The Sound of Music: Dissonance and Harmony in "The Dead"

In my English and American Literatures Thesis, I explore James Joyce’s “The Dead,” a story that attempts to understand a world afflicted by entropy. All life is bound to death; everything is bound to nothing. How does... [ view full abstract ]

In my English and American Literatures Thesis, I explore James Joyce’s “The Dead,” a story that attempts to understand a world afflicted by entropy. All life is bound to death; everything is bound to nothing. How does the self find meaning in such dissolution? This duality between searching for meaning in life and losing it in death is an overshadowing antithesis of Joyce’s story, and accompanying it are pulls between self and other, past and present, distance and proximity. Joyce’s rendering of music throughout the story creates a curious and visceral space in which these dualisms can intermingle. Protagonist Gabriel coins two terms in regards to this musical energy: “thought-tormented music” and “distant music,” which both refer to forms of self-conscious and more un-conscious modes of relating self to other, the former to fragmentation and the latter to the emotional and temporal effects of the song “Lass of Aughrim.” I argue through an exploration of Gabriel’s dissonant sense of self, his “thought-tormented” self-conscious reveries, and his emotional confrontation of his wife’s past life in “Lass of Aughrim” that music serves ultimately as a catalyst for spiritual growth, empathetic love and harmony.