The Influence of the Dead

“The way is shut. It was made by those who are Dead, and the Dead keep it. The way is shut.” I have always found this quotation from JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings alarmingly eerie. It conjured up images in my mind of the dead exerting their will on the living, and preventing them from achieving what they desired. The idea that the dead could have such power unnerved me, but since Lord of the Rings was clearly fiction I dismissed these fears as baseless. In the real world it would never be possible for the dead to have so much power. James Joyce’s The Dead, however, shows this assumption to false. The dead influence our actions as much as any living person does.

The prime example of this is Gretta and Michael Furey. From all appearances Gretta was having a fine time at Aunt Julia and Kate’s party laughing at Gabirel’s insistence she wear goloshes and animatedly trying to keep Miss. Ivors for supper. This changes, however, when she hears Mr. D’Arcy singing The Lass of Aughrim, an Irish ballad about a girl whose lover deserts her. She becomes very still as she remembers Michael Furey, now dead but her first, and only, true love. He has long since died, but his life, but more importantly his death, is still affecting Gretta. Just from a mere reminder of him, Gretta’s whole demeanor changes and she becomes pensive and quiet.

Eventually, we learn why Michael has so much influence on her. Gretta believes that he died for her. He loved her so much that he stood out in the rain just for the chance to see her before she left, even though he was very ill and knew it could kill him. This realization brings Gretta to tears that even her living husband cannot stop. Michael has more influence on Gretta than the husband right at her side.

Eventually Gretta confesses all that happened to her husband, and naturally this shocks him. It causes him to not only reevaluate his marriage, but also his entire life. He discovers that compared to the undying love of Michael had for Gretta he never really loved. Michael then spurs Gabriel’s epiphany that everyone is dead or dying.

While Michael never physically manifests like the spirits in Lord of the Rings did, he had just as much of an effect on Gretta’s and Gabriel’s lives as they did. From the grave Michael single-handedly brought a women to tears, initiated a man’s midlife crisis, and fundamentally changed their marriage.

The thing is, Michael Furey is not in anomaly. Grieving families will take timeout of their busy days to visit the graves of their loved ones. Children go out of their way to fulfill their late parents’ last wishes. Holiday’s become a sad time as people remember all the times they had spent with the now dead person. The dead never really leave, they linger in the world influencing the ones that are still here.