Content Category
Literary Criticism
Abstract/Description
At a young age, James Joyce was disillusioned with the Catholic Church, seeing corruption and intolerance toward humanity within the institution. As a result, he stated solemnly of the Church, "I make war with it by what I write and say and do." In his short story "The Dead," we see a complex criticism of the Catholic Church through characterization, imagery, and symbols.
Joyce uses the main character, Gabriel, as the vehicle of the criticism. He portrays the different characteristics of the Church through Gabriel, all culminating in the moment of epiphany at the end of the story, where he must decide whether or not to change. Here Joyce passes his own final judgment on the Catholic Church, warning that if it does not change its ways, it will suffer a metaphorical punishment in hell; in other words, that it will become an obsolete and broken institution.
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Location
B132 JFSB
Start Date
20-3-2015 12:00 PM
End Date
20-3-2015 1:30 PM
Included in
James Joyce and His War with the Catholic Church
B132 JFSB
At a young age, James Joyce was disillusioned with the Catholic Church, seeing corruption and intolerance toward humanity within the institution. As a result, he stated solemnly of the Church, "I make war with it by what I write and say and do." In his short story "The Dead," we see a complex criticism of the Catholic Church through characterization, imagery, and symbols.
Joyce uses the main character, Gabriel, as the vehicle of the criticism. He portrays the different characteristics of the Church through Gabriel, all culminating in the moment of epiphany at the end of the story, where he must decide whether or not to change. Here Joyce passes his own final judgment on the Catholic Church, warning that if it does not change its ways, it will suffer a metaphorical punishment in hell; in other words, that it will become an obsolete and broken institution.