James Joyce How To Read Literature Like A Professor Analysis
In How to Read Literature like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster, Foster uses literature to simplify his analysis of modernist novels. One piece of literature, he analyzes is the short story The Dead by James Joyce. In the short story, snow is a prominent element and symbolizes death and unity. It is used to highlight the death of Gabriel’s delicate ego. With impeccable wording, Joyce uses the snow to enlighten Gabriel about an important lesson--that he is an inadequate piece of the world and that he is only one of the thousands of people of the world united by snow. Joyce describes Gabriel's newfound humility as, “[h]is own identity was fading out into a grey impalpable world: the solid world itself, which these dead had one time reared and
lived in, was dissolving and dwindling” (22). Foster fortifies this idea, by saying that “...snow, like death, is the great unifier,...” (75). As Gabriel’s story winds down to a close, he reflects on how truly unimportant he is in a world where the only thing that is constant is death.
lived in, was dissolving and dwindling” (22). Foster fortifies this idea, by saying that “...snow, like death, is the great unifier,...” (75). As Gabriel’s story winds down to a close, he reflects on how truly unimportant he is in a world where the only thing that is constant is death.