Joyce also appears to attack the Catholic Church in the story. Also he dismisses Miss Ivor’s remark regards the Irish language, telling her that ‘Irish is not my language.’ Also when she suggests that Gabriel should travel to the Aran Islands (Isles) with her, he declines, telling her that he has plans to travel to the continent. The differences, politically between Miss Ivors and Gabriel can also be seen by the fact that she calls him a ‘West Briton’. Gabriel also writes a weekly column for the Daily Express, which at the time Dubliners was written would have been considered a conservative newspaper with leanings towards Unionism. Miss Ivors would be of a nationalist disposition, while Gabriel it would appear has a different outlook. The incident with Miss Ivors is also important for another reason, as it is through this incident that Joyce is also highlighting to the reader, another theme in the story, the theme of politics. Joyce further explores the theme of failure at the end of the story, the reader discovering that Gabriel finds it hard to understand (or fails to accept) that Gretta could have loved someone before she loved him. Also when Miss Ivors is talking to Gabriel, he fails to understand what she could mean. He feels that the ‘whole speech was a mistake from first to last, an utter failure. Another instance that soon follows, which also suggests failure, is when Gabriel is thinking about his speech. There is a sense of failure of communication between Lily and Gabriel with the reader suspecting that Gabriel may have failed to present himself in a positive light to Lily.
It is only through Lily’s reaction that Gabriel senses that he may have said something wrong. This is first noticeable when Gabriel is talking to Lily and he asks her about when she might be getting married. Taken from his Dubliners collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and very early on in the story Joyce delves into one of the main themes of the story, the theme of failure. In The Dead by James Joyce we have the theme of mortality, connection, failure, politics, religion and paralysis.
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