of the window at the dimly lit street.   Gabriel is looking out the window, a symbol of freedom and escape, a portal to the outside world.  And Gabriel will take advantage of this opportunity to escape by going west and expanding his horizons.  The boy on the other hand eventually enters the house, trapping himself.  Could it be, though, that Gabriel being inside is trying to show that even as he has this spiritual revelation he is still physically trapped?  And is the early appearance of a Lily trying to imply that Gabriel's epiphany may not be as sincere as we may originally think--this story is an insincere disguise for the true decay of Dublin?