Just as they leave the party, without understanding why Bartell D'Arcy's singing has Gretta acting all weird, Gabriel feels so strongly toward his wife that he, like Farrington, has to hold himself back to keep from doing something inappropriate: "He longed to be alone with her" (The Dead.355). Things take a turn for the even more emotional and serious in the last few pages of the story, when he discovers that his relationship to Gretta turns out to consist of equal parts love and disappointment. So we think the dude should take a chill pill.īut of course he doesn't. Even though he claims that he's most comfortable carving a turkey, his words move his aunts to tears. As it turns out, Gabriel's speech goes over quite nicely. He's worried about condescending to his audience, about whether he sounds like a jerk for using very intellectual allusions, and even about whether Miss Ivors will hear him and object to his words. Their brief chat bothers him so much that he thinks about it later in the story, showing us that this poor guy is more than a little neurotic.Īnxiety makes its way into "The Dead" again when Gabriel frets about the speech he'll give over dinner. Then, when he gives her a tip, it's pretty awkward. All he does is ask her if she's going to be married soon, and she bites his head off. Sure, he's just arrived at what should be a big bash, but Gabriel's first feeling is one of shame for how his talk with Lily works out.
All of the other stories' intricate investigations of the feelings of love, shame, anxiety, and disappointment anticipate Gabriel's "arrival" in "The Dead." So put on your thinking caps, because you're about to tackle one of the most important characters in the entire collection. In fact, Gabriel's role in all of Dubliners is a little bit like this.
Without him, who knows what would happen? That's in part because Gabriel's part of the family (Aunt Kate and Aunt Julia are his aunts), and also because they can trust him to keep an eye on things. Before we even meet Gabriel Conroy, there's a lot of anticipation surrounding his arrival at the Morkans' annual party.
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