Please do start sharing your responses to the latter stages of the story, too (especially as we look ahead to our 20 minutes of concluding conversation on Friday). What/when, specifically, is the moment of epiphany for Gabriel in this story? If an epiphany involves seeing the world or one's self anew, what is it that Gabriel learns? What is his response upon hearing Gretta's story about Michael Furey and then in what ways does that response evolve? What does it mean when we learn that "the time had come for him to set out on his journey westward"? By the end of the story, and we start to work our way through this question in class today, how do you understand the many connotations of the story's title? How do you respond to this story and film personally -- in what ways does it speak to you and your own life? Well, there should be something in there that will tempt you. Hope to see some of you drop by this space and share a thought or observation in the coming days! Enjoy the film!
Monday, November 2, 2015
The Hazards of Love
I guess I'm borrowing my title here from that Decemberists record from some years ago that so seems to divide the band's fans into two camps (in a love it or hate it kind of way ... I happen to be very pro-Hazards of Love!) ... Anyway, Gabriel experiences the hazards of love, to be sure, and my intent here is to create this thread to share and discuss any passages from "The Dead" that you find to be worthy of comment or question, especially as we look ahead to the film on Wednesday and Friday. It'd be great to collect some observations and testimony about your reading of the story, and then, later in the week, about your impressions of the film. Does the film enhance (or possibly detract from) your understanding of and appreciation for the story? Of Gabriel's character? Are there particular scenes or aspects that stand out? I certainly pick up new things every time I watch the film: John Huston clearly has a wonderful attention to detail that must arise not only from his skill as a filmmaker, but also from his deep immersion in Joyce's story. As I mentioned yesterday, I always get a kick out of Mr. Browne: if you've been noticing how much he drinks during the party, you'll appreciate, as the guests leave the party near the end of the film, the visual joke of seeing Browne crumpled up and sleeping at the foot of the stairs.
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When Gabriel sees himself as he truly is, as "a ludicrious figure" could be an epiphany, but I see the gentler epiphany as he watches his sleeping wife after the revelation of Michael Furey. Gabriel realizes that they are all dead, or dying without having lived ("One by one they were all becoming shades"). MIchael Furey had lived, because he had truly loved. He describes Furey's death, ironically, as an act of living: "Better pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age." At this point, Gabriel makes a decision ( a step away from paralyses!), the "time had come for him to set out on his journey westward." This was not just an excursion, but a decision to live.
ReplyDeleteIn light of today's class discussion I have to ask, can it be both a new beginning AND the journey westward to the sunset years of Gabriel's life? Just as snow can be both the cold onset of winter's death and also a cleansing and washing (albeit, a harsher cleansing than of rain), so the journey westward can be an embracing of his mortality by the rebellious act of living-"better to pass boldly into that other world, in the full glory of some passion, than fade and wither dismally with age."- Maybe it's because, like Gabriel, I'm middle-aged. I'm acutely aware that I'm in the last half of my life, yet here I am in college (surrounded by young people,lest I forget how old I am) endeavoring to learn something new everyday.
ReplyDeleteGreat observations, Delisa, and, yes, I think it most certainly can be both. I really do believe that Gabriel will be a better person, a better husband following that epiphany, but the melancholy tinge and "the sunset years" are operative, too. Here's to the "last half of our lives," right?!
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